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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Peggy, by Laura E. Richards
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Peggy
+
+Author: Laura E. Richards
+
+Illustrator: Etheldred B. Barry
+
+Release Date: May 12, 2008 [EBook #25448]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PEGGY ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Suzanne Shell, Emmy and the Online Distributed
+Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+PEGGY
+
+
+
+
+_Books by Laura E. Richards._
+
+
+"Mrs. Richards has made for herself a little niche apart in the literary
+world, from her delicate treatment of New England village
+life."--_Boston Post._
+
+
+THE CAPTAIN JANUARY SERIES.
+
+=CAPTAIN JANUARY.= 16mo, cloth, 50 cents.
+
+A charming idyl of New England coast life, whose success has been very
+remarkable. One reads it, is thoroughly charmed by it, tells others, and
+so its fame has been heralded by its readers, until to-day it is selling
+by the thousands, constantly enlarging the circle of its delighted
+admirers.
+
+=SAME.= _Illustrated Holiday Edition._ With thirty half-tone pictures
+from drawings by Frank T. Merrill. 4to, cloth, $1.25.
+
+=MELODY.= The Story of a Child. 16mo, 50 cents.
+
+"Had there never been a 'Captain January,' 'Melody' would easily take
+first place."--_Boston Times._
+
+=SAME.= _Illustrated Holiday Edition._ With thirty half-tone pictures
+from drawings by Frank T. Merrill. 4to, cloth, $1.25.
+
+=MARIE.= 16mo, 50 cents.
+
+"Seldom has Mrs. Richards drawn a more irresistible picture, or framed
+one with more artistic literary adjustment."--_Boston Herald._
+
+"A perfect literary gem."--_Boston Transcript._
+
+=NARCISSA=, and a companion story, =IN VERONA=. 16mo, cloth, 50 cents.
+
+"Each is a simple, touching, sweet little story of rustic New England
+life, full of vivid pictures of interesting character, and refreshing
+for its unaffected genuineness and human feeling."--_Congregationalist._
+
+=JIM OF HELLAS; or, IN DURANCE VILE=, and a companion story, =BETHESDA
+POOL=. 16mo, 50 cents.
+
+=SOME SAY=, and a companion story, =NEIGHBOURS IN CYRUS=. 16mo, 50
+cents.
+
+=ROSIN THE BEAU.= 16mo, 50 cents. A sequel to "Melody."
+
+
+=ISLA HERON.= A charming prose idyl of quaint New England life. Small
+quarto, cloth, 75 cents.
+
+=NAUTILUS.= A very interesting story, with illustrations; uniquely
+bound, small quarto, cloth, 75 cents.
+
+=FIVE MINUTE STORIES.= A charming collection of short stories and clever
+poems for children. Small quarto, cloth, $1.25.
+
+=THREE MARGARETS.= One of the most clever stories for girls that the
+author has written. 16mo, cloth, handsome cover design, $1.25.
+
+=MARGARET MONTFORT.= The second volume in the series of which "Three
+Margarets" was so successful as the initial volume. 16mo, cloth,
+handsome cover design, $1.25.
+
+=PEGGY.= The third volume in the series of which the preceding ones have
+been so successful. 16mo, cloth, handsome cover design, $1.25.
+
+=LOVE AND ROCKS.= A charming story of one of the pleasant islands that
+dot the rugged Maine coast. With etching frontispiece by Mercier. Tall
+16mo, unique cover design on linen, gilt top, $1.00.
+
+_Dana Estes & Company, Publishers, Boston._
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+PEGGY
+
+BY LAURA E. RICHARDS
+
+AUTHOR OF "CAPTAIN JANUARY," "MELODY," "QUEEN HILDEGARDE," ETC.
+
+Illustrated by ETHELDRED B. BARRY
+
+[Illustration]
+
+        BOSTON
+        DANA ESTES & COMPANY
+        PUBLISHERS
+
+
+
+
+        _Copyright, 1899_
+        BY DANA ESTES & COMPANY
+
+
+        Colonial Press:
+        Electrotyped and Printed by C. H. Simonds & Co.
+        Boston, Mass., U. S. A.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS.
+
+
+  CHAPTER                                                           PAGE
+
+      I. A NEW WORLD                                                  11
+
+     II. THE BOX FROM FERNLEY                                         31
+
+    III. IN THE "GYM."                                                51
+
+     IV. ENTER THE SCAPEGOAT                                          72
+
+      V. TO THE RESCUE                                                89
+
+     VI. THE OWL'S NEST                                              102
+
+    VII. WEDDING BELLS                                               121
+
+   VIII. BY MOONLIGHT                                                141
+
+     IX. FACULTY MEETING AND BEDLAM                                  160
+
+      X. TEACHER AND PUPIL                                           182
+
+     XI. DECORATION--AND OTHER THINGS                                194
+
+    XII. AN ADVENTURE                                                210
+
+   XIII. PEGGY VICTRIX                                               224
+
+    XIV. ON SPY HILL                                                 240
+
+     XV. WHAT WAS THE MATTER WITH LOBELIA PARKINS?                   253
+
+    XVI. THE TERROR BY NIGHT                                         268
+
+   XVII. WAITING                                                     279
+
+  XVIII. THE END AND THE BEGINNING                                   297
+
+
+
+
+LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
+
+
+      PAGE
+
+  "'PEACE BE TO THIS DWELLING'" (p. 79)                    _Frontispiece_
+
+  "'BERTHA, LOOK AT THIS, WILL YOU?'"                                 36
+
+  "UP THEY WENT, HAND OVER HAND."                                     69
+
+  THE GRAND TELL IN THE OWL'S NEST                                   120
+
+  "'HERE! TAKE MY HAND AND SCRAMBLE OUT'"                            207
+
+  "WITH ONE OF HER SUDDEN MOVEMENTS SHE HAD THROWN OFF
+     HER ASSAILANTS"                                                 237
+
+  "'OH, GRACE, SHE HAS FAINTED!'"                                    272
+
+  "'WE FOUR AGAINST THE WORLD!'"                                     308
+
+
+
+
+PEGGY.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+A NEW WORLD.
+
+
+"Miss Montfort!" said the Principal.
+
+Peggy looked about her.
+
+"I wonder if it's another cousin!" she said to herself. "It can't be, or
+Margaret would have known. Dear Margaret! now if she were only here, she
+could answer, and everybody would--"
+
+"Miss Montfort!" said the Principal again, rather sharply.
+
+"Isn't that your name?" whispered the girl who sat beside Peggy. "You'll
+have to answer, you know!"
+
+Peggy started violently, and, looking up, met the Principal's eyes bent
+upon her. She struggled to her feet, feeling herself one blush from
+head to foot.
+
+"I--I beg your pardon!" she faltered. "I didn't suppose--did you mean
+me?"
+
+"You are Miss Montfort, are you not?"
+
+"Oh, no! my cousins are both--that is,--I am just Peggy!"
+
+There was a general titter, which the Principal checked with her pencil.
+"Young ladies!" she said in a warning tone. "Miss Montfort, you will
+have room No. 18, in the second corridor. You will be alone for the
+present."
+
+"Oh, goody!" cried Peggy. "I mean--I'm ever so much obliged, thank you!
+Can I go now?"
+
+"You _may_ go now!" said the Principal, with a slight emphasis on the
+auxiliary.
+
+Peggy stumbled over the foot of the girl next her, stepped on her own
+dress, tripped and came to her knees; picked herself up, with a sound of
+rending cloth, and finally got out of the room. This time the titter was
+not so easily checked. Peggy heard it rippling behind her as she fled.
+Even Miss Russell smiled as she rapped on the desk, and said one word
+to herself: "Untrained!"
+
+But the girl who had sat beside Peggy rubbed her foot, which hurt a good
+deal, and said three words: "Poor little thing!"
+
+No. 18 in the second corridor was a good-sized room, with two windows,
+one of them crossed on the outside by a fire-escape. Its present aspect
+was bare and unhomelike. The furniture consisted of an iron bedstead, a
+bureau and wash-stand, two chairs and a small table, all neat, but
+severely plain. The small square of carpet on the floor was a cold gray
+mixture with brown flowers on it. As Peggy Montfort looked about her,
+her heart sank. Was she to live here, to spend her days and nights here,
+for a whole endless year? She thought of her room at home, the great
+sunny room that she shared with her sister Jean. That had four windows,
+which were generally flung wide open; it was bare, because she and Jean
+liked to have plenty of space for gymnastics and wrestling; but that was
+a homelike, accustomed bareness, and they loved it. The great old
+four-post bed, with the round balls on which they loved to stand and
+perform circus tricks; the hammock slung across one end; the birds'
+nests and hawks' wings that adorned the walls in lieu of pictures; the
+antlers on which they hung their hats,--all these, or the thought of
+them, smote Peggy's stout heart, and sent it lower and lower down.
+
+A maid knocked at the door: here was Miss Montfort's trunk, and would
+she unpack it, please, as the man would be coming again to take the
+empty trunks to the attic.
+
+Peggy fell to work with ardour; here, at least, was something to do, in
+this strange, lonesome place. Arriving in the afternoon, a day or two
+after the beginning of school, her lessons were not to begin till the
+next morning.
+
+Every dress, as she lifted it out, seemed a bit of home. Here was the
+triangular tear in her blue gingham, that Jean mended for her. One could
+hardly see it now! Dear Jean! she was neat-handed, and she had a little
+look of Margaret, the same soft hair and clear, quiet eyes. Here was her
+beloved bicycle skirt! Ah, there was something heavy in the pocket.
+Peggy explored, and drew forth an apple; that brought the tears, which
+were not very far off in the first place, and there was a good deal of
+salt in the apple as she ate it. She was so determined to make the best
+of everything, however, that she fought back the homesickness that was
+rising like a flood within her, and even managed to whistle a tune as
+she hung up her dresses and laid her stockings and handkerchiefs in the
+drawers. Then the shoe-bag must be hung against the closet door, the bag
+that Margaret had made and worked with her initials. Dearest Margaret!
+and here was the pincushion that Flora gave her, and the writing-case
+from Brother Hugh-- Oh! she would write to him every week of her life,
+indeed she would! and so on and so on.
+
+When the trunk was empty, the room looked less forlorn, though still
+pretty bare, for in Peggy's home little thought was given to anything
+not of practical use. The door was open, and happening to look up she
+caught a glimpse of the opposite room, on the other side of the narrow
+corridor. Here, too, the door stood open, and Peggy gazed open-eyed. A
+greater contrast could hardly be imagined. Here every available inch of
+wall-space was covered, with photographs, with Japanese fans and
+umbrellas, with posters and ribbons and flags. The room itself was
+choked, it seemed to Peggy, with chairs and tables, low tables covered
+with books, with cups and saucers, with knickknacks of every possible
+description. The whole effect was bewildering, but so gay and cheerful
+that Peggy sighed as she glanced back at her own bare white walls, at
+the bureau with its sober brush and comb, and the polished table where
+the writing-case lay in solitary state. She could not imagine living in
+a room like that other: she should stifle, and throw half the things out
+of the window; but it would be nice to have just a few more things! If
+she had only thought! Jean would have been glad to share the nests with
+her, and she could have had the rattlesnake skin, for had she not killed
+him herself? and then there were the fossils!
+
+As Peggy meditated, steps came along the corridor, and halted at her
+door. A face peeped in. "May I come in?" asked the girl who had sat
+beside her in the class-room.
+
+"Oh, do! I wish you would!" cried Peggy, eagerly. "I am so glad to see
+you! Sit down! I wanted to tell you--you were awfully kind to let me
+know she meant me. You see, I never was called Miss Montfort in my life
+before."
+
+The girl sat down, and looked kindly at Peggy. She was a
+singular-looking girl, short and dark, with a curious effect of
+squareness in her thickset figure. Her face was plain, but one forgot
+that when one met the bright, intelligent gaze of her dark eyes.
+
+"I ought to introduce myself!" she said. "My name is Bertha Haughton.
+I'm a neighbour of yours. No!" she added, laughing, as Peggy glanced
+involuntarily across the way. "That is Vanity Fair. I don't live there;
+I live in the Owls' Nest, some way down the corridor."
+
+"Are all the rooms named?" asked Peggy, wondering.
+
+"Most of them, on this corridor, at least. There's Vanity Fair and Rag
+Fair and the Smithsonian Institute on the other side--oh! and the China
+Shop and the Corner Grocery, too. And on this side is ours, the Owls'
+Nest, and Bedlam, and the Soap Factory, and the Nursery, and this room
+of yours."
+
+"Oh, how interesting!" cried Peggy. "Do tell me what the names mean! Why
+Owls' Nest?"
+
+"Oh, well, we got the name of studying hard, that's all. We don't study
+harder than ever so many others, but in our freshman year we--my chum
+and I--passed an examination that a good many failed in, and so we got
+the name of owls. That's really all! And the China Shop--well! Ada Bull
+had it last year, and she had a mania for china-painting; and that with
+the name, together, you see! Then there is the Soap Factory,--that is
+quite a story! you really want to hear it? well!
+
+"You know we are not allowed to buy candy, or to have it sent to us.
+This girl's mother--I won't tell her name, she's in college now--was a
+very silly person, and she sent her a great box of chocolate, five or
+six pounds (though she knew the rules, mind you!), all done up like
+soap."
+
+"Like soap!" repeated Peggy.
+
+"Yes! the box was marked soap, and the chocolate was in little cakes,
+just like the little sample cakes of soap they send round, don't you
+know? and each cake wrapped up in paper, with '_Savon de Chocolat_'
+stamped on it. It came from Paris, I believe.
+
+"Well, of course the girl ought to have told Miss Russell at once, but
+she didn't. She kept the box under her bed, and told all the girls she
+knew; and of course they kept coming into her room all day long, and her
+pocket was always full, and, however it happened, at last Miss Russell
+suspected something. One day she came suddenly upon Margie in the hall,
+and saw that she was eating something, and asked her what it was. We're
+not allowed to eat going about the house, of course. Margie had just
+bitten off half a cake, and she had the other half in her hand, with the
+printed side up, '_Savon de Chocolat!_' and she said 'Soap!'
+
+"'Soap!' said Miss Russell.
+
+"'Yes!' said Margie. 'Soap, Miss Russell.'
+
+"The Principal looked at her a minute, and then I suppose she smelt the
+chocolate. She told her to wait, and then she went into her own room and
+came out with a little cake of tar soap--sample cake--that looked for
+all the world like chocolate soap.
+
+"'Pray try this!' she said, as grave as a judge. 'I am sure you will
+find it excellent. I must insist upon your trying it, since you have a
+taste for soap.'
+
+"Poor Margie! she had a good deal of pluck, and when she saw there was
+no help for it, she took a bite of the soap. But it was too horrid; she
+couldn't swallow it. She choked, and ran to her own room; the Principal
+followed her, and then the whole story came out. Margie never told us
+just what Miss Russell said. The chocolate was sent to the Orphans' Home
+next day, and she was a pretty serious girl for some time after. So now
+you know why that room is called the Soap Factory."
+
+"That's a splendid story!" cried Peggy. "Why, I think this is great. Did
+this room have a name, too? I'm sure it must have! Do tell me what it
+is!"
+
+A queer look crossed the dark girl's face.
+
+"It has been called Broadway!" she said. "I hope it may be changed now."
+She hesitated, and was about to speak again, when two girls came along
+arm in arm.
+
+"Look!" said Bertha Haughton. "There are your opposite neighbours,
+Vanity and Vexation of Spirit. I'll call them over and introduce them."
+
+"Oh, please don't!" cried Peggy, under her breath, catching her
+companion's arm. But it was too late.
+
+"V. V.," called Bertha, in her clear, hearty voice, "come and be
+introduced to Miss Montfort."
+
+The girls turned and came forward, one eagerly, the other rather
+unwillingly.
+
+"Miss Viola Vincent, Miss Vivia Varnham," said Bertha Haughton, "this is
+Miss--Peggy, did you say?--Miss Peggy Montfort."
+
+Miss Varnham simply bowed, but Viola Vincent advanced with outstretched
+hand.
+
+"How do you _do_?" she cried; and she lifted Peggy's hand to the level
+of her chin, and shook it gently from side to side. "Awfully glad to see
+you! It's been too perfectly horrid to have this room empty; hasn't it,
+V?"
+
+"A great bore!" assented Miss Varnham, who looked thoroughly bored
+herself.
+
+Both girls had entered the room, and were standing, looking about them.
+Peggy stood, too, feeling unspeakably shy and awkward, and not knowing
+what to say. Bertha Haughton gave her a quick, friendly glance, and made
+a slight motion with her head toward a chair. Peggy started, and
+coloured violently.
+
+"I beg your pardon!" she stammered. "Won't you sit down? here are two
+chairs; and you and I can sit on the bed!" she turned to Miss Haughton
+with an air of relief; she seemed already an old friend.
+
+Peggy's timid glances at the newcomers showed her that they belonged to
+a species unknown to her. Living on a great prairie farm, she had known
+no girls save her sisters and the two cousins with whom she had spent a
+happy summer at Fernley House, the home of her uncle, Mr. John Montfort,
+a year before.
+
+But neither sisters nor cousins, nor Bertha Haughton herself, bore any
+resemblance to the two young women who now seated themselves on her two
+straight-backed chairs. Both were dressed in the extreme of the fashion,
+which was not a specially graceful one. Both wore their hair elaborately
+dressed, with a profusion of gold and silver pins, a passing fancy
+easily carried to extravagance. Both were pretty, and there was even a
+kind of likeness between them, though it vanished when one looked
+closely. Viola Vincent had limpid blue eyes, and long lashes which she
+had a way of dropping, as she had been told that they looked well on her
+cheek, which was clear and delicately tinted. She smiled a good deal,
+and in doing so showed a pretty dimple in one cheek. In spite of a
+certain affectation, Peggy thought her charming.
+
+Vivia Varnham was less attractive, in spite of her bright hazel eyes
+and pretty fluffy hair; there was a supercilious lift to her eyebrows,
+an unamiable droop to the corners of her mouth. Peggy did not make this
+analysis; she only thought, "I shall not like her, I know I sha'n't!"
+
+The girls chattered away without much regard to her, and she only half
+understood their talk.
+
+"My dear! _Have_ you heard?" This was from Viola to Bertha Haughton. She
+patted herself all over while she talked, now her hair, now her collar,
+now her blouse, little approving pats.
+
+"You never hear anything, you owls! When _is_ the Snowy coming back? She
+has been away forty years! I simply can't exist without her. Why, my
+dear, we are to have the straw-ride after all. Miss Russell says we may.
+Isn't it perf'ly fine?"
+
+"Are you sure?" said Bertha Haughton, doubtfully. "You know last time
+she said we couldn't go again, because Grace acted so, pulling out the
+linch-pin and dropping us all into the road."
+
+"My dear, I know! that's just it! The Goat went to her this morning and
+said she would stay at home and do double lessons if the rest of us
+could only go. Noble of the Goat, I call it; only it won't be half so
+much fun without her, and Billy gone, too. Oh, you can't possibly
+imagine how we miss Billy. How forlorn this room looks without all her
+pretty things!" She glanced about the room. "Perf'ly awful, isn't it?"
+she said.
+
+Poor Peggy flushed scarlet. Bertha Haughton flashed her a glance of
+indignant sympathy.
+
+"Billy had the room simply ridiculous!" she said, hastily. "Almost as
+bad as your toyshop, Vanity. I can't abide a frippy room!"
+
+Viola Vincent opened her blue eyes wide. "What ruffled you up, Fluffy?"
+she said. "I didn't say anything about the Nest." Then, happening to
+glance at Peggy, she realised what she had said, and blushed a little
+herself.
+
+"I'm sure I didn't mean anything!" she cried, with a little giggle. "Of
+course when Miss Montfort gets all her things out and arranged, it will
+be quite charming, I'm sure it will."
+
+"I haven't any more things!" said honest Peggy. She managed to keep her
+voice steady, but the tears would come into her eyes, and she raged at
+herself.
+
+"Oh, you'll accumulate them!" said good-natured Viola, who liked to have
+people comfortable, if it did not take too much trouble. "Won't she, V.?
+We had hardly anything when we came, had we, V.? Barns, my dear, were
+nothing to us, were they, V.?"
+
+"Oh, of course not!" assented Miss Varnham; but her smile was so like a
+sneer, and her glance about the room so cold and contemptuous, that
+Peggy felt dislike hardening at her heart.
+
+"What is all that noise in the entry?" exclaimed Bertha Haughton,
+anxious to change the conversation. "It sounds as if an elephant were
+coming to call."
+
+Viola Vincent fluttered to the door, patting her waist affectionately as
+she went.
+
+"My _dear_!" she cried, in high-pitched staccato tones. "It's a box, an
+express box. Oh, it's a perfect monster, a mammoth! Vi, this must be
+your dresses. Hurrah! we'll have a grand trying on."
+
+Vivia Varnham looked out. A burly expressman was staggering forward with
+an enormous box, almost as big as a packing-case.
+
+"Take it in there!" she said, imperiously, motioning across the
+corridor. "Put it down carefully, mind! Miss Varnham, is it?"
+
+"No, miss," said the man, respectfully. "Miss Montfort!"
+
+"Me!" cried Peggy, starting to her feet. "Oh, there must be some
+mistake. I wasn't--there's nothing coming for me."
+
+"It must be for you!" said Bertha Haughton. "There is no other Miss
+Montfort in the school. Look at the address, and you may know the
+handwriting!"
+
+Peggy looked. In a clear, bold hand was written:
+
+                Miss Peggy Montfort,
+                      At Miss Russell's School,
+                          Pentland.
+
+        Glass, with care.        All charges paid.
+
+"Oh!" she cried, clasping her hands. "It _is_ for me! It's from Uncle
+John! Oh, what do you suppose--what can it be?"
+
+"Bring it in here, please," said Bertha Haughton, quietly, to the man,
+who still stood balancing the box. "There! set it against the wall;
+thank you! Now," as the man departed, "we need a screw-driver. Have you
+one, Viola?"
+
+"My _dear_! I had one, but the Goat broke it, using it for a step, you
+know, to get up to the next story. I use a can-opener now, but that will
+only do for small boxes. I don't have--well, State Houses, coming every
+day," she added, with a good-natured laugh, glancing at the great box.
+
+Bertha Haughton ran to fetch a screw-driver from her room, and the other
+two girls moved toward the door. Vivia Varnham looked black. She had
+made sure the box was for her, and felt aggrieved at the stupid freshman
+who appropriated it. Viola Vincent, on the other hand, was delighted.
+"I'm awfully glad!" she said. "It's simply dandy, having a box come. Ta,
+ta! I hope it will be something perf'ly splendid, dresses and hats and
+all kinds of giddiness. I love giddiness! When you want to be giddy, you
+must come to us; the Owls are too worthy. There's Fluffy back again with
+the screw-driver. Ta again! Awfully glad!"
+
+Peggy was half inclined to ask Viola to stay, but still it was rather a
+relief when the opposite door closed. Whatever the box contained, she
+could not have enjoyed it with those sharp, cold eyes of Viola Varnham
+looking on.
+
+"Here is the screw-driver!" cried Bertha, out of breath with her flight
+along the corridor. "It's very strong, you need not be afraid of
+pressing on it. Can I do anything more to help you? If not, I must go. I
+hope it is something very nice indeed!"
+
+"Go! you!" cried Peggy. "Oh, must you? Can't you stay and help me see
+what it is? It isn't any fun opening boxes alone," she added, piteously.
+
+The girl does not live who would not rather unpack a box than eat her
+dinner. "If you are sure you want me," said Bertha. "I didn't want to
+be in the way, that was all."
+
+"In the way! Oh, Miss Haughton! Why, you are the only friend I have here
+in this lonesome place."
+
+"If I am going to be your friend, I am not going to be Miss Haughton
+another minute. Do you really want me to stay, Peggy?"
+
+"I do, Bertha, indeed I do."
+
+"Honour bright?"
+
+"Honour brightest!"
+
+"Hurrah, then! And now for the box!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+THE BOX FROM FERNLEY.
+
+
+The box was no ordinary rough affair, knocked together for simple
+purposes of transportation. It was neatly and carefully made, the edges
+fitting closely together, the lid furnished with hinges.
+
+"We must take care how we open this!" said Bertha. "It would be a shame
+to spoil such a fine box."
+
+Peggy was used to tools of every description, and she drew out the
+screws deftly, then lifted the lid. Both girls bent eagerly forward.
+Nothing was visible but white paper, neatly fitted to the top of the
+box. Yes! on the paper lay a card, on which was written, "For Peggy's
+housekeeping. From Uncle John and Margaret, with best love."
+
+The handwriting was Margaret's, and Peggy seized and kissed it before
+going further. "It is Margaret!" she said. "Dear, darling Margaret, the
+best friend I have in the world. Oh, how dear and kind and lovely of
+them both! What _do_ you suppose they have sent me?"
+
+"Suppose we see!" said Bertha Haughton. Yet both girls lingered a
+moment, tasting the joy of suspense.
+
+It was not a joy to be long indulged, however. Together they lifted the
+paper, and lo! more paper, but this time enveloping various mysterious
+packages neatly tied with pink tape.
+
+"Margaret's tape!" cried Peggy. "Uncle John gave her a great big spool
+of it, because she said she had never seen enough in her life. Oh, what
+a fat bundle! You shall open it, Bertha, because you have been so good
+to me."
+
+"Open your bundle!" cried Bertha. "Indeed I will not! I never heard of
+such a thing. Be quick, though, for I do want to see."
+
+The big square parcel revealed an afghan, knitted in long stripes of
+red and blue, the colours rich and warm, and harmonising pleasantly.
+
+"Oh, what a beauty!" cried Bertha, while Peggy gazed in silent delight.
+"My dear, it warms the whole room! and the length of it, and the
+breadth! why, it will go on double. I never saw such a splendid one."
+
+Indeed, the great afghan had been Margaret's "pick-up work" ever since
+she first heard that Peggy was going to school, and loving thoughts were
+knitted into every stripe.
+
+"What next?" said Bertha. "My dear, sofa-pillows!"
+
+So they were, four of them, each prettier than the other.
+
+"But what shall I do with them?" said Peggy, with a comical glance
+around the room. "There's no sign of a sofa. Never mind! they are
+perfect beauties. Oh, and what can this be? Oh, Bertha, see, it is a
+bookcase!"
+
+The six pieces of polished wood were quickly fitted together, and there
+was indeed a bookcase, not very large, but still ample to contain all
+the books Peggy would be likely to need.
+
+"Where are your books?" asked Bertha, innocently; and Peggy hung her
+head.
+
+"My Bible is in my drawer," she said. "I--I didn't bring any other
+books. I'm a dreadful dunce," she added, timidly. "I might as well tell
+you now, for you'd find it out anyhow, the very first time you talked
+about books. I don't--care--about them, much."
+
+"Oh!" and Bertha looked a little blank, being a bookworm herself. "But
+there must be some books you are fond of, Peggy?"
+
+Peggy shook her head despondently. "I don't believe there are," she
+said. "Oh, of course I like 'Treasure Island,' and 'Robin Hood,' and
+that kind of thing. But history, and the Waverley Novels--why, Margaret
+would like to read the Waverley Novels all day; and they put me to sleep
+in five minutes."
+
+She looked anxiously at her new friend, to see the effect of this
+dreadful confession; but Bertha only laughed. "Well, I love the
+Waverleys very much myself," she said; "but I know everybody doesn't
+care for them. But when you want to read, Peggy, what do you do?"
+
+"But I don't want to read," said Peggy, humbly. "It--it seems such a
+waste of time; except Coues, of course, and he wouldn't go in my trunk,
+and Pa is going to send him by express."
+
+"What do you mean?" asked Bertha, puzzled in her turn. "Cows!"
+
+"Yes, the book, you know! Oh, I couldn't live without that."
+
+"Do you mean a herd-book? Of course, you said you lived on a farm. You
+mean that you study pedigrees and that kind of thing?"
+
+Now it was Peggy's turn to laugh, as she explained that she meant Prof.
+J. Elliott Coues's admirable book on birds.
+
+"Pa has Samuels," she added, "but I couldn't bring that, because it is
+out of print, and too valuable. Besides, he isn't so thorough as Coues,
+don't you know, especially in anatomy and that part. Is there a good
+class in anatomy here? Of course I shall want to join that."
+
+"Oh, dear!" cried Bertha, in comical dismay, "I don't know! Peggy
+Montfort, you are not a dunce at all; you are just shamming. The idea of
+any one _wanting_ to study anatomy!"
+
+"The idea of wanting to study anything else," cried Peggy, "except
+physics and geometry. It's this horrible literature and stuff that I
+cannot bear. But we can't stop and talk, with the box only half
+unpacked. Oh, pictures! Now I do like pictures, when they are the right
+kind. Bertha, look at this, will you?"
+
+With difficulty she lifted out a large picture which filled the box from
+end to end. Both girls uttered a cry of delight. It was the "Automedon"
+of Henri Regnault. The great horses rearing and plunging, the heroic
+figure of the charioteer, seemed to take Peggy's breath. "It--it's the
+kind of thing you dream about, isn't it?" she said. "They are alive; I
+believe they'll break through the glass in another minute. Oh, there
+can't be anything else as splendid as this!"
+
+[Illustration: "'BERTHA, LOOK AT THIS, WILL YOU?'"]
+
+But when she drew out next a fine photograph of "The Night Watch," she
+hardly knew what to say. The gleaming eyes of the lions, prowling
+among the ruined columns, fascinated her almost as much as the wild
+horses had done. She had less to say to the beautiful photograph of the
+Sistine Madonna, which came next; yet she looked at it with eyes of
+wistful affection. It was Margaret's favourite picture, and she loved it
+on that account as well as its own. Yet her taste was for "critters," as
+she freely acknowledged; and she glowed again as Bertha held up an
+engraving of "Sheridan's Ride," with the great captain riding straight
+out of the picture at her.
+
+"That's the kind of thing she wants!" Mr. Montfort had said, when he and
+his niece Margaret were having their delightful "Peggy-lark," as he
+called it. "The Sistine by all means, Meg; but no more old masters for
+our Peggy. She won't understand them, and she won't like them. What was
+it she said about your pet St. Anthony?"
+
+"She said he looked as if he had gone out for clams and fallen into the
+mud!" said Margaret, rather ruefully. "I suppose you are right, Uncle
+John; but, oh, do look at this lovely Murillo angel! How could she help
+loving this?"
+
+"The anatomy of it would distress her," said Mr. Montfort, dryly. "You
+know Peggy is strong on anatomy. Better take the 'Automedon.'"
+
+"Which you said was out of drawing!" cried Margaret, with a flash of
+mischief. "Oh, if you are going to put false ideas into her head, Uncle
+John--" on which she was very properly told to choose her pictures, and
+not be saucy.
+
+The last picture in the box had not been chosen in any picture-shop; and
+at sight of it Peggy sat down on the bed and began to cry.
+
+"Oh, dear!" she said. "What shall I do? Oh, Margaret, Margaret, what
+shall I do?"
+
+Kind-hearted Bertha was distressed. "Don't cry, dear!" she said. "I
+know! I know just how it feels. Is it your father and sister?"
+
+"No! oh, no!" said Peggy, wiping her eyes. "Of course it's different
+with Pa and the girls, because I shall be going home every vacation,
+you know. But I never was so happy in all my life as I was there; and
+seeing it--it is Fernley, and Uncle John and Margaret."
+
+The large photograph showed a stately house shadowed by lofty trees.
+Standing on the stone verandah were two figures, one, that of a tall man
+in a black velvet coat, with bright dark eyes; the other a slender girl
+with a sweet, thoughtful face. Both seemed to be looking straight at
+Peggy, and she felt Uncle John's kind look and Margaret's tender smile
+like warmth at her heart.
+
+"I--I'm only crying because--I'm--glad!" she said. And Bertha seemed to
+understand that, too.
+
+But the wonderful box was not yet empty; it really seemed like the
+famous bag of the Fairy Blackstick. Out came a gay Oriental cloth, which
+made another thing of the chilly little polished table; item, a
+bureau-cover embroidered with gold-coloured chrysanthemums; item, a
+wonderful work-basket, fitted with everything that a needlewoman's heart
+could desire; item, a spirit-lamp and a hot-water bottle, and a neat
+little tool-chest. Peggy sighed over the work-basket, and resolved to do
+her very best, but at sight of the tool-chest her eyes sparkled, and she
+seized upon it with delight, and caressed each shining implement as if
+it were a living and beloved creature.
+
+"Did you ever see such a little duck of a saw?" she cried. "Oh, I must
+go to work and make something this very day. Only, these two dears have
+sent me everything that I could ever possibly need. What is that,
+Bertha? There can't be anything more!"
+
+There could, though, and was. The bottom of the box was fitted with a
+cushion or mattress of chintz, chrysanthemums again, on a pale green
+ground; and the last parcel of all contained several yards of the same
+material.
+
+"What do you suppose-- Oh, I see!" cried Peggy. "The box,--we wondered
+why it was such a good box, don't you know? It is to be a kind of sofa,
+or window-seat, or something; and this is the cushion, and the rest is
+for a flounce and curtains. Oh, dear, did you ever hear of anything so
+perfectly lovely? Dear Uncle John, dear Margaret!" and she wept again,
+and, in default of Margaret, hugged the biggest sofa-pillow, a wonderful
+affair of soft yellow silk, with ruffles and puffles.
+
+"Come," said Bertha, "this will never do, Peggy! We must get these all
+arranged before tea, mustn't we? The gong will sound in a few minutes."
+
+Peggy dried her tears, and the two girls went to work with right good
+will. In ten minutes the dreary room was as cheerful and homelike a
+place as heart could desire. The pictures were hung (I forgot to mention
+that the fairy box contained picture-hooks and wire, hidden away in a
+corner), the cushions fitted, the chintz tacked in a neat flounce around
+the box, which straightway became a divan, and looked positively
+Oriental with the pillows heaped with careful carelessness on it.
+
+Peggy stood and surveyed the whole effect with shining eyes. "When the
+curtains are up--" she said, and looked inquiringly at Bertha.
+
+"When the curtains are up," said Bertha, "it will be one of the
+pleasantest rooms in the whole school."
+
+And then the gong sounded, and they went down to tea.
+
+A throng of girls was pouring into the great dining-room. Few of them
+noticed the newcomer, being taken up with their own concerns, laughing
+and chatting, hurrying to their places; yet Peggy felt as if all eyes
+were upon her. She clung close to Bertha Haughton's arm; but now that
+friendly arm was drawn away.
+
+"I must leave you here, Peggy," said Bertha.
+
+"Oh, don't leave me! Oh, can't I sit by you?" asked poor Peggy, in an
+agonised whisper.
+
+"No, dear, I have to go over there, quite to the other side of the room.
+See, Miss Russell is beckoning to you. You are to sit at her table, with
+the other freshmen. Cheer up, Peggy, it'll be all right after the first
+minute."
+
+Bertha nodded kindly, and took her way across the hall, while Peggy
+stumbled along, tripping over several dresses (she always stumbled when
+she was embarrassed), to the table where the Principal sat. There were
+six tables, twelve girls to each table, with a teacher at the head. Miss
+Russell greeted Peggy pleasantly, and it occurred to our friend for the
+first time that the Principal was not a Gorgon, but a human being, with
+a grave face, it is true, but with kind and friendly eyes.
+
+"I trust you have been resting after your journey, Miss Montfort! Yes?
+That is good. Coming so late yesterday you did not meet your classmates,
+who had already gone to their rooms. Miss Parkins, Miss Barclay, Miss
+Manton,--this is Miss Peggy Montfort. I hope you will introduce her to
+the other young ladies after tea."
+
+The three girls nearest Peggy bowed, all more or less shyly; it was
+comforting to feel that there were others who felt as strange as she
+did. In fact, Miss Parkins, who sat on her left, was so manifestly and
+miserably frightened that Peggy felt herself a lion by comparison, and,
+by way of improving acquaintance, asked her boldly for the salt.
+
+Miss Parkins gasped, shivered, clutched the pepper-pot, and dropped it
+into her own plate. The other freshmen giggled nervously, but Peggy
+glowed with compassion and sympathy.
+
+"Never mind!" she whispered. "That's just the kind of thing I am doing
+all the time. There is the salt; why, I can reach it myself, and nobody
+ever wants pepper, anyhow. There, that's all right!"
+
+The girl lifted a pair of eyes so red with crying, so humble and
+grateful and altogether piteous, that Peggy's own eyes almost
+overflowed. She put her hand under the table, found a little limp, cold
+paw, and gave it a hearty squeeze. "Cheer up!" she said. "It'll be
+better pretty soon, I--I guess. I am--homesick--too!"
+
+Then, finding a sob rising in her throat, she hastily filled her mouth
+with buttered toast, choked, and caught herself with a wild sound, half
+cough, half snort, that brought the eyes of the whole table upon her.
+The strange thing was, Peggy did not seem to care this time. They were
+only freshmen like herself. Any one of them might have choked just as
+well as she, and she was bigger than any of them. If those other girls
+had seen, now! not Bertha, but the other two! She glanced over to the
+opposite table, where the two V's sat facing her; but they were
+chattering away, with no thought of freshmen or their doings. Viola
+Vincent looked very pretty in a pale blue blouse and white piqué skirt;
+she was evidently in high spirits, and was patting her hair and her
+waist with perfect satisfaction.
+
+"Perf'ly _fine_!" came to Peggy's ears, in her clear piping voice. "My
+_dear_, it will be simply _dandy_!"
+
+Peggy glanced at the Principal, she hardly knew why, except that
+Margaret disliked slang; and she saw her brows contract with a momentary
+look of vexation. "It does sound rather horrid!" she thought. "I wonder
+if I shall have to give up saying 'awfully!' That would be perfectly
+awful. Besides, it sounds awfully affected to talk like a book all the
+time."
+
+Thus meditating, Peggy let her napkin slip down to the floor. Her
+neighbour saw it, and both stooped at the same time to pick it up. Their
+heads came together with a violent crack. "Ow!" cried Peggy, and rubbed
+her flaxen poll vigorously. Miss Parkins was too frightened to know
+whether she was hurt or not. "Never mind!" said Peggy. "It was my fault
+just as much as yours. Did you get an awful crack? Oh! I mean, did you
+hurt yourself?"
+
+The poor girl murmured something, but it was more like a sob than a
+speech; and Peggy could only press the limp hand again, and resolve that
+when she knew the girl a little better she would try to put some spirit
+into her. Her own spirit was rising. She felt that ten pairs of eyes
+were watching her furtively; that her companions were taking notes, and
+that every spoonful she ate was counted and criticised; but still her
+courage was good, and she was even able to notice that the biscuits were
+light and the peach preserves delicious.
+
+I said ten pairs of eyes, for the eleventh had never been lifted above
+the level of the table-cloth, save for that one grateful glance over the
+spilt pepper. Certainly Miss Parkins was a queer-looking little person.
+Very small and slight, with a certain wizened look that did not belong
+to so young a face; a long, thin nose, and two small reddish-brown eyes
+that looked as if they had always been given to crying. The child--she
+did not look more than a child--had no beauty of any kind; yet a certain
+gentleness of look redeemed the poor little face from absolute ugliness.
+She was queerly dressed, too. Her gown was of good, even rich material,
+but in questionable taste, and cut in a fashion that might have suited
+her grandmother. Peggy's own ideas of dress were primitive, and she was
+not very observant, but she did feel that blue poplin stamped with large
+red roses was not a suitable dress for a schoolgirl, even if she were
+not small and plain and wizened, and even if it were not cut in a bygone
+fashion.
+
+Peggy saw, or fancied she saw, glances of amused contempt thrown at her
+poor little neighbour.
+
+"All the more reason," she thought, "why I should make friends with
+her."
+
+"Do you--did you come yesterday, or the day before?" she asked, as
+cheerfully as she could.
+
+"Oh! yes, I think so!" was the reply, in a gasping whisper. This was not
+very encouraging, but Peggy proceeded.
+
+"Did you have far to come? I came all the way from Ohio."
+
+"Oh! no, I don't think so!"
+
+"It took me all day to get here. It's horrid travelling alone, don't you
+think so?"
+
+"Oh! I--don't know! I never travelled."
+
+On the whole, the girl seemed so distressed that Peggy felt it would be
+a cruel kindness to pursue the conversation. "I needn't talk to the
+others," she said to herself. "They came before I did; they can talk to
+me if they want to."
+
+But now supper was over, and the girls rose with a whirr, like a flock
+of pigeons, and fluttered out of the dining-room. Peggy looked longingly
+after Bertha Haughton; indeed, Bertha seemed to be lingering, looking
+for her; but at that moment two or three girls swooped down upon the
+junior, and began a hubbub of questions. Peggy felt all her shyness
+rushing back in a flood. Turning to flee, she almost fell over little
+Miss Parkins, who was hastening on her way, too. "Come!" said Peggy. "We
+are both strange cats; suppose we stay together! What happens now, do
+you know? This is my first evening here. It's awfully queer, isn't it?"
+
+"Oh!" gasped Miss Parkins. "They--she--read something last night. Don't
+you think I might go to my room? I want to go to my room! Don't you
+think I might?"
+
+"Of course you may!" said Peggy, on fire with sympathy. "It's a pity if
+you've got to hear reading when you don't want to. Cut along, young
+'un!"
+
+Her brother's familiar phrase rose naturally to her lips; it was
+unfortunate that at that moment one of the teachers happened to pass by.
+She was a long, sallow woman, with greenish eyes set too near together,
+and the gaze she fixed upon Peggy was appalling in its severity.
+
+"Young ladies are required to attend the reading!" she said. "Your
+expression is an improper one, Miss Montfort!" and pinching her lips
+together she passed on.
+
+"My goodness gracious me!" whispered Peggy. "Who is that?"
+
+"Oh! hush! oh, don't!" whispered Lobelia Parkins, miserably. "She's
+going to read to-night, because the Principal has a cold; I heard them
+saying so. That is Miss Pugsley!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+IN THE "GYM."
+
+
+Peggy's pillow was quite damp when she went to sleep that night. To be
+sure she had been cheered by a friendly call from Bertha Haughton, but
+even that could not keep the homesickness from triumphing, when she was
+left alone, and the sounds in the corridor died away, and the light was
+out. Home seemed so far, so endlessly far away; she felt so utterly
+alone in the world! Education seemed a foolish and meaningless thing
+beside the love and comfort of home. What would she not give to be able
+to put out her hand and feel her sister Jean beside her, warm and
+loving, her own flesh and blood!
+
+So the pillow was damp, as I have said; but Peggy was young and healthy,
+and she fell asleep after awhile, and when she woke again the sun was
+up and the pillow was dry. Now she did put out her hand for Jean,
+forgetting where she was; and finding nothing but a cold wall, lay
+looking around her, coming back to the present. The room looked very
+strange at first. "Maybe I'm not awake!" said Peggy, wisely; then she
+pinched herself, and with the pinch the whole thing came back.
+
+"Why, of course!" she said. "Oh, dear! well, here I am; and I wanted to
+come, and I've been thinking about it for months, and then it goes and
+is like this!" She sighed, and wondered what they were doing at home,
+and at Fernley; then she became interested in her pretty room, and her
+heart overflowed once more with love to her dear ones at Fernley, who
+had made it so bright and charming for her. "I know what Margaret would
+say!" exclaimed Peggy, raising her head from the pillow. "She would say,
+'Now you are there, my dear, try to make the best of it;' and so I will!
+You hear me!" These last words were spoken aloud with some severity, and
+appeared to be addressed to the brush and comb, which took no notice
+whatever. And then Peggy made the best of that moment, and got up.
+
+Breakfast was another ordeal, but not so bad as the tea of the night
+before; after breakfast came prayers, and then the class-room. Peggy
+found herself seated at a desk, beside one of her classmates, Rose
+Barclay, a pretty brunette, with rosy cheeks and bright dark eyes. In
+the brief pause before study-time, the two girls made acquaintance, and
+Peggy learned that theirs was the largest freshman class the school had
+ever had. All the others were in the west wing, where the freshmen
+belonged.
+
+"You came late," said Rose Barclay, "and that's why you are over among
+the Jews and Seas. That's what they call the juniors and seniors; I've
+learned so much already!" she said, laughing. "They seem to have
+nicknames for everything and everybody in this place."
+
+"Yes!" said Peggy. "Even the rooms are named!" and she told of Vanity
+Fair and the Owls' Nest.
+
+"Corridor A?" asked Rose Barclay. "Oh, they must be Jews. That is
+Judea, I am pretty sure; and the Senior Corridor is the Mediterranean.
+It's awfully silly, isn't it? and yet it's funny, too. I suppose we
+shall get into the swing of it after awhile. You homesick?"
+
+Peggy nodded.
+
+"So'm I! Cry last night?"
+
+Peggy nodded again.
+
+"So did I! but not so much as the girl next door to me. My! she must
+have cried about all night, I should think. I woke up two or three
+times, and she was crying every time, and I heard her sniffing in her
+bath this morning."
+
+"Why didn't you go in and try to cheer her up?" demanded Peggy, rather
+fiercely.
+
+Rose Barclay stared. "Oh, I couldn't do that! why, I've never spoken to
+her; it was that queer little piece that sat next to you. Besides, she
+looks as if she'd die if any one spoke to her."
+
+The school was called to order, and Peggy soon forgot homesickness and
+everything else in the keen joy of mathematics.
+
+She had chosen the scientific course--there were three courses in the
+school--in order to get as much of practical and as little of literary
+knowledge as might be. Geometry was her delight, and it was geometry
+over which she was bending now.
+
+Most of the teachers at Pentland School expected little of the new pupil
+from Ohio. The written examinations that Peggy had passed had caused
+many a head-shaking. The history teacher sighed; the gentle mistress of
+English literature groaned, and said, "Why must this child come here?"
+Only Miss Boyle, the mistress of mathematics, had nodded her head over
+the papers. "Here's a girl who knows what she is about!" she said.
+Accordingly, when Peggy entered class this morning, she was surprised at
+the cordial greeting she received from the bright-eyed lady at the
+central desk; and an indefinable sense of being at home and among
+friends stole gradually over her, as she wrestled with one delightful
+problem after another.
+
+Rose Barclay, at her side, was biting her pencil and twisting her
+pretty forehead into hard knots, and making little progress; but Peggy
+had forgotten her existence. The period passed like a moment, as theorem
+after theorem was disposed of.
+
+"Let EDF and BAC be two triangles, having the angle E equal to the angle
+B, the angle F to the angle C, and the included side EF to the included
+side BC; then will the triangle EDF be equal to the triangle BAC?"
+
+"Of course it will!" Peggy drew triangles in swift and accurate
+demonstration. "Put the side EF on its equal BC, and let the point E
+fall on B, and the point F on C. Then, you see, of course--"
+
+"I don't see how any one is ever to do this!" murmured her neighbour, in
+despair. "Why! why, you've done yours. Oh, just let me see, won't you? I
+never can work it out in the world, so do let me copy yours!"
+
+Peggy reddened to the tips of her ears. "Do you--can you--are we allowed
+to do that?" she stammered.
+
+"Oh! Just as you please!" said Rose Barclay, coldly. "I thought you
+might be willing to oblige me, that's all. It's of no consequence!"
+
+"Oh! But you don't understand!" whispered Peggy, eagerly; but Rose had
+turned away, and paid no heed to her; and Miss Boyle tapped with her
+pencil and said, "Young ladies! No whispering in class, if you please!"
+
+In a few minutes a bell rang, and all the girls sprang up in great
+relief; geometry was not generally popular, and now came the "gym" hour,
+dear to all. Peggy turned at once to her neighbour, sure that she would
+be able to explain everything to the satisfaction of both. To her
+amazement and distress she met a look so cold and hostile that it seemed
+to freeze the words on her lips.
+
+"Miss Barclay!" she said, imploringly. "You didn't understand me, indeed
+you didn't. I should be perfectly delighted to help you, of course I
+should, only I thought it might be against the rules. Of course, I might
+have known you would know what is allowed. I'm awfully sorry!"
+
+Rose Barclay hesitated; her face seemed to soften for a moment; then it
+hardened again, and another change came over it which Peggy did not
+comprehend.
+
+"I don't know what you mean!" she muttered. "Please excuse me, I am in a
+hurry." She was gone, and Peggy, turning in great distress, found Miss
+Boyle standing at her elbow. Had she heard? Peggy was sure she could not
+have heard, for there was no look of surprise or of anything peculiar in
+her pleasant face.
+
+"You like geometry, Miss Montfort?"
+
+"Oh, yes, I love geometry! Oh, please, are we allowed to help each
+other, Miss Boyle?"
+
+"Certainly not!" said Miss Boyle, quietly. "Not upon any account. You
+can see for yourself that there would be no use in a girl's taking
+geometry if she cannot do the work herself."
+
+"Yes, I see! I thought so, only--thank you very much. Do you--shall I go
+now?"
+
+She looked around, and was startled to see that all the other girls had
+disappeared, and she was alone with the teacher.
+
+Miss Boyle smiled, and her smile was so friendly that it warmed poor
+Peggy's heart.
+
+"Yes, you may go now," she said; "but I shall hope to see something of
+you, Miss Montfort. If you will come to my room some evening, I will
+show you some pretty problems that are not in the text-books."
+
+With this, the highest compliment she could pay a pupil, Miss Boyle went
+on her way; and Peggy, after wandering through two or three deserted
+class-rooms, and breaking in upon a senior committee-meeting of a highly
+private nature, and walking into a pantry, found herself at last in the
+gymnasium.
+
+This was a lofty and spacious room, fitted with every possible appliance
+for gymnastic exercises. Peggy's eyes brightened as she gazed about her,
+at the rope-ladders, the parallel bars, the rings and vaulting-horses
+and spring-boards. If this were not Paradise, Peggy did not know what
+was, that was all.
+
+Some of the girls were already arrayed in blouse and full trousers, and
+were taking their place in ranks, under the eye of an alert, graceful
+young woman in a pretty dark blue suit. Others were hurrying up from
+some apartment on a lower floor, and from the stairway came a hum of
+voices which showed that others were still making ready.
+
+Bertha Haughton, in crimson blouse and black trousers, hurried up to
+Peggy.
+
+"Here you are!" she cried. "I have been trying to find you. Where are
+your gym things? Haven't got any? Oh, how too bad!"
+
+"I didn't know!" said poor Peggy. "It didn't say in the programme, did
+it? Can't I do anything without them? Oh, dear."
+
+Her face, so bright a moment before, clouded so instantly with
+disappointment and mortification, that the experienced junior could
+hardly repress a smile.
+
+"My dear! my dear!" she cried. "Do wait till I tell you. You can wear
+the Snowy's things. She hasn't come back yet, and you can wear them just
+as well as not till she comes."
+
+"The Snowy?" repeated Peggy. She remembered vaguely that she had heard
+the name, but it meant nothing to her in her trouble.
+
+"Yes, my chum, the Snowy Owl. I'm the Fluffy one, don't you remember?
+The Snowy is a bit taller than you, but that is no matter; you can wear
+them perfectly well, I tell you. Come along, and I'll get you into
+them."
+
+Peggy hung back, protesting faintly against appropriating the clothes of
+a person she had never seen; but finally she yielded to Bertha's
+vigorous pulls, and followed her down a winding stair, into a narrow
+room filled with a hubbub of girls in every stage of dressing and
+undressing. Viola Vincent fluttered up to her (it is difficult to
+flutter in a gymnasium suit, and only Viola's supremely butterfly
+quality enabled her to do it), a charming vision of pale blue, with a
+profusion of tiny brass buttons twinkling wherever a button could be
+put.
+
+"Here you are!" she cried, airily. "I haven't seen you for an age. I've
+been telling everybody about you, the V. V's vis-à-vis. It sounds so
+quaint, doesn't it? I adore quaintness. How do you like my new suit,
+Fluffy? Isn't it too cute for anything? This is the first time I've worn
+it; I think it is too perfectly sweet to live in, don't you?"
+
+"I hope not!" said Bertha, laughing. "We should be sorry to have you
+pass away, Vanity, because your dress is too sweet."
+
+"No, but really!" continued Viola, earnestly. "Do I exaggerate, Fluffy?
+_Isn't_ it the sweetest thing you ever saw? I ask because I want to
+know, you know!"
+
+Bertha's only reply was to pull her pink ear good-naturedly, and then
+dive head-foremost into a locker.
+
+"You find the Fluffy quaint?" said Viola to Peggy. "Yes? she is quaint,
+but delicious! So is the Snowy! I simply could not exist without them;
+they are the guiding stars of the corridor, don't you know? What are you
+about, Fluffy? What are you doing with the Snowy's togs? She has not
+come back, no!" clasping her hands in ecstasy. "_Don't_ tell me the
+Snowy has come back, Fluff!"
+
+"I certainly won't!" said Bertha, coolly. "She isn't coming back till
+day after to-morrow. Peggy Montfort is going to wear her things till her
+own are ready, that's all. Don't excite yourself too much, Vanity; it'll
+take the colour out of your hair."
+
+"No! _Do_ you think so?" replied Viola; "really? ah! here's V., ready at
+last. What I have to endure, V., waiting while you prink, no tongue can
+tell. Ta, dears, come up soon!" and she fluttered away, arm in arm with
+her chum.
+
+"Is she always like that?" asked Peggy, bewildered.
+
+"Who? Vanity? Oh, yes! there's no possible harm in Vanity; she is really
+the best hearted creature in the world. The other, though,--well, you
+want to be a little on your guard with Vivia. Oh, we are the best
+friends in the world, of course; only, her temper is a little uncertain
+at times, and it's just as well to know about it. There! why, the
+trousers fit you to perfection!" The trousers, as wide as the Flying
+Dutchman's, certainly fell comfortably enough about Peggy's stout
+knees.
+
+"Now for the blouse! I'll put it over your head!"
+
+A silent but breathless struggle followed, from which Peggy emerged
+panting and crimson, but victorious. "Oh, I do hope she--your
+chum--won't mind!" she cried. "I am so afraid I shall get them dirty!"
+for it was a whim of the Snowy Owl's to wear a white gym suit, and it
+was as fresh as if it were just out of the tub, as indeed it was.
+
+"Oh, that is no matter! She washes them every week; she likes to wash;
+it's one of her accomplishments. Come along now!"
+
+They ran up-stairs, and found the class just forming in ranks. A gesture
+bade them fall into line with the rest, and Peggy stood with her toes on
+a chalk mark, waiting the word of command.
+
+It came. "Left foot forward--fall out!" At the command every girl put
+out her left foot as far as she could, and flung her whole weight
+forward on it. Peggy did the same, and fell on her nose with a
+resounding crash. The class giggled, but were sharply checked by the
+teacher.
+
+"We will try this once more. Try to balance the body carefully! Take
+time! Once more! Left foot forward--fall out!"
+
+Again the line dropped forward with one motion; and again our poor Peggy
+fell on her nose. This time the nose protested in its way, and bled;
+great crimson drops fell on the white plumage of the Snowy Owl. Almost
+crying with distress and mortification, Peggy felt for her handkerchief.
+Alas! she was not used to trousers, and no pocket could she find, though
+there was one, and her handkerchief was in it. What should she do? She
+was just about to make a bolt for the stairs, when a handkerchief was
+thrust into her hand. She clapped it to her suffering nose, and looked
+gratefully at her left-hand neighbour in the ranks. The girl nodded
+slightly, and said, "All serene! better ask leave to retire. Hold arms
+over head, stop it!" She was a slender girl, with a pensive face and
+melancholy blue eyes. Her hair was plainly parted, Madonna-fashion, and
+there was something remote and old-world about her whole look and air.
+
+"Oh, thank you!" murmured poor Peggy. "You're awfully kind!" She hoped
+the tiresome bleeding would stop on the instant, but it did not; she was
+obliged to ask leave to go down-stairs; and receiving it, dashed down
+headlong, and cannoned violently against Vivia Varnham, who had gone
+down for something she had forgotten.
+
+"Oh, I beg your pardon!" gasped Peggy. "I'm--awfully clumsy--"
+
+"I think you are!" said the other, with a flash of her hazel eyes.
+"Perhaps you'll let me pass now, please, before you make another
+exhibition of yourself." She went on, with a scornful toss of her head.
+
+Poor Peggy! her tears flowed fast over the friendly handkerchief. "I
+wish I was dead!" she sobbed. "I wish I had never come to this horrid,
+odious place, where everybody is so hateful. And I can't hold up my arms
+when I have to hold this to my nose all the time."
+
+"Quite so!" said a quiet voice behind her. The sad-looking girl took her
+hands and held them straight up in one of her own, the other keeping the
+handkerchief in position. No word was spoken, but in five minutes the
+bleeding was stopped.
+
+"Basin--water!" said the stranger. "Don't mention it!" as Peggy tried to
+falter her thanks. And she was gone.
+
+Peggy waited till she felt sure of herself and her nose. Then she spoke
+severely to herself, and asked what Uncle John would say to such
+behaviour. "_Everybody_ isn't hateful!" she said. "And anyhow, there are
+some things there that I can do, if I haven't learned this trick. I
+won't give up till I've gone up that rope."
+
+Her eye had been caught by a stout rope dangling from the ceiling. This
+was in her own line, and she felt that if she could redeem herself in
+her own eyes, she should not care so much about all those other laughing
+eyes. And yet, perhaps she thought more about those eyes than she was
+aware of, for our Peggy was very human.
+
+This time fortune favoured her. As she emerged from the lower regions, a
+girl was just trying to climb the rope; in fact, there were three ropes
+hanging side by side, and the climbing of them was part of the regular
+exercise. She sought Bertha, who was most sympathetic, not having been
+near enough to help Peggy.
+
+"Climb the rope? Oh, you'd better not try that, Peggy! it takes a lot of
+practice. Why, I've been here two years, and I can't get to the top yet.
+Really, it's very hard. Let's come and swing on the ring, if you are
+quite sure about your poor nose."
+
+But Peggy did not want to swing on the rings, nor to do anything else
+that Bertha proposed; she wanted to climb that rope, and she meant to do
+it; the prairie blood was roused.
+
+"Well, I'll ask Miss Brent," said good-natured Bertha, finding her
+determined. "You say you have had some experience in climbing? Perhaps
+she'll let you go a little way up."
+
+Miss Brent, interrogated, came and looked Peggy over carefully; felt her
+muscles, asked her a few questions, and then said, "You may have the
+next turn, Miss Montfort."
+
+[Illustration: "UP THEY WENT, HAND OVER HAND."]
+
+The girl on the rope next her was having a sad time of it. She swung
+this way and that; her legs waved wildly in the air; and at length
+she came down "all abroad," having only ascended a few feet. At the same
+moment, the girl on the next rope dropped, so that two were left
+unoccupied. Peggy advanced and laid her hand upon one rope, just as
+Vivia Varnham took possession of the other. On the third, the pensive
+girl with the Madonna braids was swinging easily, half-way up to the
+ceiling; she twisted her feet around the rope, and, so resting, observed
+the progress of the other two.
+
+Up they went, hand over hand. Vivia Varnham gave a glance of disdain
+when she saw who her rival was. She was light and agile, and did not for
+an instant think that this heavy, clumsy creature could make any headway
+against her. She went up lightly and easily, but somehow the heavy,
+clumsy creature managed to keep abreast of her; was even gaining upon
+her, drawing up, up, above her head. Vivia put on a spurt, and passed
+Peggy, climbing very swiftly--for a moment; then the ache in her wrists
+compelled her to slacken her rate of speed, and the thickset figure came
+up, up, steadily and surely. Truth to tell, though Peggy Montfort was
+awkward, she was as strong as a steer. Her weight was not fat, but sheer
+bone and brawn; and her one hundred and forty pounds were easy enough
+for her to carry, even up a rope thirty feet long. But Vivia Varnham,
+with all her lightness and quickness, had little strength in her wrists.
+They ached painfully, but she would not give up. Her face flushed, her
+breath came in distressful gasps, she struggled on and up. They were
+more than half-way up; they had passed the quiet observer, swinging
+comfortably with her feet twisted in her rope. "Better go down, V.!"
+said the girl with the sad eyes. "She's too many for you!"
+
+Vivia shook her head with an angry gesture. Her eyes swam, the pain in
+her wrists was unendurable; but she set her teeth, and struggled on,
+till from below came the voice of Miss Brent, calm and authoritative.
+
+"Come down, Miss Varnham! You have gone far enough."
+
+Most unwillingly, with sullen face and fluttering breath, Vivia slid to
+the floor. She expected, everybody expected, to hear the order repeated
+for the benefit of the newcomer, the audacious freshman who had ventured
+upon junior ground; for the rope-climbing was not generally attempted
+till the third year. But Miss Brent kept her eyes on Peggy, and smiled,
+and made no sign.
+
+Peggy was enjoying herself immensely. She was not a swift climber, but
+there was no tiring her, and this, as she said to herself, was "great!"
+She wished Margaret could see her! No! It would frighten dear Margaret.
+Rita, then! Rita loved feats of skill; probably she could climb far
+better than she, Peggy, could; Rita was so light, so graceful, so
+fearless.
+
+A shout rang from below. Something passed her on the next rope, light
+and swift as a bird in flight. She could almost touch the ceiling now;
+she looked up; there, at the very top of the next rope, was her friend
+of the dressing-room, gazing at her with melancholy blue eyes, and
+holding out a slender hand.
+
+"Shake!" said the girl with the Madonna braids.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+ENTER THE SCAPEGOAT.
+
+
+Peggy was sitting alone in her room that evening, studying, when there
+rose a hubbub outside her window; wheels, and the trampling of horses,
+and girls' voices. She ran to the window and looked out; there was a
+great hay-rigging, drawn by four stout horses, and comfortably lined
+with straw. Girls were climbing into it on every side, and more and more
+came pouring out of the house. It was full moon, and their faces shone
+so clear and merry in the light, that Peggy could not help feeling a
+pang, not of envy, but of longing. Of course there had been no question
+of her going; it was a junior affair; but they all looked so happy and
+jolly, and it was so lonely here! As she stood longing, Viola Vincent
+popped her pretty head in to say good-bye.
+
+"Thought you might like to see my toque!" she said, fluttering in the
+doorway. "It's the first time I have had it on. Isn't it dandy? Isn't it
+perfectly sweet?"
+
+Peggy thought it charming, and said so; she was rapidly losing her heart
+to her pretty butterfly neighbour.
+
+"I thought you'd like to see it!" said Viola, naïvely. "It makes it
+easier to study, if you see something pretty. Ta, dear! I wish you were
+going. We shall have a dandy time, simply dandy!"
+
+She fluttered out, and left the door ajar behind her, so that Peggy
+could not help hearing the half-whispered colloquy that ensued in the
+corridor.
+
+"Went to say good-bye to the Veezy Vee. Why shouldn't I?"
+
+"Why should you? You'll have her around your neck if you don't take
+care, like a lump, as she is."
+
+"Hush, V.! you're quite vinegar, aren't you? Why? She's perfectly
+harmless, and I find her quaint. You know I adore quaintness!"
+
+"Oh, come along, and don't talk flummery to me; you know I can't stand
+it."
+
+The two passed on, and Peggy's ears burned uncomfortably. Evidently
+Vivia Varnham had taken a violent dislike to her; well, she certainly
+returned it. And of course that would prevent her from ever seeing much
+of the other, sweet pretty thing. Well, of course she should have to be
+alone most of the time. She went to the window again, and saw the two
+V's climbing in; then there was a great shouting and waving of
+handkerchiefs, and they drove away. Peggy sighed, and sat down once more
+to her task. It was rhetoric, and her whole nature cried out against it;
+but the study was prescribed, and the teacher, Miss Pugsley, was
+reported to be very strict. Peggy put her elbows on the table, and her
+head on her hands, and bent in good earnest over the book.
+
+"'Both prepositions and conjunctions are called connectives.'
+
+"Oh, dear! then why can't we _call_ them connectives, and have one word
+to remember, instead of three?
+
+"'When I say the hen barks'--why, that makes nonsense! Oh, I got two
+lines mixed up. 'When I say the dog barks, I speak of some particular
+dog.' Well, anybody can see that. Oh, I do wonder if Flora will remember
+to wash Peter's ear, where he had the canker! It was almost well, but
+still it will need washing. Dear Peter! dear dogs! they will miss me, I
+know they will. If one could only have a dog here, it wouldn't be half
+so bad. I could have a basket for him to sleep in, you know, and then in
+the morning he would get up on the bed, and we'd have a beautiful time.
+There's a dog barking now! He wants to be let in, poor dear! How
+perfectly idiotic some people are, not to know what a dog wants. I
+remember that stupid man at home beating poor Peter,--beating him with a
+hoe, when all the time Peter was telling him that a tramp was stealing
+the melons. Yes; but when Petie saw that the man was an idiot, he went
+and attended to the tramp himself, and you never saw a tramp so scared
+in your life. Oh, dear! well!
+
+"'He was in the room, and went out of it.' I wish I could go out of this
+room; but I don't know where I should go to. Bertha went, of course,
+with the others. If it wasn't for Bertha, I really don't think I could
+possibly stay here."
+
+A knock at the door; and Bertha's square, cheerful face looked in. "Any
+chance to study here? there's something the matter with my lamp,
+why,--Peggy!"
+
+For Peggy had jumped up and thrown her arms around her friend's neck,
+and given her a hug which took her breath.
+
+"Oh, you dear!" cried Peggy. "I never was so glad to see anybody in my
+life. Here, take this chair, Bertha. Oh, it was just lovely of you to
+come in. You knew I would be forlorn, I know that was why you came. But
+why didn't you go on the straw-ride? I supposed of course you had gone."
+
+"One question at a time," pleaded Bertha; "and I can't answer any if you
+destroy my breathing apparatus, Hippolyta."
+
+"Why Hippolyta?"
+
+"Oh; she was Queen of the Amazons, don't you know? Only because you are
+so strong, my dear."
+
+"No," said Peggy, dolefully. "I never heard of her. Margaret would know,
+but I am awfully stupid, I told you I was. Do you have rhetoric,
+Bertha?"
+
+"Not this year. I had it the first two years. It's not so bad; in fact,
+I was rather fond of it."
+
+Peggy gazed at her in such unfeigned amazement that Bertha could not
+help laughing; but there was never any sneer in Bertha's laugh. "Come!"
+she said. "Now we'll sit down and study our prettiest. See! I have a lot
+of Greek to do. Peggy, don't look like that! What is the matter?"
+
+Peggy had recoiled in horror, her blue eyes opened to their widest
+extent.
+
+"Greek!" she cried. "You don't--I sha'n't have to take Greek, shall I?
+because I would rather die, and I should die!"
+
+"Nonsense! no, I don't know that you will have to take it at all. What
+course have you taken,--scientific? Oh, no, you don't have Greek in
+that. What have you had to-day?"
+
+"Geometry! Of course that was splendid."
+
+"Oh, indeed! was it?"
+
+"Why, yes; I just love geometry. I could do it all day, but we only have
+it one hour." And Peggy looked injured.
+
+"Well," said Bertha, "you are a queer girl, Peggy Montfort. But there'll
+be one happy person in this school, and that is Miss Boyle."
+
+"I don't understand you! Don't most girls,--don't you like geometry,
+Bertha?"
+
+"My dear, I regard everything in the shape of mathematics with terror
+and disgust. I don't know any geometry, nor any algebra. I've been
+through them both, and the more I learned, the more I didn't know. As to
+arithmetic, I know that four quarts make a gallon, and that really is
+all my mind is equal to. But if you won't let me study my Greek, Peggy,
+I shall go home again to the Nest."
+
+"Oh, I do! I will!" cried poor Peggy; and there was silence for a time,
+both girls studying in earnest, the silence only broken by the turning
+of a page, or a heartfelt sigh from Peggy as she dealt with parts of
+speech.
+
+So thoroughly were they absorbed in their task that they did not hear
+sundry noises outside the window. The window was open, for the night was
+warm as well as bright; indeed, the upper half of it was pushed entirely
+down, so that it was like a double half-door of glass. Outside this
+window was the black skeleton of the fire-escape; and if the two girls
+had been on the alert, they might have heard various unobtrusive sounds
+from this direction. As it was, they both started violently when a clear
+voice addressed them in quiet and thoughtful tones.
+
+"Peace to this dwelling!" said the voice.
+
+Peggy looked up hastily. There, leaning on the window-sash, as calm and
+composed as she had been at the top of the rope, was the stranger with
+the melancholy eyes and the Madonna braids.
+
+"Peace!" she repeated. "Piece of pie! have some!" She held out a large
+segment of pie, and added, "Any admittance for the Goat?"
+
+Peggy was still too startled to find breath to answer, but Bertha sprang
+up, crying, "Grace! how could you frighten us so?"
+
+"Not Grace!" said the stranger, with an unmoved countenance. "Goat! let
+us not deceive the Innocent! A scapegrace is one thing, a scapegoat is
+another, and from some points a preferable one. But the Innocent is
+abroad, I perceive. Innocent, I am the Scapegoat. Is there admittance?"
+
+"Oh!" gasped Peggy, blushing and faltering. "Oh, please come in! I--I
+didn't know you were waiting for me to-- Sha'n't I open it from the
+bottom?"
+
+"If you will take the pie," said the stranger, gravely; "thank you; that
+is your piece, this is mine,--already bitten, or I would offer it to the
+Fluffy."
+
+Relieved of two large pieces of pie, she laid one hand on the sash, and
+vaulted lightly over; then she shook hands solemnly with Peggy, took her
+own piece of pie, and, seating herself on the floor, proceeded to eat it
+daintily.
+
+"It is a good pie!" she said. "If not afraid of pollution, Fluffy, a
+bite?"
+
+Bertha was looking half amused, half angry. "Grace, how can you act so?"
+she said.
+
+"How?" said Grace. "My sweet child, it is as easy as breathing. I will
+give instruction at any time, without charge."
+
+"I thought you were doing double lessons," Bertha went on, "and being as
+good as gold. Grace, you can be so good!"
+
+"Can't I!" said Grace; her tone was one of admiring gravity; her blue
+eyes kept their look of pensive sadness.
+
+"And it's a thing I admire, goodness!" she went on, shaking her head.
+"That's why I practise it. Double lessons? I'll warrant you! this is the
+second time I have been down here to-night, for example; other things in
+proportion." She waved her hand, and fell to again at her pie.
+
+Peggy had been sitting open-eyed, watching this singular person, not
+knowing what to say. Now, however, meeting the solemn gaze of the large
+sad eyes, she felt compelled to speech.
+
+"It--it's delicious!" she said, timidly. "Wouldn't you rather sit in a
+chair, Miss--" she hesitated, not liking to say "Grace."
+
+"Oh, dear!" said Bertha, still put out. "You make me forget my manners
+and everything, Grace. Peggy, this is Miss Grace Wolfe; Grace, Miss
+Peggy Montfort."
+
+"Charmed!" said Miss Wolfe. "But we have met before, Fluffy, or I should
+not have descended."
+
+        "We met, 'twas on a rope,
+           And I thought she had done me;
+         I felt, I could not feel,
+           For my fate was upon me.
+
+"If it hadn't been for your possession of peas, you would have beaten
+me, Miss Montfort. As it was, here's to our next meeting under the
+ceiling!" She took a large bite of pie, and regarded Peggy benevolently.
+
+"Of peas?" repeated Peggy, vaguely, feeling that this might be English,
+but was not sense.
+
+"Precisely. _Avoir du pois_, literally, to possess a pea! The French
+language. But you should have seen Vexation!" this strange person added,
+turning to Bertha. "Did see her? Well, she was a pleasant sight. Noxious
+animal, Vexation! It is a joy to see her taken down occasionally."
+
+"I notice you are good friends enough, where any mischief is afoot!"
+said Bertha, bluntly. She broke a corner off the pie, and added, "Goat,
+this is mince pie!"
+
+"It is! it is!" said Miss Wolfe. "Ever discriminating, my own! And good?
+Say it is good, Fluffy!"
+
+"Yes, it is uncommonly good!" said Bertha. "Where did you get it? You've
+no business to have it, of course!"
+
+"I got it out of a bandbox, sweet one!" replied Grace Wolfe. "It
+lives--they live, I should say, for there are three of them, thanks be
+to praise!--in a bandbox. A round one, or, to be more exact, oval in
+form, covered with wall-paper, whereon purple scrolls dispute the
+mastery with pink lozenges. It's the sweetest thing in bandboxes that
+I've seen since time was."
+
+"Yes, but the pies!"
+
+"The pies! as I was saying, three of them; ample, full moons of rapture!
+
+        "They came in beauty, side by side,
+           They filled one home with glee.
+         Their bones are scattered--"
+
+She paused with an expressive gesture.
+
+"The best of it is,--you will admit that this is neat, Fluffy, even if
+your slavery to the virtues compels your disapproval,--the best of it
+is, the bandbox is the property of our Puggy."
+
+"Miss Pugsley's bandbox! Oh, Grace!"
+
+"Precisely! Our Puggy goes heavily without it, I am told. What would
+you? It was outside her door, while sweeping was going on; one is human,
+after all. She was out, with the best bonnet on her head. Poor head!
+Poor bonnet! My hearty commiseration for both! When she returned, no
+bandbox! At present she harries the domestics; she hasn't thought of me
+yet, for a wonder. To-morrow, or the day after, I shall finish the
+pies--alas! Then I return the repository, and her bonnet acquires a
+fine, full, fruity flavour that annihilation alone can remove.
+
+        "You may break, you may shatter
+           The tile if you will,
+         But the scent of the brandy
+           Will cling round it still."
+
+"Grace! What a diabolical plot! and you have been lying awake, I
+suppose, chuckling over this!"
+
+Miss Wolfe waved her hand in deprecation. "Not lying awake, sweet one!
+Too slight a thing for that; still, it served to amuse. One must live,
+even you will admit that. What's this? Greek? Give it me!" She stretched
+out her hand for the book, but Bertha held it fast.
+
+"No! no, Goat; I want it myself, and besides, you have no business here,
+you know you haven't."
+
+"No; and you?" replied the other, coolly.
+
+"I have permission; my lamp is out of order, and I asked Miss Russell if
+I might study in here," said Bertha. "But you will get into trouble if
+you stay, Grace, you know you will. Be good now, and go home!"
+
+Grace Wolfe gazed pensively at her.
+
+"You would check the interchange of souls?" she said. "I feel drawn to
+this Innocent, Fluff! I feel that she may have an influence over me for
+good. You would not part us? Could'st love a Goat, Innocent?" she
+added, turning to Peggy, and fixing her eyes on her with mournful
+intensity.
+
+Peggy blushed, but before she could reply Bertha struck in decidedly.
+
+"Grace, just one word! Peggy Montfort is a stranger, and I am not going
+to let her get into trouble if I can help it. And I don't want you to
+get into trouble, either!" she added, more gently. "You know, my dear--"
+
+She stopped suddenly, for Grace Wolfe threw up her hand with a warning
+gesture; then, with a single swift movement, she rolled under the bed,
+and was out of sight.
+
+"Study!" said Bertha, in a low whisper. "Study _hard_!"
+
+Wholly bewildered, Peggy fixed her eyes on her book. She had heard no
+sound before, but now came a footfall in the corridor. A knock at the
+door, and Miss Russell opened it and looked in.
+
+"Your lamp is in order now, Bertha," she said. "I thought I would tell
+you, as I was going by; but you can stay a little longer, if you like.
+How charming you have made your room, Miss Montfort."
+
+"Won't--won't you come in, Miss Russell?" stammered poor Peggy,
+conscious of Grace Wolfe's eyes under the bed, yet feeling that civility
+admitted of only one answer.
+
+"Not now, thank you! Some day soon I shall come and make you a little
+visit, though, with pleasure. Good night, young ladies!"
+
+She nodded kindly, closed the door, and passed on.
+
+The girls drew breath. A moment, and Grace Wolfe rolled out again, rose,
+and shook her neat dress.
+
+"So much for Buckingham!" she said. "The good point about Principie is,
+she is respectable. Now, my Puggy would have looked through the keyhole
+first. But I foresee a visit to my own humble cot, to see whether I have
+learned my lessons.
+
+        "Oh! Farewell, friends!
+         Here Thisbe ends!"
+
+She waved her hand, vaulted once more over the window, and was gone. An
+occasional faint, cat-like sound told of her progress up the
+fire-escape; then a window creaked slightly overhead, and all was
+silent.
+
+Bertha Haughton ruffled up her curly black locks with a gesture of
+exasperation.
+
+"And the worst of it is," she said, "that girl will know her Greek
+better than any one in class. That's half the trouble; she learns so
+quickly, her lessons don't take half her time, and she puts the rest
+into mischief."
+
+"She seems awfully clever!" said Peggy, timidly.
+
+Bertha nodded. "She is just that, my dear; awfully clever! I'll tell you
+more about her to-morrow, but now we must study hard, for we've only
+twenty minutes left. Only, my dear, when you think of the Goat, remember
+three things: she is D. D. D.,--dear, delightful,--and dangerous!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+TO THE RESCUE.
+
+
+The next morning proved a hard one for Peggy; the rhetoric lesson was
+the first that must be recited. She had studied it hard, but somehow the
+rules seemed to make little impression. Whenever she tried to fix them
+in her mind, there came between her and the page two melancholy blue
+eyes, and she seemed to hear a voice of singular quality, a voice with a
+thrill in it, saying, "Could'st love a Goat, Innocent?"
+
+So she was not as well prepared as she should have been when she went
+into the class; and on meeting Miss Pugsley's cold greenish brown eye,
+what she did know seemed to evaporate from the top of her head, leaving
+a total blank. She stumbled and floundered; she did not know what an
+antecedent was, and she could not remember ever to have heard of a
+reciprocal pronoun.
+
+"Pray, Miss Montfort, were you asleep or awake when you studied this
+lesson?" inquired Miss Pugsley, with acrid calm.
+
+"I don't know!" replied Peggy, now thoroughly bewildered.
+
+"Well, if you were asleep, let me recommend you to try it again when you
+wake up; or if you were awake, perhaps you might do it better in your
+sleep."
+
+Peggy flushed scarlet, and the ready tears sprang into her eyes; but she
+forced them back, bit her lip, and tried not to feel the eyes of the
+whole class bent on her in amused astonishment. Miss Pugsley seemed to
+take positive pleasure in her ignorance and embarrassment. She put one
+question after another, each more ingeniously contrived than the
+last--or so it seemed--to show what Peggy did not know. At last, in
+self-defence, the poor child took refuge in one simple and invariable
+answer: "I don't know!" So confused was she that these words were the
+only ones she could utter, even when she knew the correct answer, or
+would have done so if she could have collected her wits. By the end of
+the hour, Peggy was entirely convinced that she was the dunce and butt
+of the school; that she knew nothing, and never would know anything.
+
+It seemed a cruel stroke of fate that this terrible period should be
+followed by that of general history, for Peggy detested history, as some
+of my readers already know. She went into the next class-room with an
+aching head, and a heart throbbing with a sense of utter worthlessness
+in herself, and of bitter cruelty in others. She did not even look up at
+the teacher, but kept her eyes fixed on her desk, and answered the few
+questions that meant anything to her, sullenly and unwillingly. She did
+try at first to follow the lesson, but her head ached so, the words
+seemed to sing themselves into mere nonsense, and she soon gave up the
+attempt; the more so as this teacher, who had been observing her pretty
+closely, for some reason or other asked her very few questions. At last,
+however, the blow fell.
+
+"Where did Philip of Macedon come from, Miss Montfort?"
+
+"I don't know," said Peggy.
+
+"Oh, I think you do," said Miss Cortlandt, with a pleasant smile, and
+checking, with a warning glance, the rising giggle.
+
+"Try again, Miss Montfort. Philip the Great, Philip of Macedon,--where
+did he come from? Surely you can tell me!"
+
+"I don't know," said Peggy, doggedly; and at the moment she actually did
+not.
+
+"My dear child," said the teacher, "did you ever hear what was the
+colour of Washington's gray mare?"
+
+"No, ma'am," said Peggy.
+
+"Well, what was it?"
+
+"I don't know."
+
+Emily Cortlandt had graduated from college the year before. She laid
+down her pencil, and looked very kindly at the distracted girl.
+
+"I think you are not feeling well, Miss Montfort," she said. "Does your
+head ache?"
+
+"Yes, ma'am," said Peggy. She could not have said another word; her
+whole strength was needed to keep back the flood of tears that was
+rising, rising.
+
+"You need not stay through the lesson," Miss Cortlandt went on, and the
+sympathy in her voice only brought the flood higher and nearer.
+
+"You can make up the lesson to me some other time. Now, you would better
+go and lie down for a little, and then take a turn in the fresh air.
+Miss Bangs, what was the date of Philip's first invasion?"
+
+Peggy never knew how she got out of the class-room. She longed to give
+at least a grateful look at the kind soul who had saved her, but her
+eyes were already swimming in tears. She fled along the corridor,
+sobbing hysterically, blinded with tears, conscious of only one thing,
+the desperate resolve to get to her room, before she broke down
+altogether. Flying thus around a corner, she rushed headlong into a
+group of girls who were gathered around something, she could not tell
+what. So violent was the shock that Peggy reeled and struck her head
+sharply against the wall. This brought her to herself. She caught back
+the sob on her lips, and dashed the tears from her eyes before any one
+saw them,--or so she hoped; then she looked to see what was going on.
+Next moment she had forgotten that there were such things as tears in
+the world.
+
+There were six or eight girls in the group, mostly sophomores, though a
+few were freshmen. They were looking down at something--somebody--crouching
+on the floor against the wall, and their laughter, checked for an instant
+by Peggy's onset, broke out afresh. "Here's Peggy Montfort, just in time
+to see the fun. Look, Miss Montfort, and see the fashions! Straight from
+Paris, and the very last thing!"
+
+The speaker was Blanche Haight, a tall sophomore with bleached hair, and
+eyes set too near together. She was considered a wit, and every time she
+spoke the other girls giggled and screamed.
+
+The person crouching on the floor was Lobelia Parkins. Her head was
+pressed against the wall, her face hidden in her hands; misery and
+terror were in every line of her poor little shrinking figure, but this
+only gave added delight to her tormentors.
+
+"Look, ladies, at the new sleeve!" cried Miss Haight, lifting the skinny
+arm, from which the blue poplin sleeve hung in an awkward fashion. "Did
+you ever see anything so exquisite? Look at the fringe, will you, and
+the pattern? I'm going to get Miss Russell to put her up on exhibition,
+so the whole school can have the benefit; it's a shame to keep it to
+ourselves!"
+
+"He! he! he!" went all the girls. "Blanche, you are too funny for
+anything!"
+
+"Where did your mother get it?" asked another; and this, as Peggy saw
+with a shock, was pretty Rose Barclay. "Did the ragman bring it around,
+or did she pick it up in the gutter? Say, Miss Parkins, I wish you'd
+tell us, 'cause we all want to know."
+
+"Yes, of course we want to know!" cried Miss Haight. "I'm going to write
+this very night, to see if Mumma can't get me one like it. I never shall
+be happy till I--"
+
+That sentence never was finished. The speaker found her own arm seized
+in a grip of iron, which forced her to drop the poor little arm in the
+blue sleeve. She was forced back against the wall, and found herself
+confronted by a pair of blue eyes blazing with righteous wrath.
+
+"How dare you?" cried Peggy Montfort, in a voice that quivered with
+rage. "You mean, cowardly brute, how dare you? Touch her again, and I'll
+choke the words down your throat!"
+
+Blanche Haight gasped for a moment; indeed, the whole group was cowed by
+this sudden vision of strength and fury. But she recovered herself in a
+moment.
+
+"Well, indeed!" she said. "I should like to know what this means, Miss
+Montfort? I should like to know who gave you authority to choke people,
+and abuse them, and call them names?"
+
+"You'll find out what it means!" said Peggy, waiving the second
+question, and replying to the first. "If you touch that child again, or
+so much as speak to her, I'll choke you."
+
+"Girls, do you hear this?" cried Blanche Haight. "Are you going to
+stand by, and let this girl ride over us?"
+
+"Shame!" cried the girls. "Bully!"
+
+"Bully!" cried Peggy, dropping her hold of Miss Haight, and turning to
+face the others. "You call me a bully, and you yourselves, eight great
+grown girls, standing around to torment and torture this poor helpless
+child? Shame on you! Shame on you all, every one! I'm ashamed to be in
+the same school with you. I--" (Here, I am sorry to say, Peggy forgot
+that she was a young lady, forgot everything save that she was the
+daughter of hot-blooded James Montfort.) "I could whip the whole lot of
+you, and I'll do it if you dare to say 'Boo!' but you don't!"
+
+It was a fact that no one did say "Boo!" There was a pause, Peggy
+standing with folded arms before the shrinking child, her whole figure
+dilated with passion, till she seemed to tower above the rest, who for
+their part cowered before her.
+
+Rose Barclay was the first to speak.
+
+"We are very fortunate to find a leader for the freshman class," she
+said, spitefully, "and such a leader! Miss Montfort is too high-toned
+to help a classmate with her lesson, but not too high-toned to talk like
+a Bowery rowdy. Come, along, girls! I for one don't care to listen to
+any more such refined, elegant talk!"
+
+"Yes, you'd better go along!" said Peggy, the Valkyr, briefly.
+
+"Pray, may I ask," said Blanche Haight, with a bitter sneer, "are you
+monitor of this corridor?"
+
+"No," said a voice behind her; "but I am."
+
+A girl had come quietly up the stairs, and was now standing close beside
+the excited group, none of whom had seen or heard her,--a tall girl,
+with red-gold hair, dressed as if she had just come from a journey.
+
+"I am the monitor of this corridor," she repeated. "Please go to your
+rooms, or I shall be obliged to report you."
+
+The girls shrunk together, whispering, the freshmen questioning the
+sophomores.
+
+"Who is it? Who is it?"
+
+"Hush! It's the junior president. Come along!"
+
+The group melted away; another moment, and all were gone save Peggy, who
+was now on the floor, with her arms around the little miserable
+creature, who still shrank close against the wall, as if her life
+depended on the contact.
+
+"There, dear!" she cried. "They are gone. Come! Don't huddle up so, you
+poor little thing. Those brutes are gone, and there's nobody here but
+me, Peggy, and--" she glanced up at the tall girl. "Oh! won't you help
+me?" she cried. "I think--she doesn't seem to hear what I am saying. Oh,
+is she dead?"
+
+"No," said the monitor. "I think she has fainted, though, poor little
+soul! We must carry her to her room. Do you know where it is? I have
+only just come back, and don't know where the freshmen are."
+
+"No, I don't know, but I'll take her to my room; I'm in No. 18. Oh, I
+can carry her alone; she's all skin and bone; she doesn't weigh
+anything."
+
+The little figure in the staring poplin gown hung quite limp, as Peggy
+lifted it. "You'd better let me help," said the tall girl, kindly. "We
+can make her more comfortable; so!"
+
+Together they carried her to Peggy's room, and laid her on the bed. It
+was really more fright and distress than actual fainting, for she soon
+opened her eyes, and looked eagerly at Peggy, but closed them again with
+a faint cry, at sight of the stranger.
+
+"You needn't be afraid of her!" cried Peggy, eagerly. "She isn't one of
+them; she's none of that horrid crowd. I don't know who you are," she
+said, "but I'm ever and ever and ever so much obliged to you. I don't
+know whether you heard what they were saying."
+
+And she poured out an indignant account of the cruelty she had witnessed
+and put a stop to. The stranger's eyes were stern enough, as she
+listened. "I heard only the end of it," she said, briefly, "but where I
+see Blanche Haight, I am never surprised at anything cruel or cowardly.
+I am very glad to know you; it was a mercy that you happened to come
+along just then. I hope we shall be friends, Miss--is it Miss
+Montfort?"
+
+"Oh, that I will!" cried Peggy, responding with all her warm heart to
+the sweet smile and the lovely look in the clear blue eyes. "Oh, I
+should like to ever so much; but I don't know your name, do I?"
+
+The stranger smiled again. "They call me the Snowy Owl," she said, "but
+my name is Gertrude Merryweather."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+THE OWL'S NEST.
+
+
+When Peggy escorted Lobelia Parkins back to her room, she found that it
+was the one directly above her own. Point for point, the rooms were
+alike, fire-escape and all,--so far as the actual outlines were
+concerned; there, however, the likeness ended. There had been no Uncle
+John, no Margaret, in this case. The room was furnished, evidently, by
+the same hand that had dressed the girl, and with equal taste. The
+carpet on the floor was costly, but hideous as staring colours and
+execrable design could make it. The furniture was cumbrous, and the fact
+that the ugly chairs were rosewood, and their cushions brocade, made
+them neither beautiful nor comfortable. On the bureau were some bottles
+of red Bohemian glass, such as were thought handsome fifty years ago;
+an elephant of a writing-desk, staring with plush and gilding, almost
+covered the table. Altogether, the room was as desolate as its occupant;
+more could not be said. Lobelia seemed smaller and more shrunken than
+ever amid all this tasteless display; she seemed conscious of it, too,
+as she gazed piteously at Peggy. She had been crying, in a furtive,
+frightened way; and, gazing at her, Peggy felt that it must be years ago
+that she was crying, too, and hoping for nothing in the world save to
+get to her room and have a good solid deluge of tears. At present it
+seemed hardly likely that she should ever weep again; she felt strong
+and confident, and was still burning with indignation, none the less
+hotly that the outward flame had gone down. Her kind companion had been
+obliged to leave them, with the promise of seeing them soon again. Peggy
+thought she might stay a few minutes, though the gong for gym had
+already rung.
+
+"Now, Lobelia," she was saying,--"I am going to call you Lobelia, you
+know, and you are to call me Peggy, and we are going to be friends.
+Now, Lobelia, mind what I say! if those girls ever give you any more
+trouble, you are to come straight to me. Do you hear?"
+
+"Yes," said Lobelia, faintly.
+
+"Have they tormented you before? Beasts! Or was this the first time?"
+
+"Oh, not--not so much!" said the girl, deprecatingly. "A little
+yesterday; but--I don't know whether they meant to be unkind, Peggy. I
+know that my dress _is_ queer!"
+
+"Don't be so meek!" cried Peggy, unable to repress a little stamp of her
+foot, which made Lobelia start. "Have some spirit of your own, Lobelia.
+I tell you, these girls are mean, cowardly wretches, not fit for girls
+like the Owls to speak to. They don't speak to them much, either," she
+added, "and I'm not going to any more than I can help."
+
+Lobelia looked more miserable than ever. "Don't!" she said. "I can't
+bear to have any one get into trouble on my account. It--it needn't
+matter to you, Peggy. Of course you are very, very kind, and I think I
+should have died if you had not come along just then, for I couldn't
+seem to bear much more; but I don't want you to get into trouble."
+
+"Who's going to get into trouble?" demanded Peggy. "Guess I can take
+care of myself against such a set as that."
+
+"I don't want you to get into trouble!" repeated Lobelia; and, as she
+spoke, she glanced around the room with a peculiar shrinking look, one
+would say a look of dread, that Peggy did not understand.
+
+"Who's next door to you?" she asked, briefly. "Rose Barclay, for one, I
+know. Who is on the other side?"
+
+Lobelia thought it was another freshman, but was not sure.
+
+"Have they troubled you?" asked Peggy, suspiciously.
+
+But Lobelia shook her head, and seemed so distressed at the question
+that Peggy did not know what to think.
+
+"Please, please don't bother about me!" she implored. "I dare say it
+will be a good deal better now, after you and Miss Merryweather being so
+brave and so kind. I don't want to say anything against anybody.
+Please, please forget all about it, Peggy."
+
+"I want you to be brave yourself," cried Peggy; and Lobelia started
+again, and shrank in her chair. "Don't be so--so--well, I don't know any
+word but meeching, and Margaret won't let me say that. But have a spirit
+of your own, and stand up to them, and give 'em as good as they send. I
+would, I tell you, quick enough, if they tried it on me."
+
+Lobelia looked at her with hopeless eyes. "But I am not you!" she said.
+"I--Peggy, I know just how I look, and how I seem, and how little and
+ugly and queer I am. I don't wonder they laugh, I don't, really. I
+haven't any spirit, either; I can't have. You can't do anything with me;
+it isn't any use."
+
+Peggy gazed at her, with eyes almost as hopeless as her own. Yet she
+must make one more attempt; and with it the honest blood came into her
+face.
+
+"Look here, Lobelia!" she said, "I am awkward, too, and shy, and--and
+stupid, awfully stupid. Why, my cousin Rita used to call me--never
+mind, that was only before she grew so kind! But I know what it is to be
+laughed at, my dear! Only this morning, in rhetoric, Miss Pugsley was
+just as hateful as she could be, and all the girls laughed; yes, they
+did. So you are not so different as you think. Why,--I don't mind
+telling you,--when I came along just now, I was trying to get to my own
+room, so that I could have a good cry. There, Lobelia! now how do you
+feel?" Lobelia raised her eyes with a wondering look; but next moment
+her eyes fell on the looking-glass and she shook her head.
+
+"No!" she said. "No, Peggy! You are kind, and you want to make me feel
+comfortable; but look!"
+
+She motioned toward the mirror. Peggy looked, and her kind heart sank.
+She herself was no beauty; her round, fair face and honest blue eyes
+were pleasant to look at, and she had beautiful hair, but that was all;
+yet she could not help seeing that she was a very vision of loveliness
+beside the sallow, puny, almost deformed aspect of her poor little
+neighbour. She coloured deep with angry sympathy, but Lobelia only
+smiled, a wan little smile.
+
+"You see!" she said. "It's no use, Peggy."
+
+For all answer, Peggy threw her arms around the shrinking figure, and
+pressed it in a warm embrace. "I don't care!" she cried. "I don't say
+you are pretty, you poor little thing, but just remember that you are my
+friend, and if anybody dares to meddle with you again, they'll have to
+reckon with me, that's all. And now I must go, or I shall lose all the
+drill. Cheer up, Lobelia, and don't sit here and mope, mind! and if you
+have any more trouble, just knock on the floor, and I'll be up in half a
+quarter of a jiffy. Good-bye, dear!" and off she ran, feeling that at
+least she had left some degree of comfort and cheer behind her.
+
+Soon, however, came something that put Lobelia Parkins and her troubles
+out of Peggy's head for the time. Bertha Haughton was not at the
+gymnasium, but when Peggy came back to her own room after an hour of
+rapture, she found a note pinned on her pincushion.
+
+        "DEAR PEGGY:--Study _hard_, please, and get
+        through before this evening. The Snowy Owl is
+        going to give us a Grand Tell about the wedding
+        she has been to, and we both want you to come,
+        too. I'm going to speak to Miss Russell, but
+        you'd better ask her, too; it will be all
+        right, for the Snowy has asked permission,
+        anyhow. Eight o'clock, just after reading; be
+        sure to come on time!
+
+                                 "Affectionately,
+                                           "BERTHA."
+
+It was hard to study through that lovely afternoon, when the other
+girls, or most of them, were out-of-doors, playing tennis or
+basket-ball, and their voices came in at the window in every tone of
+joyousness and delight. It was very hard to study the detested rhetoric
+and history, but Peggy was strong in her good resolve, and bent steadily
+over her books, trying her very best. Once, indeed, came a sore
+temptation, when a ball struck her window lightly, and, going to look
+out, she saw Grace Wolfe standing below.
+
+"Come out, Innocent!" said the Scapegoat, in her deep, musical tones.
+"Come and sport with me!
+
+        "The ship is ready and the wind blows fair,
+         And I am bound for the sea, Mary Anne!"
+
+"Oh! Oh, thank you!" cried Peggy. "I wish I could, but I have to work
+now, I'm afraid."
+
+        "Is this a time to think o' wark,
+         Wi' Scapegoat at the door?"
+
+inquired Grace, looking up with her head on one side. "Why work at this
+hour, Innocent? Even the slaves of virtue, even the Owls, are at play
+now."
+
+Peggy leaned out of the window; it really seemed as if her body would be
+drawn out after her longing spirit, which had been out and away from the
+first summons.
+
+"Yes, the Owls!" she said. "That's just it, Miss Wolfe."
+
+"No!" interrupted Grace. "Not Miss Wolfe! Not all Æsop! Impossible to be
+wolf and goat at the same time, and do justice to either character. Let
+it be Goat, or Grace, as you like."
+
+"Grace, then, thank you! Well, you see, the Owls,--that is, Bertha asked
+me to come to their room this evening, and of course I want to
+dreadfully,--though not more dreadfully than I want to come out now,"
+she added, wistfully. "And if I do, you see, I must get my rhetoric
+done. It's awfully hard, and I am so stupid about it, it takes me for
+ever. Oh, will you ask me again some time, please?"
+
+The Scapegoat regarded her for a moment, standing with the ball in her
+hand, swaying her light, graceful body to and fro.
+
+"Another slave of virtue?" she said. "Can I permit this? Innocent, I
+have half a mind to cause you to come down. I am to be thrown over for
+owls, who have, if you will consider the matter, neither horns nor
+hoofs? I am to let you stay and grind through the afternoon for them and
+for my Puggy? Well--"
+
+Her whole face seemed to lighten with whimsical determination. She laid
+her hand on the fire-escape, and seemed on the point of mounting it,
+when suddenly another change came over her. Her eyes darkened into their
+usual melancholy look.
+
+"Here's luck!" she said, abruptly. "See you later, Innocent!" She was
+gone, and Peggy, with a revulsion of feeling, wished she had gone with
+her. Bertha was a dear, and Miss Merryweather looked lovely, but neither
+of them had the fascination of this strange girl, so unlike any one she
+had ever seen in her life.
+
+It was a forlorn afternoon; but Peggy stuck to her work manfully, and
+had the satisfaction of closing the book at last with the feeling that
+she was sure of it now, however things might be in the morning under
+Miss Pugsley's hostile eye.
+
+There was still a little time left before supper. She ran out to the
+lawn, hoping to find Grace Wolfe still there, but she was disappointed.
+The only occupants of the lawn were half a dozen sophomores clustered
+together at one end. Blanche Haight was among them, and at sight of
+Peggy she turned her back pointedly, and whispered to the others. They
+turned with one accord and stared at Peggy, with a cool insolence that
+made her blood boil within her and surge up in angry red to her
+forehead. She could not do anything about it; they had a right to stare,
+if they had no better manners. She returned the look for a moment, then
+turned away with a sore and angry heart. Fortunately, at this moment
+came out two classmates of her own whom she knew slightly,--mild,
+pleasant girls, with no special traits of interest, but still friendly
+and approachable. They were going to play tennis, and invited Peggy to
+join them; so she had a good half-hour of exercise and pleasure, and
+came in with rosy cheeks, and with the cobwebs all blown away for the
+time.
+
+At eight o'clock Peggy was standing before her glass, putting a last
+touch to her hair, and surveying her image with some anxiety. Did she
+"look nice?" Peggy had as little personal vanity as a girl could well
+have; but she had learned from her cousin Margaret that it was part of
+her duty to look as well as she could. Her cousin Rita would have had
+her go further than this.
+
+"Study, my child," Rita would cry, "to be beautiful! Let it be your
+dream by night, your thought by day!" And, in all kindness, Rita would
+try to teach her how to cross her feet so that they might look slender,
+how to extend her little finger when she raised her hand, "not too much,
+but to an exact point, _chérie_!" how to turn her head so as to show the
+lines of the neck to advantage. But Peggy's own good sense, aided by
+Margaret's calm wisdom, had told her the inappropriateness of Rita's
+graceful airs and poses to her own sturdy personality. She was to look
+nice; more she could not aspire to. So here she was to-night, in a
+pretty blue silk waist, with a serge skirt of a darker shade, her hair
+smoothly braided in one mammoth "pigtail," and tied with blue ribbons,
+her neat collar fastened with a pretty pearl brooch. Thus attired, our
+Peggy was truly pleasant to look upon; and her "Is that right,
+Margaret?" brought a little satisfied nod of reply from the smiling
+image in the glass.
+
+Drawing near the Owl's Nest, she heard a hum of voices, and straightway
+her heart sank again, and shyness possessed her. There was a crowd
+there! They would all be juniors and seniors, and she the only freshman
+among them. How could she go in? Oh! she almost wished she was up in the
+other corridor with the younger girls!
+
+But at this moment the door opened, and Bertha's kind face looked out.
+
+"Here you are, Peggy!" she cried, cordially. "Come along; there's plenty
+of room, for I've saved a place for you. Come!"
+
+For a moment Peggy hung back, and knew how Lobelia Parkins felt; then
+she made an effort, and followed Bertha into the room.
+
+The Owl's Nest was a corner room, with windows on two sides. It seemed
+to be furnished chiefly with books. There were the two brass beds, of
+course, the twin bureaus, the desks, and table. All of these, except the
+beds, were covered with books; bookshelves took up most of the wall
+space, though there were two or three good pictures, among them a great
+photograph of the sea, that almost dashed the spray in one's face, so
+perfect was it. It was at a later visit that Peggy observed the books;
+now, she was conscious of nothing save the girls. The room was certainly
+full of them. There were three on each bed, curled up in every variety
+of picturesque and comfortable attitude; two sat on one of the bureaus,
+having pushed books and toilet articles up into a toppling and highly
+perilous mountain behind them; four more crouched somehow on the rather
+narrow window-seats. The rest were on the floor, except two early birds,
+who had come in time to get the two chairs. The floor was made
+comfortable with sofa-pillows, borrowed from the whole length of the
+corridor. Altogether, there might have been twenty girls in the room,
+and every girl was, or seemed to be, talking as fast as her tongue could
+move.
+
+Peggy was hailed with a bird-like call from one corner.
+
+"My Veezy-vee! come here, Peggy Montfort, and sit by me."
+
+It was Viola Vincent. She was curled up at the head of one of the beds.
+She wore the prettiest pink tea-gown imaginable, and her hair was a
+wonder of puffs and curls.
+
+"Come here!" she repeated, patting the pillows. "Lots of room; miles!
+Let her come here, Fluffy!"
+
+"Yes, she shall, in a minute, V.," replied Bertha. "But first,--Toots,
+here's Peggy Montfort!"
+
+The Snowy Owl came swiftly out of the closet, where she had been
+performing some mystic rite; she took Peggy's two hands in hers, and
+held them in a warm, firm grasp that was the very soul of cordiality.
+
+"I'm so glad!" she said. "How's the poor little thing? Better? I'm sure
+you did her a great deal of good."
+
+"Oh, no!" stammered Peggy, pleased and confused. "I couldn't really do
+anything; but she is feeling better."
+
+Gertrude Merryweather nodded wisely. "My dear, you can do a great deal
+for her!" she said. "We'll have a talk sometime; no chance now. Only,
+Bertha has been telling me things, and I'm so glad you are in our
+street! There, now V. shall have you."
+
+Judge of the glow at Peggy's heart, on these words from the Junior
+President, the best-loved girl--or so it was said--in the whole school.
+Those foolish tears actually got half-way up to her eyes,--only they
+were very different from the last tears; but fortunately Viola's
+high-pitched babble drove them back again.
+
+"My _dear_! How nice you look! perf'ly _fine_! doesn't she, V.? Say,
+that's a dandy pin you've got on, simply _dandy_! There! isn't this too
+quaint for anything? You comfy? so'm I! Room, my dear? gallons of room!
+I haven't seen you for an age; where have you kept yourself? I looked
+into your room, though, and it's perf'ly _fine_! I told you it would be,
+when you had things fixed. Your chintz is too perfectly sweet for
+anything; isn't it, V.? We were simply cold with envy, weren't we, V.?"
+
+"Do cackle for yourself, if you must cackle, V.!" responded Vivia
+Varnham, who sat on the same bed, a little lower down. "I can't hear
+myself think, you make such a noise."
+
+"No, really?" cried Viola. "But that must be such an advantage
+sometimes, V. But, say! we came here to hear the Snowy talk, didn't we?
+She hasn't had much chance yet, has she? Are you ready to talk, Snowy?
+Oh, you duck! it is too perfectly enchanting to have you back again. I
+haven't lived since you went away, have I, V.? I've been simply a
+vegetable, haven't I, V.? Potatoes, my dear, are lively compared to me.
+_Are_ you ready to talk, Snowy?"
+
+"If you are ready to have me," replied the Snowy Owl, laughing. "First,
+however--here!"
+
+She produced a mammoth box of "marshmallows," and handed it around. It
+was received with a shout.
+
+"Toast 'em!" cried one. "Hat-pins!" cried another. There was a movement
+toward the gas-jet; but Bertha Haughton checked it decidedly. "You have
+come here to hear the Snowy tell!" she said. "It's a long tell, and if
+you begin toasting now, there won't be time. Tell first, toast
+afterward! that's what I say!"
+
+"Hark to the Fluffy! she speaks well!" cried the girls. There was
+silence; and Gertrude Merryweather, sitting on the floor, with her hands
+clasped around her knees, began her "tell."
+
+[Illustration: THE GRAND TELL IN THE OWL'S NEST.]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+WEDDING BELLS.
+
+
+"To begin with, girls, this is Fluffy's idea, not mine! Of course none
+of you ever saw our Hildegarde, so I didn't suppose you would care
+particularly; but when I was telling the Fluffy last night, she said it
+was selfish and all kinds of things to keep it to ourselves, and that
+you must all hear about it; so if you don't find it interesting, pull
+out the Fluffy's feathers, not mine.
+
+"Hildegarde Grahame--she is Hildegarde Merryweather now, but I cannot
+realise it yet--has been a very dear friend of ours for several years.
+We think there is no one like her in the world; I'll show you a picture
+of her by and by. Well, a year ago she became engaged to my uncle."
+
+"Your uncle!" cried the girls. "Why, I thought she was a girl!"
+
+"So she is a girl, but Roger--well, he is my uncle, but he isn't so very
+much older than I am. That is--he is twenty-five, and Hildegarde is
+twenty; so you see it is just exactly right. There isn't anybody like
+him, either. He is as near an angel as a man can come and be alive; and
+he is tremendously clever, really eminent already in his profession, and
+we all love him to distraction."
+
+"Is he handsome?" asked Viola Vincent.
+
+"I don't know; yes, I think he is. Not a barber-shop beauty, though. He
+is tall, and very strong, broad-shouldered, with the kindest eyes in the
+world, and a smile that makes you crinkle all over with pleasure. Well,
+and so they were engaged, and now they are married; the wedding was on
+Wednesday, and this is Friday, and here I am. Now I'll begin at the very
+beginning of the day. Of course we woke up early, and looked out of the
+window; and it was all gray and cloudy. I thought it was going to rain,
+and I was in the depths, but Bell--you know Bell, my sister, at
+college--was sure it would clear before seven, and so it did. The sun
+came out bright and clear, and soon we saw that it was going to be the
+most beautiful day that ever was. We had been out in the fields all day
+before, getting flowers, and we had them all ready in tubs and bowls and
+pitchers; so after breakfast we could go right to work on the
+decorations. We did the church first. It is a pretty stone church, with
+a good deep chancel. We filled in the back of the chancel with great
+ferns--mostly evergreen ferns, so that they would not wilt--and palms
+and things; and then we made banks and banks of asters and
+goldenrod,--oh, it was lovely! Most of them came from the camp-pasture,
+Bertha; you remember how lovely it is in September."
+
+Bertha nodded. "I should think I did!" she said. "Most beautiful place I
+ever saw, except the rest of it all."
+
+"Well, I never saw it look more beautiful than that day before the
+wedding, when Bell and the boys and I rode out on our wheels, and came
+back by moonlight, with great bundles of purple and gold tied on our
+backs and nodding over our heads. But all the ferns and the asters and
+chrysanthemums and roses came mostly from Hildegarde's own garden at
+Braeside, and from Roseholme, Colonel Ferrers's place. We might have
+carpeted the church entirely with asters, if we had wanted to; as it
+was, we had great garlands of them twined over the chancel rail and
+swinging among the ferns and goldenrod; really, I never saw so many
+flowers at one time in my life. When that was all done we went to the
+house, Braeside, the Grahames' house, to see if we could help there; but
+Mrs. Flower, a friend of Hildegarde's, of whom we used to be the least
+little bit jealous before we knew her, was there, and another friend,
+Miss Desmond,--she was one of the bridesmaids,--and they had everything
+so beautifully arranged that there was nothing for us to do but stand
+and admire it with all our eyes. People in New York had sent down all
+kinds of splendid flowers, boxes and boxes of them, so that the house
+was a perfect bower, and smelt like the Vale of Cashmere; but we knew
+very well that Hilda would like our flowers best. Then--well, a lot more
+presents had come since the night before, so as there was time enough
+before dressing, we went in to see them. I don't suppose you care about
+the presents, girls!"
+
+"Oh! oh! we do!" cried the girls, in chorus. "We want to hear about
+every single one, Snowy."
+
+"My dears! it would take me all night, and then I couldn't remember them
+all. But I'll try and tell you some of them. Let me see! Colonel Ferrers
+gave her a set of sapphires; the most beautiful things you ever saw.
+Necklace and pendant and pin, most wonderful dark blue stones, set in
+star-shape. And Jack Ferrers and his father gave her some wonderful
+Roman gold-work--I don't know how to describe it, I never saw anything
+like it--that Jack picked up in Europe. Then there was silver, heaps and
+heaps of it, from relatives in New York and I don't know where; some of
+it very handsome indeed, but I don't care so much about silver, do you?
+I remember there were ten salt-cellars, no two alike. But the things we
+cared for were the small presents that came from people we knew; people
+who loved Hildegarde, not just because she was their grandniece or
+something, but because she was herself. Oh, some of them were funny,
+girls! There were two dear old people who had come a long way to the
+wedding, a Mr. and Mrs. Hartley, with whom Hilda spent a summer when she
+was about fifteen, and whom she has been fond of ever since. I should
+think she would be; the old lady has a face like Raphael's
+grandmother--I can't think of any other way of describing it; and Mr.
+Hartley is simply a duck, the dearest funny old man you ever saw. Well,
+they brought Hilda the most beautiful toilet-set I ever saw or dreamed
+of,--something wonderful, all blue dragons and gilding. Papa said it was
+very rare; and Hilda cried when she saw it, and scolded them dreadfully
+for bringing it away from its own room; but still she was delighted to
+have it, and says she will never use any other. Then there was young
+Doctor Chirk,--funny name, isn't it?--Mrs. Flower's brother. Such a
+nice, bright, jolly fellow! Well, he was part of that same summer, it
+seems, and he carved a beautiful frame out of wood that grew in
+Hartley's Glen; and Mrs. Flower, who paints very well, had made a
+picture of the glen itself--lovely place!--for the frame, or I suppose
+the frame was made to fit the picture, no matter which; and _that_
+filled her with joy.
+
+"Then there were the people from Bywood. My dear, Miss Wealthy Bond is
+the most beautiful creature I have ever seen, except two. She is just
+like live Dresden china, smiling and dimpling; and the dear quaint maid
+who came with her, Martha, had made Hildegarde's whole winter provision
+of jellies and jams, because 'it wasn't likely Hildegarde would have
+time herself this first season, and it wasn't a thing you could trust to
+hired help in general.' Miss Bond herself had brought china--my dear!
+did you ever see tortoise-shell crockery? Well, it is a most beautiful
+thing, and the art was lost a hundred years ago, and each piece is worth
+I don't know how much; but this dear old lady had a dozen plates, all
+hexagonal, too, and not a single point broken or chipped, and two
+pitchers,--well, I haven't the heart even to think of those pitchers, I
+wanted them so,--and they were all for Hilda, because Hilda had brought
+the sunshine back into her life, she told me.
+
+"Girls, it was the same story everywhere. Mrs. Grahame being so
+delicate, and Hilda so busy, Bell and I were there a great deal the few
+days before the wedding, and we took the guests to walk and drive and so
+on. Everywhere it was the same story, the joy and brightness and love
+that this one girl had carried with her wherever she went. I never shall
+forget it--never.
+
+"Then--let me see--what next? Oh! I had nearly forgotten the dear little
+boy, Benny, Miss Bond's adopted son. He considers Hilda his own private
+property, and he was furiously jealous of Roger and everybody else. When
+he first came it was quite sad, really, the child was so unhappy, and
+there was no consoling him. He wanted Hilda to sing to him and play with
+him just as she did when she was staying there at Bywood; and naturally
+she couldn't, poor dear, though it was wonderful how she managed to be
+with them all a little every day, and to see to almost everything, so
+that her mother should have no care or worry. Well, where was I? oh! the
+little boys. Hugh Allen, our Hugh,--I can't stop to tell you about Hugh
+now, but he is the dearest, queerest little fellow,--Hugh watched all
+this for awhile, and then he took Benny away with him, down into the
+garden, and they were gone a long time. And when they came back Benny
+marched straight up to Roger, and said, 'You are nice! you can have my
+girl,' and then marched off again, and went and cried, poor lamb, till
+Hugh comforted him.
+
+"But I am not getting on with the presents, am I? We all gave her linen,
+because she had to have that, and we wanted to do something ourselves;
+so we, my mother and Bell and Kitty and I, hemmed every one of the
+table-cloths and napkins, and embroidered the marks on all the towels,
+and had a beautiful time over it. Mammy read to us part of the time
+while we sewed, all the interesting weddings that she could find in
+history or fiction, and that was great fun; then she wrote some funny
+verses to go with them, and they really were lovely patterns, so it was
+a nice present, though strictly necessary, you see. Oh, I haven't told
+you about the diamonds! Helena Desmond was so funny about them! 'Hilda,'
+she said, 'it was clear from the beginning that I must be offered up on
+the altar of diamonds. I detest diamonds. They are absolutely
+uninteresting; they are almost vulgar. Never mind, you have to have
+some, and nobody else will be stupid and commonplace enough to give them
+to you. I had hopes of your Aunt Emily, but she has expended herself in
+lace, and was so happy over it that I hadn't the heart to whisper
+"diamonds!" in her ear, as I had meant to do. Here they are, my child;
+the customary horrors!'
+
+"Well, they were very beautiful, though I confess I should have liked
+pearls better for Hilda. A diamond crescent and star, really splendid.
+She is very rich, you know."
+
+"Is that the great beauty?" asked a girl.
+
+"Yes, she is superb, certainly. Next to Hilda, perhaps--but I'll come to
+that presently. Well, now perhaps I have told you half the things, or
+rather more than half; but they are the things I cared most about, you
+see. I can't go into a list of forks and spoons. So now I come to the
+wedding itself."
+
+The girls drew a long breath and leaned forward; presents were very
+well, but weddings were better.
+
+"It was at noon, of course. There were only two bridesmaids, Helena
+Desmond and I. Hilda said she wanted only her nearest and dearest, so
+she would not ask her cousins, though I fancy they had hoped to be
+asked. She wanted Bell, but Bell said it was positively necessary that
+she should play the organ, and so it was. We wore perfectly plain white
+muslin gowns, but, oh, they were so pretty! with soft pale green sashes,
+and little wreaths of ivy in our hair. Hildegarde wanted everything as
+simple as possible, so we didn't go into hats, or any of that kind of
+nonsense. Jerry--my brother Gerald--was best man, and the ushers were
+Phil and Willy, my other brothers, and Jack Ferrers and Doctor Chirk and
+Hugh Allen. Well, so the hour came.
+
+"Helena and I were ready and waiting at Braeside when Hilda came
+down-stairs. Girls, you never saw anything so lovely in your lives as
+she was. Her dress was very simple, too, white embroidered muslin,
+exquisitely fine. Colonel Ferrers brought it from India, years and years
+ago, for a lovely young girl who died while he was on his way home. It
+had been made in the house, and it looked just like her, as her dresses
+always do. She wore a little gold pin that Roger made for her
+himself,--mined the gold and all,--no other ornament, and a wreath of
+white roses, roses that the Roseholme gardener had been nursing all
+summer to make them blossom just at the right time. That was his
+present; everybody wanted to do something, you see."
+
+"What does she look like?" asked a girl.
+
+"Well, you have to see her to know what she really looks like, for half
+of it is the expression and the look in her eyes. Gray eyes, so clear
+and true,--you know she couldn't say or do anything unkind or false to
+save her life,--and a colour just like a wild rose, and a nose,--well,
+it's just her own nose, tilted up a little, but perfectly delightful;
+and when she smiles, you think she has the most beautiful mouth in the
+world, though I don't suppose she really has. Here, this gives you a
+little idea of her; just a very little, for it doesn't begin to think of
+doing her justice."
+
+The girls clustered eagerly to see the photograph, which was passed on
+from hand to hand. It was a lovely face, indeed, at which they looked;
+yet, as Gertrude said, the actual beauty was the least part of its
+charm. Truth and kindness shone from it; not the lightest and most
+foolish girl there but felt grave for a moment, meeting that steady look
+of cheer and constancy.
+
+"And yet she looks awfully jolly, too!" said one, breaking the silence,
+and voicing the thought of all.
+
+"My dear, she is more fun--"
+
+"Than a goat?" asked a new voice; and Grace Wolfe slipped in quietly at
+the window, and, nodding to the company, took her seat on the floor.
+
+"I have heard all!" she said. "Go on, Snowy! I see now where you got
+your virtues; this young woman has much to answer for."
+
+Gertrude looked at her kindly, but said nothing; in a moment the story
+went on.
+
+"We walked over to the church--it is only a few steps--just as we were,
+without any formal arrangement. Hilda held her mother's hand fast all
+the time; they were both very quiet. The dear old black cook walked with
+them, crying all the way. Hugh had Hilda's other hand. I--I can't tell
+about this part."
+
+Gertrude's voice faltered for a moment; then she went on more steadily.
+
+"Colonel Ferrers was waiting at the church door, with his brother, Mr.
+Raymond Ferrers. All the ushers were there, too, and we could see that
+the church was full. And, oh! just a little way from the door was a band
+of little girls, Hilda's sewing-class, and they all had baskets of
+flowers, and scattered them in front of her as she walked. I forgot to
+put that in where it belonged, but it was very pretty, and if you had
+seen the way they looked at her!
+
+"Well, then it all seemed to happen in a moment. Mr. Raymond Ferrers
+took Mrs. Grahame up the aisle; and then the organ broke out with the
+wedding march. I have heard my sister Bell play pretty well, but never
+as she did then. It seemed to fill the whole world, and yet it was not
+too loud, either. Then the ushers went up, and then Helena and I, and
+then came our dear bride on Colonel Ferrers' arm. Roger was waiting at
+the altar steps with Gerald. He came forward to meet her, and took both
+her hands,--oh, with such a beautiful look in his face! and then drew
+her arm through his, so proud and quiet and happy, and then the service
+went on. They both spoke so clearly, everybody could hear them, and the
+ring was ready, and there was not a mistake anywhere; only both Jerry
+and the colonel were on the point of breaking down, both of them, and
+every time the colonel blew his nose I could see Jerry start and wince.
+And so they were married, and the music broke out again, and Roger put
+back the veil and kissed his wife; and--and then they came back down the
+aisle, and--and--and that is all!"
+
+Gertrude had struggled hard for composure. She had nearly outgrown the
+childish proneness to tears, which in early days had earned her the home
+sobriquet of "Chelsea Waterworks;" but this recital touched her too
+nearly, and she had overcalculated her power of self-restraint. Her
+voice broke altogether, and she could only nod and smile through her
+tears on Bertha, who was regarding her remorsefully.
+
+"I ought not to have made you, Toots!" said Bertha. "I did want them to
+hear it, it has been so beautiful. Don't cry, dear!" But Grace Wolfe
+came and laid her hand on Gertrude's shoulder, and spoke in a tone one
+hardly ever heard in that voice.
+
+"Don't stop her!" she said, gravely. "Let her cry! It's good for
+her--and for all of us! Snowy, your friend is a blessed creature, and
+you are another."
+
+No one spoke for a few moments. Peggy was crying quietly in her corner,
+and feeling that she had been at the wedding herself, and wondering what
+she should possibly do if Margaret should ever get married.
+
+But now the Snowy Owl wiped away her tears in good earnest, and spoke in
+her own cheerful tones.
+
+"Come, this will never do. Girls, we have extra time to-night, Miss
+Russell was so kind when I told her what I wanted to do; but even that
+time will be up if we don't mind. Volunteers to toast marshmallows!"
+
+Instantly there was a rush and a cry. A dozen hands were stretched out.
+Hat-pins appeared, as if by magic, brandished on every side. In another
+moment a dozen marshmallows were frizzling over the gas-jets, while the
+student lamp did duty for several more. As soon as one was done, it was
+popped, hissing hot, into an open mouth, and the hat-pin, charged with
+another freight, returned to the charge. Cries of mingled joy and
+anguish rose on every side.
+
+"Oh, I am burnt entirely! The skin is all off my lips."
+
+"Here, for me one!"
+
+"No, she has had two already! Fluffy, my turn next!"
+
+It was a merry Babel. The fun rose higher and higher. Peggy dried her
+eyes, and looked on wondering. How could they hear each other? They were
+all talking at once, each one faster than the other.
+
+"My dear! Perf'ly fine, wasn't it? Oh, I do love to hear a tell--"
+
+"When my cousin was married, she had eight bridesmaids, and they wore
+just mob caps, not another thing--"
+
+"Orange-blossoms are too sweet for anything, but they make some
+people--"
+
+"Simply pea-green, my dear, with fright, and she had blue woollen socks
+on over her white slippers--'something blue,' you know,--and forgot to
+take them off--"
+
+"Her head, and you never saw anything like it in your life. It measured
+three yards around, if it did--"
+
+"A sunburst, you know, diamonds and pearls. I adore diamonds, for my
+part. Why, to be married without diamonds would be--"
+
+"Simply fierce! I should die, I know I should, before I got half-way up
+the aisle. But to see one, and the music and flowers and all, is--"
+
+"Dandy! perf'ly dandy! I wouldn't miss it for all the--"
+
+"Flounces, my dear, up to the waist, as true as I sit here! and she said
+'No!' She said: 'Before I'll be flounced to the waist, I'll--'"
+
+"Marry a tin peddler! said there was nothing in the world she'd like
+better, because then she could--"
+
+"Sit still the whole morning without moving a muscle, for fear of
+breaking her--"
+
+"Heart, with forty pearls and sixty diamonds. Fact, I assure you, my
+dear! I had it from--"
+
+"A perfect brute, not fit for any one to--"
+
+Here, Destiny knocked on the door; the round, rosy face of Miss Carey,
+the housekeeper, looked in.
+
+"Girls, you really must go to bed. Miss Russell sent me to say so. Do
+you know what time it is?"
+
+Grace Wolfe slipped like a shadow out of the window and was gone unseen;
+the assembly broke up with laughter and cheers for the Snowy and the
+Fluffy, and snatches of talk bubbling all the way along the corridor.
+When Peggy reached her room, she found the Scapegoat already there,
+sitting on the floor and chanting solemnly:
+
+        "I have nailed my Puggy's slippers
+           Down upon her closet floor.
+         She may pray with both her flippers,
+           But she'll never use them more!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+BY MOONLIGHT.
+
+
+The time went quickly enough at Miss Russell's. Once the routine
+established, lesson followed lesson and day followed day with amazing
+rapidity. Before Peggy could realise that she was fairly settled, a
+month had passed. It was not so bad now; in fact, a good deal of it was
+very pleasant, she was obliged to admit. Her geometry was a constantly
+progressing joy; so was her anatomy, and she had the happy consciousness
+that she was doing well in both studies. This enabled her to bear up
+against the bitterness of rhetoric and of Miss Pugsley. As for the
+history, once equally dreaded, its terrors had nearly vanished. Miss
+Cortlandt had a way of making things so clear that one could not help
+remembering them once they were explained. Furthermore, she managed to
+invest the lay-figures of dead and gone kings and conquerors with life
+and motion. Alexander the Great was no longer a tiresome person in a
+book, who cried in an absurd way when there was nothing left to conquer.
+That had always exasperated Peggy, "because if he had had any sense, he
+would have gone on, and found out for himself what a lot more there was,
+that his old books and seers and things had never found out." But now,
+she found Alexander in the first place a boy who knew about horses,
+which in itself was a great thing, and in the second place a man who
+knew about a great many other things, and who acted on his knowledge in
+a variety of swift and surprising ways. As with this hero, so with
+others, till Peggy came to look forward, actually, to the history hour;
+which shows what a teacher can do when she understands her girls, and
+knows enough to call Plutarch and his peers (if any!) to aid her in her
+task.
+
+But when all was said and done, Peggy was not cut out for a student; and
+her happiest hours were not those of even the pleasantest class-room.
+Basket-ball claimed her for its own, and she proved an apt and ready
+learner in this branch of study. Less swift than Grace Wolfe, who seemed
+a thing compact of steel and gossamer, she was far stronger to meet an
+attack, and many a rush came and passed, and left the stalwart freshman
+standing steady and undaunted in her place.
+
+The hours of sport brought the two girls nearer and nearer together; and
+Peggy found herself yielding more and more--often against her own
+judgment--to the fascination of the lawless girl, who on her part seemed
+curiously drawn to the simple, downright, law-abiding freshman.
+
+It was about this time that Peggy found out why her room had been called
+Broadway. The nights were still fine and warm, though it was now
+October. Apples were ripe in the neighbouring orchards; and though it
+was perfectly practicable and allowable to buy all the apples one wanted
+in the daytime, that method did not approve itself to the wilder spirits
+at Miss Russell's school.
+
+To slide down the fire-escape, slip across the lawn, keeping well under
+the trees by the edge, and so out into the road and down to the nearest
+orchard, only a few rods off,--this was the true way to get apples, and
+a very thrilling way it was. Peggy had been a good deal startled when
+the first merry party, with noiseless steps and stifled giggles, came
+stealing into her room, and, nodding to her, made their way out of the
+window and down the fire-escape. It never occurred to her to make any
+effort to stop them; they were sophomores, and she only a freshman. She
+supposed it was against the rules, but of course they would not really
+do any harm; and oh, what a good time they would have!
+
+She looked after them with a sigh, and wished them luck in her heart, a
+successful raid, and a safe return. Indeed, it was not long before they
+were back, rosy and breathless, with baskets and pockets stuffed with
+apples. The Fresh Freshman, as Peggy was called, did not fail to receive
+her share; and she ate it with a little thrill of vicarious guilt which
+was certainly not unpleasant. The two Owls never came with these
+parties; and somehow Peggy did not mention the matter to them, though
+she saw them constantly, and loved them always more and more. Sometimes
+the expeditions were headed by Grace Wolfe, in her wildest mood;
+sometimes it was Viola Vincent, who came tripping in with a band of her
+chosen intimates. Viola had several times asked Peggy to be of the
+party, but Peggy had not gone,--she could hardly have said why. Why was
+it that Grace had never asked her? If she had, perhaps--
+
+The night came when Grace did ask her.
+
+Peggy had been studying as usual, and the signal for "lights out" came
+while she was still at her task. Out went the light, for Peggy was, as
+we have said, a law-abiding citizen. She was groping about, not yet used
+to the half-light of the growing moon, when the door opened, and Grace
+glided in with her usual noiseless tread. She laid her hand over Peggy's
+mouth without a word, and stood motionless, seeming to listen. Then she
+said aloud and deliberately:
+
+"Yes, I must go this minute. I had no idea it was so late. Suppose Miss
+Pugsley should catch us! You know she goes around and listens at the
+doors every now and then, and looks through the keyholes to see what is
+going on."
+
+"Oh, Grace!" said Peggy.
+
+"Fact, I assure you. I sometimes wonder what Miss Russell would say if
+she knew it. That isn't her own style, you see. The fun of it is, the
+other never realises that the wheeze gives her away every time."
+
+Grace Wolfe had the ears of a fox; but, in the pause that followed, even
+Peggy heard, or fancied she heard, a breathing outside the door. It was
+only for an instant, if, indeed, it had been at all; yet in another
+moment a board creaked somewhere along the corridor, and again in a
+moment came the slight but unmistakable sound of a closing door.
+
+Grace laughed, and pirouetted merrily on one foot, looking in the
+moonlight like a glimmering sprite.
+
+"Oh, Grace!" repeated Peggy, aghast. "Was she--could she have been
+there, do you think?"
+
+"She could very easily have been there. Innocent," replied the
+Scapegoat. "Indeed, she was. I saw the glitter of her eye, and a sweet
+thing it was."
+
+"Oh, but how could you? how dared you? Surely, you will get into
+dreadful trouble, Grace."
+
+"Not I!" said Grace. "She can't report me, you observe, without saying
+that she was listening at the door. And even if she did, Miss Russell
+would ask her what I said, and she would be sad and sorry to relate
+that. No! this time I am safe enough, my Prairie Flower. But come, now
+that I am here, shall we be merry?
+
+        "The owl is abroad, the bat, and the toad,
+         And so is the catamountain.
+
+"Shall the Goat be lacking on such a night as this, or the Wolf either?
+One has one's responsibilities toward one's names. Come, Innocent, we'll
+go abroad and celebrate my victory over my Puggy!"
+
+Grace's tone was as quiet as ever, but she was more excited than Peggy
+had ever seen her. Her eyes shone; her hair, which was very beautiful,
+was unbraided for some reason--one never knew what whim would seize the
+whimsical one--and hung like a mantle about her shoulders. Standing
+thus, with her hand on the window, she looked, as I have said, like a
+creature from another world.
+
+"Come!" she repeated; and Peggy had never heard sweeter music than her
+voice.
+
+"Do you--do you think I ought to?" stammered the freshman, moving toward
+the window.
+
+"One owes it to the catamountain!" cried Grace. "As for the owls,--well,
+they will be abroad!" she added, with a low laugh. "They would be far
+enough abroad if they knew. Come, Innocent!"
+
+She glided out of the window, and Peggy followed, her heart beating to
+suffocation, her cheeks glowing with excitement. To be chosen by the
+Lone Wolf (for this was another of the wild girl's nicknames, the third
+being Ishmael) as the companion of one of her solitary rambles was
+perhaps the most thrilling thing that had ever come into Peggy's simple
+life. Probably she would have had courage to resist an invitation from
+any of the frolicsome parties that came and went through her room; she
+had no power to resist this. Silently she followed the Scapegoat down
+the iron ladder of the fire-escape, across the lawn, out into the open
+road.
+
+Grace turned to her with one of her sudden movements, and took both her
+hands.
+
+"The world's before us, where to choose!" she cried. "What shall it be,
+Innocent? Shall we climb up into the tower and ring the fire-bell? or go
+for apples? This is your first expedition, you shall choose."
+
+"Oh, no, Grace; please! I don't know. I cannot. I'll go wherever you go,
+that's all!"
+
+The Scapegoat meditated. "On the whole," she announced, "soda seems to
+be the thing. We'll go and have some soda, Innocent."
+
+"Go down-town?" gasped Peggy.
+
+"Yes; why not? Only to Mrs. Button's. You know she is the college
+grandmother; why shouldn't she be ours? Many's the time Granny Button
+has sheltered me from the wrath to come. Besides, I have had no
+marshmallows for a week. A vow, a vow! I have a vow in heaven to have
+marshmallows once a week, merely for the honour of the school."
+
+Granny Button, as she was called, kept a neat little shop at the corner
+of the High Street. Here she dispensed soda-water, candy, and cakes to
+the students of school and college. She was a little old woman, with a
+face like a dry but still sound winter apple, and she shook her head
+reprovingly as the two girls entered.
+
+"Now, Miss Wolfe!" she said. "You hadn't ought to come here at this
+time, now you hadn't, my dear. What do you want? I declare, I've most of
+a mind not to give it to you, for a wild slip as you are. What would
+Miss Russell say if she should come in this blessed minute, Miss Grace?"
+
+"Ah, but she won't, granny!" said Grace, coolly. "She's gone to a
+lecture, you see, so it is all right, truly it is.
+
+        "I saw her go; one horse was blind,
+         The tails of both hung down behind,
+         Their shoes were on their feet.
+
+"I got so exhausted studying, I feared the vital spark might become
+extinguished, might pop out, granny, if I didn't have some soda. Two
+pineapple creams, please, and be quick about it. I'll be getting the
+marshmallows while you pour it."
+
+The old woman filled the long glasses, shaking her head all the time,
+and muttering about naughty girls and dark closets.
+
+Peggy drank the soda, but it did not taste very good, and her hand
+trembled as she held the glass. Her eyes were fixed on the door, and
+every moment she expected to see it open, and Miss Russell or one of the
+teachers enter. But no one came. Grace found the marshmallows, and in
+high spirits brought them to Mrs. Button to count and tie up for her.
+
+"Granny, you look lovely to-night!" she said. "Don't try to look cross,
+Granny Button, for you don't know how. Smile on me, lovely one, for we
+must kiss and part."
+
+"Indeed, then, we'd better, Miss Grace," cried the good woman; "and
+don't let me see you here again this long while, save and except at
+proper hours. I know well enough I ought to tell that good lady of all
+the times you've been here out of hours. Yes, dear, I know it well
+enough, and sometimes it makes me uneasy in my bed. But you have the
+beguiling of the serpent himself, Grace Wolfe, and you know it, and
+that's the worst."
+
+"Isn't it?" said Grace, pensively; and her large eyes were full of
+tender gravity, as she fixed them on the old woman.
+
+"I'll add serpent to my menagerie, and thank you, granny! Nobody ever
+called you serpent, did they, dear? Wait till you come to my time in
+life, and you'll know what it is to suffer.
+
+"Well, Innocent, shall we come? After all, it is hard to stay where one
+isn't wanted, and the only trouble with Granny Button is that she has no
+heart."
+
+"Yes, go, dear!" said the old woman to Peggy, eagerly. "Go right along
+home now, and don't let Miss Grace bring ye out again, as she's a
+naughty girl, and so I always tell her, though I never can say no to
+her, and that's the truth. But you are different, dear, and a freshman,
+I'll be bound; and don't let me see ye here again without leave or
+license, let alone the hour as is getting on for 'lights out.'"
+
+"Fare thee well, my first and fairest!" said Grace, kissing her hand at
+the door. "Till our next meeting!"
+
+It was only a few steps back from the turn into the High Street. Peggy's
+pulse began to beat more naturally; in a moment, now, they would be
+back, safe back, and she would never do it again, no matter what Grace
+thought of her. Fun was fun, but it was not worth this; and what would
+Margaret say?
+
+Coming up from the High Street, they skirted a field that lay like
+waving silver in the moonlight. Nothing would do but that Grace must
+have a run through this field; she declared that it was her favourite
+spot in the world.
+
+"After all, soda and marshmallows are carnal!" she insisted. "Our bodies
+are fed, Innocent, our souls starve for want of poetry. There is poetry
+in all that silver waving. I must! I must prance, or I shall not rest in
+my bed. Come along!"
+
+And she went flitting about through the long grass, hither and thither
+like a will-o'-the-wisp, her long hair floating around her, her arms
+waving in gestures sometimes fantastic, but always graceful. Peggy could
+think of nothing but her cousin Rita, as she used to dance in the old
+days at Fernley. What a pair she and Grace would make! What a mercy they
+had never come together. Moreover, her heart, the heart of a farmer's
+daughter, smote her at the treading down of the grass. She stood at the
+edge of the field, now and then calling to her companion and urging her
+to come home, but for the most part simply watching her in mingled
+terror and admiration.
+
+At length the wild spirit was satisfied, and Grace came flying back,
+radiant and breathless.
+
+"That was glorious!" she said. "Poor little Innocent, you haven't much
+soul, have you? Still, I love you. Come, we will go back to the
+shades."
+
+They neared the gate; as they did so, they heard voices and the sound of
+approaching footsteps. Grace paused for a moment; then held up her hand
+with a warning gesture. Peggy felt her heart turn cold; it was coming!
+one of the voices was that of Miss Russell. It was impossible for them
+to escape being seen. The broad stretch of the lawn lay between them and
+safety, and the relentless moonlight lay full upon the hedge which had
+lain in shadow when they came out. Peggy braced herself to meet the
+shock; but Grace laid a hand on her arm, and then made a gesture. A
+great tree stood just by the gate of Pentland School; a chestnut-tree,
+with low-jutting, wide-spreading branches. With the swift movement of
+some woodland creature, Grace Wolfe swung herself up to the lowest
+branch, and motioned Peggy to follow; Peggy was a good climber, too;
+more slowly, but with equal agility, she gained the branch; then softly,
+slowly, both girls crept along, inward and upward, till a thick screen
+of leaves hid them completely from sight.
+
+Two ladies came around the turn, and paused a moment at the gate,--Miss
+Russell and Miss Cortlandt. They stood directly under the chestnut-tree;
+Peggy could have dropped a nut down exactly on the crown of Miss
+Russell's bonnet; she never knew how near Grace came to doing so, nor
+how hard it was to refrain for her, Peggy's, sake.
+
+"I hope not!" said Miss Russell. "I do most earnestly hope not."
+
+"I am afraid there is little doubt of it!" replied Miss Cortlandt. "Miss
+Pugsley seemed quite positive; I know she means to bring it up at
+Faculty Meeting to-morrow night."
+
+Miss Russell sighed. "Then it will not be done in the wisest manner!"
+she said. "I can say this to you, Emily, for you understand her as well
+as I do. I had hoped," she continued, "that the whole business would be
+over when Wilhelmina Lightwood--well, I suppose she will always be
+'Billy,' even to me--when Billy went away. I put Peggy Montfort there,
+because she seemed such an honest, steady, sensible kind of girl. I
+thought I could trust Peggy Montfort."
+
+"I think you can!" said Miss Cortlandt. "I don't believe Peggy has had
+any share in the flittings. But I do think it might perhaps have been
+better to tell her all about it, and put her on her guard. Being a new
+girl, she might not feel at liberty to stop the older ones when they
+came; and she could not tell of it. You see, Miss Russell, it is such a
+little time since I was a 'girl' myself, that I haven't got away from
+their point of view yet."
+
+"I hope you never will, my dear!" said Miss Russell, warmly. "It is when
+I get too far away from that point of view myself that I make mistakes.
+Yes, I ought to have put the child on her guard; I'll do so to-morrow."
+
+She looked over toward the school, and sighed again.
+
+"Broad is the way that leadeth to destruction!" she said. "It was Grace
+who gave it the name, of course. Poor Grace!"
+
+"Poor Grace!" echoed Miss Cortlandt; and then the two passed on.
+
+They were two very silent girls who crossed the lawn five minutes later.
+Grace Wolfe held her head high, and walked with her usual airy grace;
+her face was grave, but perhaps no graver than usual. Still, she did not
+speak; as for Peggy, she was too bowed down with shame and wretchedness
+to think even of her companion. She had been trusted; and she had
+betrayed the trust. There seemed nothing in the whole world but that.
+
+They parted outside Peggy's window. Grace was going up a story higher on
+the fire-escape, Peggy did not think nor ask where.
+
+No word was spoken; only, Grace laid her hand on Peggy's shoulder and
+looked in her face for a moment. Peggy could not speak, could only shake
+her head. A single sob broke from her lips; then she hurried in, and
+closed the window behind her.
+
+Then Grace Wolfe did a singular thing. Standing on the iron step, she
+took from her pocket the packet of marshmallows, and deliberately
+scattered them over the lawn, throwing each one as far as her arm could
+reach.
+
+"For the frogs!" she explained, aloud. "With the compliments of the
+Goat, the Wolf, and the Serpent,--to which is now added the Beast which
+Perishes!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+FACULTY MEETING AND BEDLAM.
+
+
+"Have you proof of this, Miss Pugsley?"
+
+"I am perfectly sure of it, Miss Russell!"
+
+"Yes; I am sure you would be, before you spoke of it; but have you the
+proof? Of course, before taking any such serious step as you propose, I
+should, in justice to all, be obliged to ask for positive proof."
+
+"Proof!" cried Miss Pugsley, in some excitement. "Proof enough! Look at
+my bonnet, Miss Russell. Oblige me by smelling of it. I can never wear
+it again, never! I tell you, brandy has been poured over it. Here are
+the slippers!" She produced a pair of slippers which were certainly in a
+sad condition. "They were nailed--nailed with tenpenny nails, to the
+floor of my closet; they are totally ruined. Look--I ask you all,
+ladies, to look at my hand-glass!" She held up the glass; and at the
+sight Emily Cortlandt had one of those violent fits of coughing that
+often troubled her; this one was so bad that she was obliged to leave
+the room for a moment. The worst of it was that one or two of the other
+teachers seemed to have caught the infection, for there was a regular
+outbreak of coughing and choking, which only a severe glance from Miss
+Russell checked.
+
+Somebody had painted a face on the little mirror. It covered the whole
+surface; the face of a monkey, with grinning mouth, and twinkling,
+malicious eyes; it had an undoubted resemblance to Miss Pugsley. As she
+held it up with a tragic gesture, the effect was so absurd that even
+Miss Russell might have wished that she could--cough!
+
+"It lay on my dressing-table, face downward," Miss Pugsley went on. "I
+had just done my hair for tea,--I am scrupulous in such matters,--and
+took up the glass to see that my pug was straight behind. I looked--and
+saw this. Ladies, I could have fainted on the floor. My nerves being
+what they are, it is a marvel that I did not."
+
+"I am very, very sorry, Miss Pugsley," said Miss Russell, gravely. "If I
+knew who had done this--"
+
+"But I tell you I do know, Miss Russell!" cried Miss Pugsley,
+vindictively. "I tell you that there is only one girl in the school who
+is capable of all this, and that girl is Grace Wolfe!"
+
+There was a moment's silence.
+
+"Have you found Grace in your room at any time, Miss Pugsley?" demanded
+Miss Russell.
+
+No, Miss Pugsley had not, but that made no difference. Grace had done
+the things, there was no shadow of a doubt of it.
+
+"Have you been careful to lock your door when you left the room?"
+
+"Miss Russell, you know that locks and bolts make no possible difference
+to Grace Wolfe. The girl is cut out for a malefactor. I prophesy that
+she will be in State's prison before she has been out of school a year."
+
+"I must request you not to speak in this way of any of my young ladies,"
+said the Principal, sternly. "You have been the victim of some very
+malicious practical jokes, Miss Pugsley. I shall look into the matter
+thoroughly, and shall do my best to discover the offender, and shall
+punish her--or them--as I think best." She laid a slight emphasis on the
+last words.
+
+"Then you refuse to expel Grace Wolfe?" said Miss Pugsley, quivering
+with anger.
+
+"On such evidence as you have brought forward to-night? certainly," said
+Miss Russell, with some severity. "I have no proof whatever that Miss
+Wolfe played any of these pranks, though I admit it is probable that she
+may have done so. You found the bandbox outside your door, where Bridget
+admits she left it several days before. You left your door unlocked on a
+rainy half-holiday, when sixty or more girls were constantly passing and
+repassing; there are half a dozen girls, I am sorry to say, who might
+have been tempted by the open door to play some prank of the kind which
+seems so clever to children, and so silly to older people."
+
+Why did Miss Russell look toward the window as she spoke? But now she
+was looking at Miss Pugsley again.
+
+"You and Grace are not friends, I know, Miss Pugsley," she went on. "I
+am sorry for it, for I think all the rest of us feel how much that is
+fine and noble might--may still be brought out of that untamed spirit.
+She has never known a mother, remember. The name of the Scapegoat, which
+she has given herself, may, I sometimes think, reflect blame on the rest
+of us as well as on her. It is true that, whatever mischief is afoot, it
+is sure to be laid at Grace's door. This is mainly her own fault, of
+course--"
+
+"I should think so!" snorted Miss Pugsley.
+
+"But not entirely," the Principal went on. "There are other mischievous
+girls in the school. I should like to know how Grace has been doing this
+month in her various classes," she added, turning to the other teachers.
+
+On this point the testimony was unanimous. Grace Wolfe led many of the
+classes; she was well up in all, and had passed her examinations in a
+way that did credit both to her intelligence and her industry. Thus
+testified every teacher, except the small brown mouse who taught drawing
+in Pentland School. This mouse, Miss Mink by name, had crept away
+silently, and left the room, after one glance at the hand-glass; she
+knew that but one hand in the school could have drawn that monkey, and
+though her heart swelled with pride, she feared for her darling pupil.
+
+There was a pause after the teachers had given their testimony; then
+Miss Pugsley returned to the attack.
+
+"I certainly hope justice will be done, Miss Russell," she said, with a
+smile of sweetened vinegar. "It would be a great pity, wouldn't it, if
+the school got the reputation--he! he!--of injustice and favouritism?"
+
+"It would," said the Principal, gravely.
+
+"But there is another matter that I feel bound to speak of before we
+separate," Miss Pugsley went on. "Are you aware that room No. 18, in
+corridor A, the room formerly occupied by Miss Lightwood, is again being
+used as a place of exit for parties of students going on lawless
+expeditions?"
+
+The Principal looked at her steadily.
+
+"I fear that is true," said one of the other teachers. "I had meant to
+speak to you before about it, Miss Russell, but waited till to-night."
+
+"Of course it makes no possible difference to me!" cried Miss Pugsley.
+"It is not my corridor, and I have no authority there; but as long as
+one is in the school, of course one must consider the honour of it, you
+know, and I am glad some one else is here to bear me out in _this_
+complaint."
+
+The Principal still looked at Miss Pugsley; teachers who had been long
+in the school were glad that she was not looking at them in that way.
+
+"I have heard of this matter before," Miss Russell said, at last. "I am
+going to devote my own time to investigating it, and think I shall need
+no help; though I thank you," it was to Miss Ivors that she spoke, "for
+bringing it to my notice, as it was right for you to do. I think I need
+not detain you longer, ladies."
+
+When the teachers were gone, Miss Russell stepped to the window and
+said, softly, "Grace!"
+
+There was no reply. An owl hooted in the distance; a bird chirped
+somewhere near by. That was all.
+
+"Grace!" said the Principal again. "If you are there, I wish you would
+come in and let me speak to you."
+
+Still no reply. After waiting a moment, the Principal closed the window
+with a sigh. On leaving the room she paused a moment to look at the
+photograph of a lovely young woman, in the dress of twenty years ago,
+which stood on her desk.
+
+"Dear Edith!" said Miss Russell. "My first pupil! I'll keep your girl
+for you, Edith, if I can!"
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Was Grace Wolfe outside the window when the Principal called her? Who
+can tell? It is certain that ten minutes after she was at the supper in
+Bedlam.
+
+The tenant of Bedlam, Miss Cornelia Hatch (familiarly known as Colney
+Hatch, in remembrance of the famous English Insane Asylum), was not
+actually mad, though many of the scholars thought her so. She was a
+special student of natural history, botany, and zoology; she was
+absent-minded and forgetful to the last degree. When she came into
+class, she often had to be brought there, some good-natured classmate
+dragging her away by main force from her private experiments. If she did
+remember to come of her own accord, she was apt to have a half-completed
+articulation hanging around her neck, or a dried frog skin stuck behind
+her ear for safe-keeping. Her hair was generally untidy, owing to this
+habit of sticking things in it while she worked; you never could tell
+what it would be, vertebræ, or seaweed, or pine-cones, but you could
+safely reckon on finding something extraneous in Colney's ruffled black
+hair. As for her clothes, she was usually enveloped in a huge brown
+gingham apron, with many pockets, which held snakes, or eggs, or roots,
+or anything else that would not go comfortably in her hair. When the
+apron became too dirty (she had had two at the beginning of the term,
+but one had been destroyed in an explosion), Miss Carey took it away
+and washed it, while Colney went around looking scared and miserable in
+a queer flannel gown of a pinkish shade. Report said it had once been
+brown, but that the colour had been changed by the fumes of something or
+other, no one knew what. Sometimes she had buttons on frock and apron,
+more often not. Periodically, Miss Carey or the Owls descended upon her,
+and sewed on her buttons and mended her up generally; and she was very
+grateful, and said how nice it was to have buttons. But she soon pulled
+them off again, because she never had time to do anything but tear her
+clothes off when she went to bed, and drag them on again when she got
+up. When a button flew off, she pinned the place over, if a pin was in
+sight; if not, she went without; it made no difference to her, and she
+was not conscious of it in five minutes. Miss Russell, and most of the
+teachers, were very tender with Colney. She was poor, and meant to work
+her way through college; even now she paid part of her schooling by
+stuffing birds and setting up skeletons for one of the college
+professors. If she did not kill herself or somebody else before she
+graduated, Miss Russell looked forward to a distinguished career for the
+tenant of Bedlam; so, as I have said, she was tender and patient with
+her; and good Miss Carey mended her when she could, and saw that she
+remembered to eat her dinner, and Miss Boyle and Miss Mink rejoiced over
+her, and Miss Cortlandt led her gently through English literature,
+giving her Walton and Bacon and all the scientific men of letters that
+she could find. Only one teacher failed to do her best to smooth poor
+Colney's path through school; that was Miss Pugsley. Rhetoric was simply
+an empty noise to the girl. She never by any chance knew a lesson, and
+Miss Pugsley lashed her with so cruel a tongue that Peggy used to ache
+and smart for her as well as for herself, and would get hold of Colney's
+hand and hold it and squeeze it, growing red the while with pity and
+anger. But Colney never noticed it half as much as Peggy did; she used
+to look at the angry teacher for a few minutes in an abstracted kind of
+way, and then retire within herself and make imaginary experiments.
+This was what happened on the dreadful day when Miss Pugsley said:
+
+"The subject of this sentence is _I_. How do we go to work to form the
+predicate, Miss Hatch?"
+
+Cornelia started, but replied, instantly:
+
+"By mixing one part hydrogen with three parts--"
+
+"Indeed!" said Miss Pugsley, with ominous calm. "And what happens next,
+pray?"
+
+"It turns green, and explodes with a loud report."
+
+And this was exactly what did happen. Poor Colney!
+
+Peggy Montfort did not form one of the party in Bedlam that night. The
+room lay at the extreme end of the corridor, round a corner, so that it
+was in a manner shut off from the rest of the wing. It was an
+extraordinary place. Stretched on the walls, dried or drying, were
+specimens of every possible variety,--bats, frogs, snake skins, bird
+skins. Along the mantelpiece were jars and bottles, all containing other
+specimens preserved in spirits. In one corner stood part of a human
+skeleton. It stood on one leg, with a jaunty air, having indeed but one
+leg to stand on; both arms were wanting, but the skull, which was a very
+fine one, made up for much. On account of this fragmentary skeleton, few
+of the younger girls ever dared to enter Bedlam, and some of them would
+run past the door with face averted, and beating heart, fearing lest the
+door should be open and they should catch a glimpse of the gruesome
+thing. But this object was the pride of Colney's heart. She could not,
+of course, afford to buy a whole skeleton, so she was collecting one,
+bit by bit; even Peggy had been quite uncomfortable one day, when Colney
+had told her, hanging over each bone with delight, where and how she had
+come by each one. It was always honestly, one could be sure of that.
+
+Everywhere in the room, underfoot and overhead, were setting-boards and
+pill-boxes, blowpipes and crucibles. One could not move without
+upsetting something; and yet it was here that the Gang came to have its
+annual supper.
+
+Colney Hatch was dissecting a mouse. She was perfectly happy, and
+oblivious of the world, when the door opened, and in came fluttering the
+wild spirits of the junior and sophomore classes. Last year the
+sophomores had been freshmen, and must not know anything about the Gang,
+save in wondering envious whispers and surmises. Next year the juniors
+would be seniors, and they too must forget that such a thing as the Gang
+had been, and think only of dramatics, examinations, and graduation.
+Such had been the unwritten law at Miss Russell's, since time was.
+
+Here were Vanity and Vexation of Spirit, one smiling and dimpling, the
+other with her usual air of blasé superiority. Here was Blanche Haight,
+the leader among the sophomores; here were six or eight girls, in fact,
+chosen from the two classes for the same characteristics, lawlessness
+and love of fun; last but not least, here was Grace Wolfe, the
+acknowledged leader and queen of the Gang, when she deigned to be so.
+
+Grace was in her wildest mood to-night. She danced solemnly around poor
+Colney, who looked up in dismay from her mouse as the silent crowd came
+pouring in, and assured her that her last hour was come.
+
+"We are the Secret Tribunal!" she cried. "We have come to make a pile of
+all your rubbish, Colney, and burn it, with you on top, like the
+Phoenix. I am sure you would come up out of the ashes, if we left the
+mouse out for you to finish."
+
+"Oh, do be careful, please, Goat!" cried Colney Hatch. "Don't sit down
+on that frog, he isn't dry! Dear me! do you--do want anything, girls?"
+
+"We want your room, my love; and your company!" replied Grace. "Yet we
+are merciful. Here!"
+
+She twirled Cornelia's chair around, and set her with her face to the
+wall; then moved the lamp so that its light fell on the board in her
+lap.
+
+"There!" she said. "Finish him, poor old dear, and we'll wake you up
+when supper's ready. Now then! who's brought what?"
+
+Then, from pockets, from surplice folds, from shawls and cloaks hung
+carelessly over the arm, came forth a strange array of articles. One
+had brought a chicken, one a cake. Here was a Dutch cheese, a tin of
+crackers, a bottle of coffee, a bottle of olives, and a box of sardines.
+Grace herself told in high glee how she had met one of the teachers in
+the corridor, and had stood for five minutes talking about the next
+day's lesson. "And with this under me cloak the while!" and with a
+dramatic gesture she produced and held out a dish of lobster salad.
+
+"If it had been potato," she declared, "I had been lost; the onion had
+betrayed me. Blessings on the bland, the seductive mayonnaise, which
+veiled the ardent lobster and his smell. She did smell it, however, and
+said, so cheerfully, poor dear, that Miss Carey was evidently going to
+give us a surprise to-morrow, for she smelt lobster. It was Miss
+Cortlandt, too; I did want to say, 'Oh, come along, and have some!' She
+is a rectangular fragment of baked clay, used for building purposes,
+Miss Cortlandt is."
+
+"What do you mean, Goat?" asked some one.
+
+"I never use slang, as you know!" replied Grace, gravely. "It argues a
+poverty of intellect, as well as a small vocabulary. I suppose you would
+have said she was a brick, my child."
+
+"Oh, Goat, how funny you are!" giggled the girls.
+
+"Not at all, I assure you," said Grace, unmoved. "But I pray you fall
+to! Have some salad, Vanity? yes, I'll take a wing, thank you."
+
+"Isn't this perf'ly fine?" cried Viola Vincent. They were all seated by
+this time, some on the floor, others wherever they could find a few
+inches of spare room, and were dispensing the viands with reckless
+liberality. "I say! I wish we had these every week, instead of only once
+a year. Why, it's just as easy! Oh, what an elegant cream pie! Give me
+some!"
+
+"No!" said Grace Wolfe, with emphasis.
+
+"Why not? What's the matter, Goat?"
+
+"I will _not_ have pies called elegant while I am leader of this Gang,"
+said Grace. "Take my life, if you will, but spare my feelings!"
+
+"All right," said Viola, cheerily. "Your own way, Goat. I'd just as lief
+call it dandy, and it _is_ dandy, you can't deny that."
+
+"Perhaps the Goat is thinking of succeeding her Puggy in the rhetoric
+chair!" said Blanche Haight, with a sneer.
+
+"Perhaps I am thinking of stopping your--" began Grace; but she checked
+herself, and turned away abruptly.
+
+"Look at Colney!" said Vivia Varnham. "Isn't she too perfectly killing?
+She doesn't know we are here, I believe. Look at her hair, girls! It
+gets more ratty, not to say woozzy, every day. I wonder when she brushed
+it last."
+
+"Possibly when you brushed your manners," said the Scapegoat. "Colney is
+our hostess, I beg to remind you. And nobody giving her a bite of
+supper!"
+
+She rose from the floor, piled a plate with good things, and went over
+to the corner where Colney Hatch was bending over her mouse, conscious
+of nothing else.
+
+"Here, Colney; here's your supper."
+
+"Oh, thank you, Grace," said Colney, looking up for a moment. "But I
+can't, you know. Both my hands are full, you see."
+
+"Then open your mouth," commanded the Scapegoat, in tones of authority.
+
+Colney obeyed meekly, and Grace stood over her, feeding her like a baby
+with the choicest morsels, and now and then casting a glance over her
+shoulder at the others. Grace's gaiety was fitful to-night, certainly.
+When she first came in she had been the life of the party; now, as she
+stood there in the corner, her brow was overcast, her eyes gloomy. What
+ailed the Lone Wolf?
+
+What were they saying over there? They, at least, were at the very
+height of glee, breaking into gusts of giggling, into whisperings ending
+in squeaks and smothered screams.
+
+"To-morrow night? Hurrah! Through Broadway, of course."
+
+"Freshy? Oh, Freshy won't say anything. She wouldn't dare to, in the
+first place."
+
+"She'd dare fast enough," said Viola. "She isn't afraid of anything,
+Freshy isn't. But she's safe, she won't say anything."
+
+"What's all this?" demanded the Scapegoat, coming back with the empty
+plate. "Plans? Does one hear them?"
+
+"The apples are all gone," said Kitty Green. "We're going for some
+to-morrow night, Goat. You'll go, too, of course?"
+
+"Going out through Broadway," said Viola. "We haven't been out for more
+than a week, and the moon will be nearly full to-morrow. It'll be
+perf'ly fine, Goat, won't it?"
+
+"Veto!" said Grace, calmly.
+
+"Veto? Why, what do you mean?"
+
+"What's wrong?"
+
+"What has happened?"
+
+"Nothing has happened. Boots are no longer free, that's all."
+
+"Do speak English, Grace Wolfe! What do you mean?"
+
+"There--are--to--be--no more--free-booting expeditions--through
+Broadway. Is that sufficiently plain, or shall I spell the words?"
+
+Blanche Haight rose to her feet, several of the other girls following
+her. "What is the matter with you to-night, Goat?" she said. "We don't
+seem to succeed in satisfying you. Aren't we good enough company for
+you, perhaps?" And Blanche sneered in her own particular manner, of
+which she was proud.
+
+"I make no remarks," said the Scapegoat, in her quietest tones. "I have
+not been personal. I merely say, while I lead this Gang, there will be
+no more expeditions through Broadway."
+
+"And how long do you suppose you will lead this Gang, if you play the
+part of Pope and emperor?" demanded Blanche.
+
+The other girls began to murmur and protest at this. "Listen to the
+Goat!" said one and another. "She must have some reason, or she wouldn't
+act so."
+
+But Grace seized her opportunity.
+
+"How long?" she repeated. "Not an hour! not a second! I resign. My last
+act is to break up this meeting. To your tents, O Israel!"
+
+Then arose such a confusion of whispering, exclaiming, disclaiming,
+entreating, protesting, that no one voice could be heard. The owner of
+the room, fairly roused for a moment (but indeed she had finished the
+mouse), turned round to see what was wrong. For a moment she saw the
+two leaders, Grace and Blanche, facing each other, the one pale and
+quiet, the other red with anger, her eyes darting spiteful flames. Next
+moment, Grace made a single quick movement, and the room was in
+darkness. She had blown out the lamp.
+
+"To your tents!" she repeated, sternly. And, hurrying, whispering,
+stumbling over the remains of their feast scattered on the floor, the
+frightened girls obeyed.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+TEACHER AND PUPIL.
+
+
+The day after the escapade was the worst one that Peggy Montfort had
+ever known. She was too strong and healthy to lie awake all night,
+though it was much later than usual before she ceased to toss in uneasy
+wretchedness and lay peacefully sleeping. When morning came, she woke,
+and for a moment greeted the bright day joyfully. Then remembrance came
+like a hand at her throat, and she shivered, and all the blue seemed to
+fade away, and leave nothing but cold, miserable gray over all the
+world. What had she done? What would Uncle John and Margaret, what would
+Brother Hugh think, if they should know this? Slowly and heavily she
+dressed and went down to breakfast. There, it seemed as if everybody
+knew what she had done. Miss Russell's eyes rested thoughtfully on her
+as she bade her good morning; Peggy shrank away, and could not meet the
+gaze. If she did not know now, she would soon. "An honest, steady,
+sensible girl!" Well, Miss Russell would find she had been mistaken,
+that was all; and of course she would never trust again where she had
+once been deceived. And yet Peggy knew in her heart that there was no
+girl in the school who was so little likely to do this thing again as
+herself. She was by nature, as I have said, a law-abiding creature, with
+a natural reverence for authority. To have set the law at defiance was
+bad enough; to have done it secretly, and betrayed the trust that had
+been placed in her, that was worse! That was beyond possibility of
+pardon. Thus argued Peggy in her wretchedness; and all through the
+morning she went over it again and again, and yet again, seeing no help
+or comfort anywhere. Bertha Haughton, always quick in sympathy, saw the
+trouble in her friend's face, and came over in "gym" and begged to know
+what was the matter. Wasn't Peggy well? Had anything happened to trouble
+her? Peggy shook her head; she could not tell even this good
+friend--yet. There was some one else who must be told first. She
+promised to come to the Owls' Nest later in the day, and Bertha was
+forced to be content with this, and left her with a vague sense of
+uneasiness and a feeling that somehow little Peggy had grown suddenly
+older and more mature. Yes, there is nothing like trouble for that!
+
+It was almost a relief when the summons came.
+
+"Miss Montfort, Miss Russell would like to see you in the study."
+
+Peggy steadied herself for the encounter, and went quietly. If only she
+could be met with a cold look, it would be easier, somehow--but no! the
+Principal's gray eyes were as kind as ever, her smile as gravely sweet,
+as she said, pleasantly, "Good morning, Miss Montfort. Good afternoon, I
+should say; I forgot how late it was. Sit down for a moment, will you? I
+want to ask you about something."
+
+Peggy did not want to sit down. She wanted to stand still and go through
+with it, and then get away to her own room. But there was no
+disregarding the request, so she sat down on the edge of a chair and set
+her teeth.
+
+"I hardly know where to begin!" said Miss Russell. "I am going to take
+you into my confidence--Peggy."
+
+Peggy shivered a little, but said nothing, only set her teeth harder.
+
+"There has been a good deal of trouble," Miss Russell went on, "a good
+deal of trouble in former years with the room which you now occupy. The
+girl who occupied it was--was wild and undisciplined, and took pleasure
+in breaking bounds, and in inducing others to do so. She--there were a
+number of girls who used to go out without leave, by way of the
+fire-escape outside the window."
+
+She paused a moment, and looked at Peggy, but Peggy made no sign.
+
+"That girl--left the school last year, not to return; but there are
+several still here who used to share in those wild pranks (undertaken in
+mere thoughtlessness, I am glad to think, and not with any evil intent),
+and I have been afraid--in fact, it has come to my ears, that the room
+was again being used for the same purpose."
+
+She paused again; but still Peggy was silent. What could she say?
+Besides, no question had been asked her--yet!
+
+The question came. "You are silent, Peggy. Do you know anything about
+this matter?"
+
+"Yes, Miss Russell!" said Peggy, faintly.
+
+"I feel," said the Principal, in a tone of regret, "that I have been to
+blame in not warning you of this beforehand, and putting you on your
+guard. I had hoped that when Bil--when the young lady of whom I spoke
+was gone, the whole thing would die out; it is a distressing thing to
+warn a pupil against her schoolmates. Still, I feel that in this case I
+ought to have done so. I place entire confidence in you, Peggy. I am
+sure that you would not yourself break the rules of the school; but you
+may have been put to inconvenience and distress by the lawlessness of
+others. I am very sorry if this has been the case."
+
+Peggy shut her eyes tight, and said "Margaret!" twice to herself. Then
+she looked at the Principal.
+
+"Miss Russell," she said,--she tried to steady her voice, but it would
+come strange and shaky,--"you are mistaken about me. I am not the kind
+of girl you think I am. I--I went out last night without leave, by the
+fire-escape."
+
+There was a silence.
+
+"Who induced you--that is, with whom did you go?" asked Miss Russell,
+presently.
+
+"I--I didn't say that any one else went."
+
+"No, my dear, you did not say so. But--" and here Miss Russell rose,
+and, crossing the room, laid her hand on Peggy's shoulder; "if I know
+anything at all of girls, you did not go alone, and you did not go of
+your own motion. And--Peggy, if you were not the kind of girl I thought
+you, you would not be feeling as you do now about the whole thing."
+
+This was too much. Peggy could have borne, or she thought she could have
+borne, anger or scorn, or the cold indifference that is born of
+contempt; but the kind tone, the look of affectionate inquiry, the
+friendly hand on her shoulder,--all this she could not bear. She
+covered her face with her hands and burst into a passion of tears.
+
+It seemed hours that she wept, and sobbed, and wept again. It did not
+seem as if she could ever stop, the tears came rushing so fast and so
+violently; but however long it was, Miss Russell did not try to stop or
+check her, only stood by with her hand on the girl's shoulder, patting
+it now and then, or putting back with the other hand--such a soft, firm,
+motherly hand it was!--the stray locks which kept falling over Peggy's
+face as the sobs shook her from head to foot.
+
+At last, however, the storm abated a little; and then, while Peggy was
+trying to dry her tears, and the choking sobs were subsiding into long,
+deep breathings, Miss Russell spoke again.
+
+"Peggy, we teachers have to go a good deal by instinct, do you know it?
+It is not possible for me, for example, to know every one of seventy-odd
+girls as I ought to know her, by actual contact and communion. But I
+have acquired a sort of sense,--I hardly know what to call it,--an
+insight by means of which I can tell pretty well what a girl's standard
+of life is, and how I can best help her. I know that now I can best help
+you and myself by saying--and meaning--just what I said before. I place
+entire confidence in you, Peggy Montfort."
+
+Peggy looked up in amazement; could she believe what she heard?
+
+"To some girls," the Principal went on, "the taste of stolen fruit is
+sweet, and having once tasted it, they hanker for more. To you, it is
+bitter."
+
+"Oh!" said Peggy; and the gasping exclamation was enough.
+
+"Very bitter!" said the Principal. "I speak not from impulse, but from
+experience, when I tell you that there is no girl in the school to-day
+whom I could sooner trust not to commit this offence than you, who
+committed it last night."
+
+Her own thought, almost her own words. Peggy raise her head again, and
+this time her eyes were full of a new hope, a new courage.
+
+"I believe that is true, Miss Russell," she said, simply. "I had
+thought that myself, but I didn't suppose--I didn't think--"
+
+"You did not think that I would know enough to understand it!" said Miss
+Russell, smiling. "Well, you see I do, though we both owe it partly to
+dear Emily Cortlandt, who reminded me of my duty and of your position.
+Now, Peggy, I have a recitation, and we must part. I put you in charge
+of 'Broadway,' fully and freely. No one must come in, and no one must go
+out, by that window. And if you have any trouble," she added, with a
+smile, "if you have any trouble and do not think it right to tell me,
+call for the Owls, and they will help you. Good-bye, my child!"
+
+She held out her hand, and Peggy took it with a wild desire to kiss it,
+or to fall down and kiss the hem of her gown who had shown herself thus
+an angel of sympathy and kindness. But the Principal bent down and
+kissed the girl's forehead lightly and tenderly.
+
+"We shall be friends always now," she said, simply. "Don't forget,
+Peggy!"
+
+She was gone, and Peggy took her own way in the opposite direction,
+hardly knowing whither she was going. Her heart was so full of joy and
+love and gratitude, it seemed as if she must break out into singing or
+shouting. Was ever any one so kind, so noble, so lovely? How could any
+one not try to do her very, very best, to deserve the care and
+friendship of such a teacher as this?
+
+Passing as if on wings through the geometry room, she saw a figure
+crouching over a desk, and was aware of Rose Barclay, bent over her
+book, and crying bitterly. Nothing could hold Peggy back in that moment
+of exaltation. In an instant she was at the girl's side. "Let me help
+you!" she cried. "Please let me; I know I can."
+
+Rose Barclay looked up fiercely. "I asked you to help me, once!" she
+said. "I am not likely to ask again. Go away, please, and let me alone."
+
+"No, I won't!" said stout Peggy. "You never would let me explain, but
+now you are going to let me. I couldn't show you my example, and I
+wouldn't, and I never will; but I could make you see how to do your own
+right, and that's what I am going to do now."
+
+Down she sat without more ado; took the pencil from the unwilling hand,
+and set to work on an imaginary problem. Rose Barclay sat still for a
+moment with averted face, pride and shame doing their best to silence
+the better voices within her. At length she stole a glance at Peggy's
+face, and there beheld such a shining expanse of goodwill and
+friendliness that Pride and Co. gave up the battle, and retreated into
+their dens. Heaving a long sigh of relief, she bent forward, and soon
+was following with all her might Peggy's clear and lucid explanation.
+
+"Why, yes!" said Rose, at last. "Why, I do see. Why, I do believe I
+could do that myself."
+
+"Of course you can!" said Peggy. "Here, take the pencil, and I'll give
+you one."
+
+She did so, and, after some screwing of the mouth and knitting of the
+brows, Rose actually did do it, and felt like Wellington after Waterloo.
+Then, at Peggy's instigation, she tackled the actual lesson, and,
+steered by Professor Peggy, went through it triumphantly. Then she
+turned on her instructor.
+
+"What made you come and help me, Peggy Montfort? I've been perfectly
+hateful to you, you know I have. I wouldn't have helped you, if you had
+acted the way I have."
+
+"Oh, yes, you would," said Peggy, good-naturedly.
+
+"Why--why, you have been crying, too!" said Rose, examining her
+benefactress more closely. "Peggy, you have been crying awfully, I know
+you have."
+
+"Yes, I have," said Peggy; "I have cried my eyes out, and I never was so
+happy in my life. Come on, and have a game of ball!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+DECORATION--AND OTHER THINGS.
+
+
+The Junior Reception was "on." In fact, it was to take place this very
+evening, and an air of subdued excitement hung over the whole school.
+All the other classes were invited, as well as the Faculty and many
+friends from outside; it was sure to be a delightful occasion. Peggy was
+fortunate enough to be one of the auxiliaries called in by the Snowy Owl
+to help in the decorations, and she counted it a high privilege, as
+indeed it was. As a general thing, there is more sympathy between
+juniors and freshmen than between any other two classes in school or
+college; various reasons may be assigned for this, but it remains the
+fact. Besides this, however, Peggy felt a very special bond with the
+"Jews," because her dearest friends were among them. This had come
+about partly from the accident of her coming late to school, and so
+being put into the junior corridor; but it was still more due to her
+making instant acquaintance, as we have seen, with the Fluffy Owl, and
+through her with the beloved and powerful Snowy. These two girls,
+through their wise and gentle ways, were a power for good in the whole
+school, and especially in their own class. They were queens of the
+steady and right-minded majority, while Grace Wolfe led the wilder and
+less disciplined spirits. The Owls went their quiet way, and troubled
+themselves little, less perhaps than they should have done, about the
+doings of the "Gang." They were busy with study, with basket-ball, with
+a hundred things; they could not always know (especially when pains were
+taken that they should not know) what tricks the Scapegoat and her wild
+mates were up to.
+
+Both Owls had a real affection for Peggy, and though they knew nothing
+as yet of the recent escapade, they felt that it would be well to keep
+her rather under their wing, the more so that Grace had undoubtedly
+taken a fancy to the child, too.
+
+"She's too fascinating!" said the Snowy. "We shall have the Innocent
+falling in love with her if we don't look out, and that would never do!"
+
+"Never!" said the Fluffy, shaking her head wisely; but she added, in an
+undertone, "If only the mischief isn't done already!"
+
+So the two asked Peggy to help them in the work of preparing the
+gymnasium for the great event, and she consented with delight. She was
+making plenty of friends in her own class, oh, yes; especially now that
+she and Rose Barclay had made it up. She was the one stay and comfort of
+poor little Lobelia Parkins, and was devotedly kind to that forlorn
+creature, taking her out to walk almost by main force, and presenting to
+all comers a front of such stalwart, not to say pugnacious,
+determination, that no one dared to molest the girl when Peggy was with
+her. Spite of all this, however, her heart remained in Corridor A, and
+she would have left the whole freshman class in the lurch at one
+whistle from the Owls--or, alas! from the Scapegoat.
+
+But all this is by the way, and does not help us to get up the Junior
+Reception.
+
+There had been an early morning expedition to the neighbouring woods
+(not, however, through the fire-escape), and Peggy and the Owls had
+returned each with a wheelbarrow-load of boughs and ground pine and all
+manner of pleasant woodland things. The leaves had turned, and were
+glowing with scarlet and gold and russet. These were put in water, lest
+they should begin to curl and wither before night; while the evergreens
+were heaped in a corner and left to their fate. Now it was afternoon,
+and the girls, released from their tasks, had flown to the scene of
+action. Already the gymnasium began to assume a festive appearance.
+Several garlands were in place, and on the floor sat six or eight
+juniors, busily weaving more. Ladders stood here and there. At the top
+of one stood the Snowy Owl, arranging a "trophy," as she called it, of
+brilliant leaves, on another, Peggy was valiantly hammering, as she
+arranged in festoons the long folds of green and white bunting that the
+Fluffy handed up to her. The Fluffy was a curious sight, being swathed
+in bunting from head to foot. When Peggy demanded "more slack," she
+simply turned around a few times and unrolled herself, thus presenting
+the appearance of an animated spool.
+
+"It's effective," said Gertrude, surveying her from her perch, "but I
+can't say that it looks comfortable. How ever did you get yourself into
+such a snarl, Fluff?"
+
+"Why, I was measuring it, don't you know?" said Bertha, "and it got all
+into a heap on the floor, and there was so much of it I didn't know what
+to do. So I began to roll it round and round myself, and the first thing
+I knew I was the cocoon-thing you see before you. I feel as if I ought
+to come out a butterfly, somehow."
+
+"They are lovely colours!" said Peggy. "There's nothing so pretty as
+green and white. How do you choose your colours? We haven't chosen ours
+yet, but I suppose we shall soon."
+
+"The Snowy chose them," said Bertha. "They were Sir Somebody-or-other's
+colours at the Siege of Acre. I wanted scarlet, because that was
+Launcelot's--"
+
+"Fluffy! it was nothing of the kind!"
+
+"Well, you know what I mean, Snowy; don't make a cannibal meal of me.
+Scarlet was Elaine's colour, and Launcelot wore it; that was what I
+meant."
+
+"I thought--" said Peggy, timidly, "I thought she was the Lily Maid; I
+thought she wore white."
+
+"Did, herself," said the Snowy, with her mouth full of tacks. "But she
+gave him a scarlet sleeve embroidered with pearls, and he wore it on his
+helmet, and that was what made Guinevere throw the diamonds into the
+river."
+
+"Oh!" said Peggy, meekly. She had tried to read the "Idyls of the King,"
+but could not make out much except the fighting parts.
+
+"Never understood why they had sleeves so often," said Bertha,
+abstractedly bunching the green and white draperies. "Never could see
+how they got the sleeve on the helmet in any kind of shape. What sort of
+sleeves did they have then, anyhow? Why, they were those tight ones,
+weren't they, with a slashed cap at the top? Well, now, Snowy, that
+would look perfectly absurd on a helmet, you know it would."
+
+The Snowy deigned no reply; or perhaps the tacks were in a perilous
+position at that moment. Bertha went on, thoughtfully:
+
+"A balloon sleeve, now, would be more sensible; you could slip it over
+the helmet, and it would look like--like the shade of a piano lamp. But
+somehow, whenever I read about it, I see a small, tight, red sleeve,
+spread out like a red flannel bandage, as if the helmet had a sore
+throat--"
+
+"Fluffy, you are talking absolute nonsense!" said Gertrude, regaining
+utterance. "And after all, they had gloves oftener than sleeves; not
+that that makes it much better. For my part, I always think of a glove
+with all the five fingers sticking up out of the middle of the crown, as
+if they had tried to be feathers and been nipped in the bud."
+
+"Feathers don't bud!" said Bertha, handing up more slack.
+
+"But the real thing," Gertrude went on, "the beautiful, graceful thing
+for the knight to wear, was the scarf. He could do anything he liked
+with that; tie it around his helmet, or across his breast,--that was the
+proper way of course,--or around his waist.
+
+"A green scarf, that is what I would have! Very soft, so that it would
+go through a finger-ring, and yet wide enough to shake out into
+wonderful folds, you know, so that he could wrap himself up in it, and
+think of me, and--what's the matter, Peggy, why do you sigh?"
+
+"Did I sigh?" said Peggy, looking confused. "It was nothing, Snowy. I
+was only thinking--thinking how stupid I was, and how Margaret would
+like all the things you talk about."
+
+"Meaning sleeves?"
+
+"No, oh, no! but about knights, and chivalry, and all that kind of
+thing. Margaret loves it so! She used to try to read Froissart to me,
+but it always put me to sleep. I suppose you like Froissart, Gertrude?"
+
+She spoke so wistfully that Gertrude took the tacks out of her mouth
+(she should never have put them in; a junior should have known better!)
+that she might reply the better.
+
+"Why, Peggy, yes, I do like Froissart, but it never troubles me when
+people don't care for my kind of books. You see, there are so many
+kinds, such an endless variety, and good in so many different ways. Now
+you, for example, would like the Jungle Books, and the 'Cruise of the
+_Cachalot_,' and all kinds of books of adventure."
+
+"I don't know what is adventure if Froissart isn't," Bertha put in.
+
+"Yes, but it's all too far away, too remote. I know how Peggy feels,
+because I have a cousin who is just that way. She used to think she
+should never read anything at all; then one day she got hold of Kipling,
+and the worlds opened, and the doors thereof. Just you come to me for
+the Jungle Books some day, Innocent, and you'll see. Look here, I want
+lots and lots, and again lots more leaves. Where are they all? I don't
+see any more, but there must be any quantity. I brought in a whole
+copse, myself."
+
+"We put them all into the old swimming-tank, don't you remember? Oh, no;
+you went in before we had finished this morning. Well, they are there.
+Stay where you are, Snowy, and Peggy and I will get a couple of loads."
+
+The two girls ran down-stairs to the lower floor. Part of this was taken
+up, as we have already seen, by dressing-rooms, but it was only a small
+part. The larger space was occupied by the great swimming-tank, five
+feet deep, and twenty by thirty feet in area. The tank was not used now,
+but the water was still connected, and could be turned on by special
+permission. Now, accordingly, the water in the bottom was about two feet
+deep, and the whole surface was a blaze of autumn colours, great
+branches of maple, oak, and ash covering it completely.
+
+"Pretty, isn't it?" said Bertha. "Like a little sunset sea all alone by
+itself, without any sun to set. The next question is, how are we to get
+at them?"
+
+"Oh, that's easy enough!" said Peggy. "I can reach them easily from the
+edge, and I'll hand them over to you."
+
+Suiting the action to the word, she climbed up on the broad marble slab
+which formed the edge of the great tank.
+
+Then, bending down, she brought up a great branch of golden maple, fresh
+and dripping. She shook it, and a diamond shower fell back on the dark
+space left vacant; then another branch floated quietly over and filled
+the space again.
+
+"You'll be wet through!" said Bertha. "I don't suppose you care?"
+
+"No, indeed! I'd rather be wet than not, when I'm doing things."
+
+"I'll remember that," said Bertha, slyly, "and come round with a
+watering-can next time you are reciting your rhetoric. Give me some red
+now; oh, that is a beauty! There! that's enough for one load; unless you
+see just one more little one that is superlatively beautiful."
+
+"That is just what I do see! Hold on a minute! this is such a beauty,
+you must have it, if I--oh!"
+
+Peggy had been leaning as far as she could over the broad tank, fishing
+for the gay branch, which floated provokingly just out of reach. At last
+she touched it--grasped it--drew it toward her; when all in a moment she
+slipped on the marble, now wet and glossy with the falling drops,
+clutched the air--slipped again--and fell headlong into the tank, with a
+mighty splash.
+
+Bertha shrieked. There was an answering shriek from above, and Gertrude,
+followed by all the other girls, came flying down the stairs.
+
+"What has happened? What--where is Peggy?"
+
+"In the tank!" cried Bertha. "Oh! dear me, what shall we do? Peggy, are
+you much hurt?"
+
+"No; I--think not!" spluttered Peggy. "I came down on my nose, that's
+all. Feels as if it was broken, but I don't know--no! It doesn't crack
+when I wiggle it. It's bleeding a good deal, though. Perhaps I'd better
+stay in till it stops."
+
+Bertha tried to climb up to the perch which Peggy had so suddenly left
+vacant, but in vain; her legs were far too short. Gertrude, however,
+came with a flying leap, and scrambled cat-like up the side of the tank.
+Looking down, with the kindest heart in the world, and a world of
+sympathy to fill it, she still could not help bursting into a peal of
+laughter. Peggy, sitting in the tank, crowned with gold and scarlet
+leaves, and dripping like Undine, was certainly a funny spectacle.
+
+"Oh, do forgive me for laughing, Peggy dear!" cried Gertrude. "You--you
+do look funny, but I'm dreadfully sorry."
+
+"Well, I'm laughing myself," said Peggy, "I don't see why you shouldn't.
+But did you ever hear of a water-nymph with a nosebleed? If I could only
+get at my pocket--"
+
+"Here, take mine," and Gertrude dropped her handkerchief, which Peggy
+caught adroitly.
+
+[Illustration: "'HERE! TAKE MY HAND AND SCRAMBLE OUT.'"]
+
+"My dear," Gertrude went on, "it seems so strange to have some one
+besides me falling about and dropping herself. I used to be the one,
+always. They called me 'Dropsy' at home; and I fell in here last year,
+Peggy, and I know exactly how it feels. Here! take my hand and
+scramble out."
+
+Peggy, still sitting in the water, which covered her to the waist,
+looked about her thoughtfully. "It seems a pity, now I _am_ here, not to
+have some good of it," she said, philosophically.
+
+"If it were only a foot deeper, or I weren't bothered with all these
+petticoats, I might have a good swim. However, I suppose I may as well
+get out--if I can. Take care, Snowy--oh! take care!"
+
+Alas! for the Snowy Owl! After all, she was still Gertrude Merryweather.
+The marble was wet--she bent down to take Peggy's hand--here was another
+tremendous splash, and two Undines sat in the tank, gazing speechless on
+each other. This was too much for the composure of any one. Both Peggy
+and Gertrude sat helpless, shaking with laughter, and absolutely unable
+to move. Bertha, outside, fairly went into hysterics, and laughed and
+screamed in one breath; while the other girls raised such a clamour of
+mingled mirth and terror that Emily Cortlandt, who had just come in to
+take a look at the decorations, came running down-stairs, dreading she
+knew not what.
+
+One look over the edge of the tank, and Miss Cortlandt was not so very
+much better than the rest of them; but she recovered herself sooner.
+Wiping her eyes, she proceeded at once to the business of rescuing the
+two involuntary divers. It proved impossible for them to climb up, the
+sides being too slippery, and the flying leap being out of the question
+in two feet of water. She brought a short ladder, and in another moment
+first one nymph and then the other came up from their fountain, and
+dripped little rivers on the floor.
+
+"Is either of you hurt?" asked Miss Cortlandt.
+
+"Not I!" said Gertrude, ruefully. "I fell on top of poor Peggy, and she
+makes a perfect cushion. How are you, Peggy? Did I half kill you?"
+
+"Not a bit! I think perhaps I've sprained my wrist a little, but that
+was when I went in myself. No, I'm all right; truly I am, Miss
+Cortlandt. I'll just go and change my clothes, and then come back and
+finish."
+
+Emily Cortlandt did not come of amphibious stock. "You will do nothing
+of the kind!" she said. "You _ought_ to go to bed, Peggy, and Gertrude,
+too; but I suppose you would think that a terrible piece of injustice."
+
+"Yes, Miss Cortlandt, we should!" replied both girls, in a breath.
+
+"And I know that you have both been brought up more or less like whales;
+so I'll let you off with camphor pills and peppermint drops. Those you
+_must_ have. Run along and change everything--everything, mind!--and
+I'll come around in five minutes and dose you. Run, now; make it a race,
+and I'll add hot lemonade to the stakes,--first prize and booby prize!"
+
+"Yes, Miss Cortlandt," cried the two Undines; and off they set in a
+shower of spray, with the other girls at their heels.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+AN ADVENTURE.
+
+
+It all came from Peggy's forgetting her handkerchief. That was nothing
+remarkable. Rapidly though our heroine was developing, there was still
+plenty of the old Peggy left; and when she looked up at Miss Russell
+with a certain imploring gaze, the Principal was apt to say, without
+waiting for anything further: "Yes, Peggy, you may; but do try to
+remember it next time!"
+
+But this time it was well that Peggy had not remembered it. She stumbled
+across the long dining-room quite in her own way, stubbing her toe
+against a sophomore's chair, and sending the sophomore's spoon
+clattering to the ground. Stooping, in confusion, to pick it up, with
+muttered apologies, she encountered the sophomore's head bent down for
+the same purpose, and some mutual star-gazing ensued. Finally she did
+manage to get out of the room, after cannoning against the door and
+taking most of the skin off her nose, and made her way up-stairs
+ruefully, rubbing the places that hurt most, and wondering where in her
+anatomy lay the "clumsy bone" that her father always talked about. "And
+it isn't there all the time!" said poor Peggy. "Sometimes I don't fall
+into anything for days, and then, all at once, it's like this!"
+
+Shaking her head dolefully, she reached her own room, got the
+handkerchief, remembered with a great effort to shut the drawer, and
+came out into the corridor again--to come face to face with a man
+emerging from the opposite room.
+
+The opposite room was Vanity Fair; and the man's hands were full of
+trinkets and knickknacks, and his pockets bulged in a suspicious way. He
+cast a wild glance over Peggy's shoulder at the open door of her room
+and the fire-escape beyond; evidently he had entered by that way, and
+counted on the dinner-hour's keeping every one below stairs till he got
+safe away. Now, however, baffled in this, he turned down the corridor
+with some degree of composure.
+
+"Stop!" said Peggy. "Who are you, and what are you doing here?"
+
+"I'm the plumber, miss," said the man, still walking away.
+
+"Put down those things!" cried Peggy. "Do you hear? or I'll call the
+police!"
+
+Apparently the man did not hear, or else did not fancy the idea
+suggested to him, for he began to run down the long corridor as fast as
+he could go.
+
+So it came to pass that the school, waiting peacefully for its pudding,
+heard a sound of hasty feet scurrying down the stairs. Then, all in a
+rush, came past the door the flying figure of a man, with Peggy Montfort
+in hot pursuit.
+
+"Stop thief!" Peggy shouted it once, and then prudently saved her
+breath. The man fumbled for an instant at the front door, gave it up,
+darted into Miss Russell's study. Crash went a window; he was out, with
+Peggy at his heels, and away across the lawn.
+
+"Stop thief!" the cry rang through the school; and, lo! in the twinkling
+of an eye there was no school there. The long dining-room was emptied as
+if by magic; the front door flew open, and out streamed the seventy
+maidens, all crying "Stop thief!" all running their very best to come up
+with the flying pair.
+
+There were some good runners at Pentland School; but after the first few
+minutes of running together, jostling and pushing, two girls drew
+rapidly away from the rest, and soon left them far behind. Gertrude
+Merryweather and Grace Wolfe had long been friendly rivals in what they
+called the royal sport of running. Perhaps neither of them was sorry of
+this opportunity for a "good spurt." Certainly it was a pretty sight,
+the two tall, graceful creatures, lithe and long-limbed as young
+greyhounds, speeding over the ground, their arms held close at their
+sides, their eyes flashing, youth and strength seeming to radiate from
+them as they ran. Now one drew ahead a little, now the other; but for
+the most part they kept side by side, for both were running their best,
+not only for the joy and honour of the thing, but because it was
+necessary to arrive, to help Peggy and catch the thief.
+
+The thief was evidently not a trained athlete, but he was doing his
+best. He had cut himself a good deal in smashing the window, and had
+thrown away part of his booty, hoping that his relentless pursuer might
+be content, and might stop to pick up the brooches and belt-buckles that
+lay at her feet; but Peggy never looked at them, and held on straight
+after him, gaining, undoubtedly gaining. The man doubled back across the
+lawn, hoping to reach the gate and safety; but Peggy headed him off as
+quietly and coolly as if he were an unruly steer in the home stock-yard.
+Again he doubled, and again the girl was running in a diagonal to cut
+off his approach to the wished-for retreat. But now he caught sight of
+the two tall avengers bearing down upon him, and the school in full cry
+behind. He made a desperate spurt and reached the gate; it was half
+open, and as he rushed through he slammed it behind him with a hoarse
+shout of defiance. But much Peggy cared for gates! She was over in an
+instant, and at his heels again. And realising this, the rascal suddenly
+changed his tactics. He stopped short, and, turning on Peggy a
+villainous face, bade her with an oath, "Come on, and see what she would
+get for it!"
+
+The words had not left his lips, when a ludicrous change came over the
+man's face. He uttered a wild yell, and fell headlong, almost at Peggy's
+feet. When Peggy saw this, she knew what to do; and when Grace and
+Gertrude came flying up a moment after, they found her sitting quietly
+on the rascal's head, and telling Colney Hatch to go for the police.
+
+Colney had been watching the evolutions of a new and extremely
+interesting spider. The spider had made her web in the hedge beside the
+road; and Colney, as soon as morning recitations were over, had hastened
+thither, and sat down under the hedge to watch, undisturbed by thoughts
+of dinner or of any other known thing. So watching, it came to pass that
+she heard the sound of rushing feet so close that it actually did
+disturb her; and looked up to see an extremely ill-looking fellow in
+full flight, hotly pursued by Peggy Montfort. When he turned to bay, it
+was within a foot of the spot where Colney sat under the hedge; and
+without more ado Colney stretched out her long, lean hand, and, grabbing
+the fellow by the ankles, "tripped up his heels, and he fell on his
+nose."
+
+Presently up came the school, panting and breathless; with them Miss
+Cortlandt, who had been saying to herself that if she ever let herself
+get out of practice in running again she would know the reason why.
+Finally, up came William the chore-man from one direction (for Miss
+Russell had gone straight to the kitchen and given the alarm there), and
+the next-door neighbour from the other; whereupon Constable Peggy got up
+from her uneasy seat, and handed over her prize to the tender mercies of
+his own sex.
+
+"Git up, ye varmint!" said William, stirring the prostrate figure with
+his foot. "Git up, and say what ye've got to say for yerself."
+
+The man got up, bewildered, and shaking his head as if he expected it to
+come off.
+
+"She 'most killed me!" he spluttered. "I ain't got no breath left in my
+body."
+
+"Small loss if ye hain't!" retorted William. "What's he ben doin',
+gals?" William never _would_ say "young ladies," which distressed Miss
+Russell; but he was _so_ valuable, as she said.
+
+"Stealing!" said Peggy, briefly. "I met him coming out of one of the
+rooms."
+
+"I snum!" said William. "You're a nice kind o' harmonium, ben't ye? Tu'n
+out yer pockets!"
+
+"She sot down on my head!" muttered the man. "Somethin' come up out o'
+the ground at me and knocked me down, and then she sot down on my head.
+I'm 'most killed, I tell ye!"
+
+"Well, who cares if ye be?" replied William, with some irritation. "It's
+a pity she didn't finish the job, that's all I've got to say. Tu'n out
+yer pockets, will ye?"
+
+The man obeyed unwillingly, still muttering; and out came a mass of
+lockets, pins, and chains, enough, in spite of those he had thrown away,
+to furnish half the girls in the school.
+
+After searching to see the surrender was complete, William adjured the
+next-door neighbour, a stout and silent person named Simpson, who had
+been standing by, to "take t'other arm, and we'll walk him down to the
+lock-up jest as easy!" The thief begged and prayed, and, finding that
+useless, took to cursing and swearing; whereupon William and Mr. Simpson
+marched him off in short order, and all three disappeared around the
+turn leading to the High Street.
+
+The school was left standing in the road, still panting with haste and
+excitement. They had been silent during William's colloquy with the man,
+but now the strings of their tongues were loosened, and the flood of
+speech broke loose.
+
+"My dear!"
+
+"My _dear_! I never was so excited in my life, were you?"
+
+"Where did he come from?"
+
+"Who saw him first?"
+
+"Why, Peggy Montfort, of course! Didn't you see her?"
+
+"No; I just ran, because every one else was--"
+
+"Perfectly distracted! I never heard of such a thing."
+
+"He was in the closet--"
+
+"No; he was on the stairs--"
+
+"Just getting out of the window--"
+
+"With just her bare hands, I tell you. Just took a--"
+
+"Pair of earrings, nothing else in the world."
+
+"But who was he--where did he come from? What does Peggy say about it?"
+
+"Girls! _girls_!" cried Miss Cortlandt. "Will you please be silent for a
+moment? Peggy has not had a chance to say a word yet, and I for one want
+to hear her story. Have you got your breath yet, Peggy? because we all
+want to hear, very much indeed."
+
+"There isn't much to tell," said Peggy, blushing. "I went up to get my
+handkerchief,--I had forgotten it,--and as I was coming out of my room,
+this fellow was just coming out of the other room."
+
+"What other room? Whose was it?" cried a dozen voices.
+
+"Why, Van--I mean No. 17, Miss Vincent and Miss Varnham's room."
+
+"Oh! oh!" a shrill scream was heard; and Viola Vincent pushed her way
+through the crowd of girls, and threw herself upon Peggy.
+
+"My Veezy-vee!" she cried. "It was my room! V., do you hear? It was our
+room that horrid wretch was robbing. My dear, if we had been there we
+should have been murdered in our beds, I know we should. Peggy Montfort
+has saved our lives. Isn't it perfectly awful?"
+
+"That she should have saved your lives?" asked the Snowy Owl, laughing.
+"Come to your senses, Vanity, and don't strangle Peggy. She's black in
+the face, and I shall have to set about saving her life if you don't let
+her go."
+
+Released from Viola's embrace, Peggy gasped, and shook herself like a
+Newfoundland puppy.
+
+"Don't be ridiculous, Vanity!" she said, looking at once pleased and
+shamefaced. "It wasn't anything, of course; it was just what any one
+else would have done. But do look out for your things! They are
+scattered all about the lawn; he threw away a lot of them when he first
+came out, and we shall be stepping on them if we don't take care. Oh!
+oh, please don't say anything more about it. It was just the merest
+chance I happened to go up." This was to Vivia Varnham, who, trying to
+overcome her ungraciousness, was expressing her gratitude for what Peggy
+had done. It was evidently an effort and was not pleasant for either
+girl.
+
+The girls scattered over the lawn, picking up here a hairpin, there a
+brooch or buckle. It really seemed as if Vanity Fair was stocked like a
+jeweller's shop. Gertrude Merryweather, standing by Peggy, uttered an
+exclamation. "My dear! Peggy! Why, you are all over blood! You are
+bleeding now. What--where--oh! oh, Fluffy, _look_ here!" Bertha came
+running, as Gertrude lifted Peggy's arm, which was indeed dripping
+blood. Both girls exclaimed in horror, and Bertha turned quite white;
+but Peggy looked at it coolly.
+
+"Oh!" she said. "That must be where I went through the window after
+him."
+
+"The window?"
+
+"Yes, didn't you hear the crash? He smashed the window in Miss Russell's
+study and got out, and I followed him, of course. It isn't anything.
+Why, I didn't feel it till you spoke."
+
+"That is excitement!" said the Snowy Owl. "You must come in and be
+bandaged this minute, Peggy! Come right along to the Nest; I have
+bandages and lint all ready."
+
+The Snowy Owl was all on fire with ardour and sympathy. Peggy looked at
+her in surprise, but the Fluffy Owl laughed. "You have struck the
+Snowy's hobby," she said. "She is going to study medicine, you know. Go
+along; she will be happy all the rest of the day, bandaging and
+cosseting you."
+
+"But it doesn't hurt!" said Peggy, still wondering.
+
+"Never mind!" said the Snowy Owl. "It ought to hurt, Peggy Montfort,
+and it will hurt in a little while. Come along and be bandaged!" and,
+meekly wondering, Peggy went.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+
+PEGGY VICTRIX!
+
+
+"Well, it certainly was a great success!" said the Scapegoat. It was the
+day after the reception, and she had drifted into the Owls' Nest toward
+twilight, and now stood by the mantelpiece, swaying backward and forward
+in the light, wind-blown way she had.
+
+"A great success!" she repeated, thoughtfully. "Why, it was actually
+pleasant! How did you manage it?"
+
+"We didn't manage it," said honest Bertha. "It just came so. Everybody
+was ready to have a good time, and had it; that was all."
+
+"More than that!" said Grace, absent-mindedly. "There has to be a knack,
+or something, and you have it. I haven't. I couldn't do it, even if I
+wanted to, and I don't think I do."
+
+"Do what?" said the Snowy.
+
+"Be an Owl!" said Grace. Suddenly she left her hold of the shelf, and
+turned upon them almost fiercely.
+
+"Why should I?" she exclaimed. "Tell me that, will you? It is all
+natural to you. Your blood flows quietly, and you like quiet, orderly
+ways, and never want to throw things about, or smash a window. I tell
+you I have to, sometimes. Look here!"
+
+She caught up a vase from the shelf, and seemed on the point of flinging
+it through the closed window, but Gertrude laid her hand on her arm
+firmly. "You may have a right to throw your own things, my dear," she
+said, good-naturedly. "You have no possible right to throw mine, and
+'with all respect, I do object!'"
+
+Grace gave a short laugh, and set the vase down again; but she still
+looked frowningly at the two girls, and presently she went on.
+
+"It's all very well for you, I tell you. You have a home, and a--my
+mother died when I was five years old. My father--"
+
+"Grace, dear," said Gertrude; "come and sit down here by me, and tell
+me about your mother. I have seen her picture; she must have been
+lovely."
+
+But Grace shook her head fiercely.
+
+"My father is an actor, and I want to be one, too, but he promised my
+mother before she died--she didn't want me to be one. What do I care
+about all this stuff we are learning here? I tell you I want to take a
+tambourine and go on the road with a hand-organ man. That would be life!
+I would, too, if I only had the luck to have hair and eyes like yours,
+Fluffy."
+
+"You could wear a wig, of course," said Bertha, soberly. "The eyes would
+be a difficulty, though, I'm afraid."
+
+"Well, I am here now! and I'm supposed to stay another year, and then go
+to college. Four--five years more of bondage, and tasks, and lectures on
+good behaviour! Am I likely to stand it, I ask you?"
+
+"I hope so!" said Gertrude, steadily. "It would be a thousand pities if
+you didn't, Grace, and you know it as well as I do."
+
+"And if I do, it must be in my own way!" cried the wild girl, swinging
+round again on her heel. "And if I can make things more endurable
+here--if I can get rid of--it must be in my own way, I tell you. Snowy,
+you are like your name, I suppose. You are white and gold and calm,--I
+don't know what you are, except that we are not of the same flesh. I
+tell you, I turn to fire inside! I must break out, I must go off when
+the fit comes on me. I do no harm! It doesn't hurt anybody for me to go
+down the wall and cool myself with a run in the fields. Why can't I be
+let alone? I am not a child! I tell you it is the way I am made!"
+
+The Snowy Owl rose, and, going to the fireplace, laid her arm around
+Grace's shoulder.
+
+"You are making yourself!" she said. "It's your own life, Wolf; are you
+making it worse or better?"
+
+"I'm not doing either. I am taking it as it comes, as it was meant to
+come."
+
+Gertrude shook her head quietly.
+
+"That can't be!" she said. "That is impossible, Wolf. We have to be
+growing one way or the other; we can't stay as we are, for a year or a
+day. And there's another thing: you don't seem to think about the
+others, about the effect on the school. If you are to break the laws,
+why should not every one do the same?"
+
+"Because they are different!" said Grace, sullenly.
+
+"You don't know that! They may have the same temptations, and be
+stronger than you to resist them. You ought to be a strong girl, Grace,
+and, instead of that, you are weak--as weak as water."
+
+"Weak? I!" cried Grace, her eyes blazing. "If any one else had said that
+to me, Gertrude Merryweather, I would--"
+
+"But no one else would say it to you!" said Gertrude. "Because no one
+else--except Miss Russell--cares as much as I do--Fluffy and I. We love
+you too much, Grace, to flatter you and follow you, as most of them do.
+I tell you, and you may take it as simple truth, for it is nothing else,
+that which you think strength is simply weakness,--lamentable weakness.
+And as for your influence on the other girls--just listen a moment!"
+
+Taking up a little book from the table, she opened it--indeed it seemed
+to open of its own accord at the place--and read:
+
+        "'Little thinks, in the field, yon red-cloaked clown
+         Of thee from the hill-top looking down;
+         The heifer that lows in the upland farm,
+         Far-heard, lows not thine ear to charm;
+         The sexton, tolling his bell at noon,
+         Deems not that great Napoleon
+         Stops his horse, and lists with delight,
+         Whilst his files sweep round yon Alpine height;
+         Nor knowest thou what argument
+         Thy life to thy neighbour's creed hath lent.
+         All are needed by each one;
+         Nothing is fair or good alone.'"
+
+There was silence when she finished reading. Then--"What is that?" asked
+Grace, stretching out her hand. "Give it to me!"
+
+"Emerson. Take him home with you, and let him talk to you; he speaks
+well."
+
+Grace took the book, looked it over, and dropped it into her pocket. For
+a moment she leaned her head against Gertrude's arm, and a sigh broke
+from her involuntarily. Then, all in a moment, a change came. Her face
+lightened in an indescribable way, and her eyebrows lifted with a look
+that both girls knew well.
+
+"And have you heard the news?" she said. "There is a rumour that my
+Puggy leaves me at the end of the term. How to exist, I ask you, without
+her? Othello's occupation would be gone indeed."
+
+"No! is it true? Why is she going? What does it mean?"
+
+Grace shrugged her shoulders with an elfish gesture.
+
+"How should I know? It appears she sees ghosts. A ghost must be hard up,
+one would think, to visit my Puggy; there ought to be an asylum for
+impoverished spectres. Would you subscribe for it, Owls? Good-bye! I
+must go. You mean well, and I don't bear malice. Oh! by the by,--" she
+came back for an instant, and stood balancing herself on one foot and
+looking round the edge of the door, and she certainly looked hardly
+human,--"I forgot the thing I came for. Stand by the Innocent this
+evening, will you, if she should get into trouble? I am sent for to the
+study, and shall be in for a good hour's lecture, and then bed."
+
+"What do you mean, Goat? What is it?" asked both girls, anxiously. But
+the Goat was gone.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Peggy was enjoying herself extremely. She had learned all her lessons,
+for a wonder, and now she had curled herself up in a corner with the
+"Jungle Book," and the rest of the world was forgotten. There was
+nobody, there never had been anybody, but Mowgli and the Wolves. She had
+hunted with them, she had slain Shere-Khan, she had talked with Baloo
+and Bagheera. Her outdoor nature had responded in every fibre to the
+call of the Master of Magic, and he filled her with joy and wonder. As
+the Snowy had said, the worlds were opening, and the doors thereof.
+
+Things being thus with her, she hardly heard her own door open softly.
+Before she had torn her eyes from the enchanted page, the room was
+filled with silent, flitting figures--as it had been often filled
+before. The girls nodded to her with silent laughter and friendly
+gestures. In another moment they would have been at the window; but
+Peggy was not dreaming now. In an instant she had sprung from her corner
+among the cushions, and stood before the window, with arms outspread.
+"No!" she said.
+
+The girls recoiled, paused, in amazement. There were six of them: the
+two V's, Blanche Haight, and three other sophomores. Peggy saw with a
+throb of joy that Grace Wolfe was not among them. That would have made
+it harder.
+
+"What does this mean?" asked Vivia Varnham, with her cold smile. "You
+have never made any trouble before, Peggy; isn't it rather late in the
+day?"
+
+"Oh, she's only in fun!" cried Viola Vincent. "Aren't you, Veezy-vee?
+Why, she's acting, girls, and she does it elegantly. It's perf'ly fine,
+Veezy-vee. I didn't know you had it in you."
+
+"No, I am not acting," said Peggy, quietly. "I am sorry, girls, but you
+can't go out. You never can go out again, so long as I am here."
+
+"Upon my word!" cried Blanche Haight, who had not spoken yet. "This
+seems to be a pretty state of things. Perhaps you are not aware, Miss
+Montfort, that this exit was used, long before you came to adorn the
+school with your presence. We acknowledge no right of yours to forbid us
+the use of it. Stand out of the way, please."
+
+For a reply, Peggy backed against the window; her face assumed an
+expression with which her family was acquainted.
+
+"When Peggy looks dour," Jean used to say, "look out for rising winds
+and a falling barometer!"
+
+Then Viola came forward, and began to plead, in her pretty, wheedling
+way.
+
+"Let us go, just this once; that's a dear, good Veezy. I know what has
+happened; Miss Russell has found out, hasn't she?"
+
+Peggy nodded.
+
+"And she has spoken to you, and of course I know just how you feel. But
+you see, Peggy, we have an appointment this time, truly we have, with
+some college girls, and you wouldn't make us break it, would you,
+Veezy? Of course you don't want us to go, and we won't again,--at least
+most probably we won't, if it is going to get you into trouble. But we
+really _have_ to go this time, Peggy, dear, so do be nice and sweet, and
+let us pass."
+
+"No," said Peggy. "I'm sorry, Viola, but it's no use. Nothing you can
+say will make any difference."
+
+"Possibly not!" said Blanche Haight; she pushed Viola aside without
+ceremony, and came close to Peggy.
+
+"Possibly nothing we can say will make a difference, Miss Montfort, but
+something we can _do_ may make a good deal. I ask you, fair and square,
+will you come away from that window? We are six to one, and I give you
+the chance of settling this in a quiet and friendly way. Will you come
+away from that window?"
+
+"No," said Peggy, "I will not. Is that square enough?"
+
+"Then, girls," said Blanche, turning to her followers, "we must help
+ourselves. We shall see whether one freshman is going to block the way
+of the Gang! You take one arm, Viola, and I'll take the other."
+
+"Oh, don't hurt her!" cried Viola. "Don't hurt her, Blanche. I'm awfully
+fond of Peggy. I know she only means to do what she thinks she ought to.
+Peggy, do give up! You are all alone, and there are six of us. Do give
+up, Peggy; for my sake, Peggy! I--I'll give you my gold bangle, the one
+with the locket, if you'll only give up, Peggy!"
+
+Peggy smiled, and said nothing. She could not be angry with the little
+butterfly, but there was no use in wasting breath; she might need all
+she had.
+
+Blanche Haight seized one arm, Vivia Varnham the other, and tried to
+drag her away from the window by main force. With her favourite
+Newfoundland-dog motion, Peggy shook them off, planted a quick blow
+here, another there, and her assailants staggered back for a moment. In
+another instant, however, they returned to the attack, and this time the
+other sophomores joined, and all five threw themselves on Peggy. Once
+more she shook them off, but they closed in again, and a struggle
+began, all the more fierce that no word was spoken, no cry uttered. No
+cry, that is, by the combatants. When the five set upon Peggy, Viola ran
+in and made an effort to pull them off, with piteous entreaties. But no
+one paid the smallest heed to her, and the poor little butterfly,
+frightened and distressed, burst into tears, and ran away.
+
+At the same moment, any one who had been listening in quiet might have
+heard a singular sound that seemed to come from above, from outside--no
+one could tell from where; the cry of an owl, followed by a long, low
+howl. Three times this was repeated; and many a junior, studying under
+her lamp, looked up and said, "What is up now, I wonder?" for the sound
+recalled freshman days, before the Lone Wolf and the two Owls had come
+to the parting of the ways.
+
+Three minutes later, two figures, speeding silently along Corridor A,
+were met at a turn by a third, which flung itself sobbing upon them.
+
+[Illustration: "WITH ONE OF HER SUDDEN MOVEMENTS SHE HAD THROWN OFF HER
+ASSAILANTS."]
+
+"Oh, Snowy, oh, Fluffy, they are killing Peggy Montfort! I was coming
+to call you--oh, be quick! be quick!"
+
+Without stopping, somehow the Snowy Owl managed to open a door and
+thrust Viola in. It was to be noticed that neither girl looked at her.
+They ran on, swift and silent.
+
+Indeed, it was time! Peggy's lip was bleeding, where Vivia Varnham's
+head had struck against it as she fell, tripped by a pretty trick that
+was learned on the Western farm. Her hair was dragged down and hung in
+her eyes, her dress was torn in a dozen places. With one of her sudden
+movements she had thrown off her assailants, and stood for an instant
+alone, looking the very Spirit of Battle, with blazing eyes and scarlet
+cheeks. Blanche Haight rushed at her again, and this time Peggy seized
+her around the waist in a deadly grip. The others closed in once more,
+furious, determined this time to finish with the insolent freshman. It
+was like to go hard with Peggy Montfort this time.
+
+What happened? A flash, the glance of an eye, and all was changed. The
+assailants fell back, staggering across the room, gasping and staring;
+and the Snowy and the Fluffy Owl were standing shoulder to shoulder with
+Peggy, one on either side, with stern and angry looks.
+
+For a moment there was dead silence, save for the hard breathing as
+Blanche Haight tried to wriggle out of the iron grasp that held her--in
+vain! Then Gertrude Merryweather spoke.
+
+"Miss Varnham, Miss Floyd, Miss Johnson, Miss White, Miss--who is
+this?--Miss Haight. Found out of bounds and out of hours, making a
+disturbance in the rooms. To be reported to the Principal. Go to your
+rooms, if you please!"
+
+Was this the Snowy Owl, gentle and friendly, beloved of all? No! it was
+the Junior President and the Monitor of Corridor A. She might have been
+an avenging angel as she stood there, tall and white and severe.
+
+Her face softened as she bent over Peggy. "You can let her go now!" she
+said. "We are here, Peggy, Bertha and I. It is all right! Let her go,
+child!"
+
+Slowly and reluctantly Peggy loosed her hold, and Blanche,
+half-fainting, dropped upon the bed. She looked with feeble venom at the
+two rescuers.
+
+"Spying, eh?" she whispered. "Very dignified, I'm sure, for a president.
+That little sneak Viola Vincent was here too, mind! Put her down in your
+precious report."
+
+"I don't see Miss Vincent here!" said Gertrude, coldly. "Go to your
+rooms, if you please! I think I understand the case thoroughly, Blanche,
+thank you. Will you go, or shall we help you?"
+
+But Blanche preferred to go unaided. Silent as they had come, they slunk
+away, flitting like shadows along the corridor. And when they were gone,
+the two Owls sat down on the bed and took Peggy between them, and
+rocked, and petted, and soothed her; for lo! the Goddess of Battle was
+crying like a three years' child.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV.
+
+ON SPY HILL.
+
+
+Things were quietly managed at Pentland School; there was never any
+outcry, any open flurry of excitement and gossip. Many of the scholars
+never knew why five girls left school in the middle of the term. The
+seniors who did know shrugged their shoulders, and said it was a pity to
+have such things take the girls' minds off their parts--looking at
+everything from the point of view of Senior Dramatics. The juniors
+looked pretty sober for a week, even the sophomore spirits were dashed
+for the time. But nothing was said openly, and after awhile the scared
+whisperings died away, and work and play went on as usual. Poor little
+Viola Vincent mourned deeply the loss of her mate. She herself had
+escaped with a severe reprimand, having gone to Miss Russell to plead
+Vivia's cause, and confessing frankly her own share in the escapade.
+Vivia was anything but an agreeable girl; but she and Viola had grown up
+together, next-door neighbours and companions from their cradles, and
+Viola was lost without her. She threw herself upon Peggy for
+consolation, and Peggy found herself in the curious position of
+protecting and comforting a junior, and a girl two years older than
+herself. Viola would come in, and, curling herself up in the corner of
+Peggy's divan, declare that she had come for a good cry. A few sniffs
+would follow, and then perhaps actual tears, but more likely a river of
+speech.
+
+"It's no use, Peggy! I cannot live! I simply can _not_ live on in this
+way. I know V. was horrid to you--yes, she was! Oh, I am not blind, you
+know, if I am a goose! She was horrid to most of the girls, I know she
+was, but she was good to me, generally, and it didn't matter much if she
+wasn't. I was used to her little ways, and I didn't mind. And I have
+always had her, you see, all my life, and I don't--see--how I _can_ get
+along without her. I wanted to be expelled, too! Yes, I did! that was
+why I told Miss Russell about my being there and all; I thought she
+would be sure to send me away, too. I think it was very unjust of her
+not to, I'm sure."
+
+"Viola, don't talk so! You had nothing to do with the--the attack, or
+any violence. You would have gone away quietly when I said you could not
+use the window; you know you would."
+
+"How do you know I would have? I might have torn you limb from limb,
+Peggy, for all you can say. What are you laughing at?"
+
+For this statement, coming from a small person with a grasp about as
+powerful as that of a week-old kitten, was too much for the stalwart
+Peggy's composure.
+
+"You don't know what I am when I am roused!" Viola went on. "I'm awful,
+simply awful!" And she opened her blue eyes wide, and looked like a
+tragic baby.
+
+"But--my! Peggy, how you did look that night! I wonder this whole room
+didn't turn blue with fright. I was frightened almost to death; I wonder
+I'm alive to-day. Well, wasn't it too perf'ly awful for anything, the
+whole thing?"
+
+"It was pretty bad!" Peggy assented. "But it's all over now, Viola; I
+would try not to dwell on it too much, if I were you. Of course I know
+how you must miss Vivia, and I'm dreadfully sorry about it all. But just
+think how dear the Owls have been to both of us."
+
+"Haven't they?" cried Viola, drying her tears, her eyes brightening.
+"Aren't they too perfectly lovely for anything, the Owls? I think the
+Snowy is just the sweetest thing that ever lived in this world, don't
+you?"
+
+"I think she's one of them," said honest Peggy. "But I'm just as fond of
+Bertha. She was my first friend here, my very first."
+
+"Oh, how funny you were that first day, Peggy!" cried Viola, laughing
+now, her sorrows forgotten for the time. "You were too killing! I
+thought I should have died, when you went tumbling all over yourself.
+You _were_ killing, weren't you, now?"
+
+"You seem to have survived!" said Peggy, good-naturedly. It was not
+pleasant to be laughed at, but no one ever minded Viola.
+
+"Where are you going?" demanded Viola, as Peggy got out her "Tam" and
+pinned it on with a resolute air. "Peggy, you are not going out, just
+when I have come to see you? I was so lonely, and I wanted some one to
+talk to; and now the minute I come, you get up and go away. I must say I
+don't think you are very polite." And Viola pouted and looked like a
+child of six instead of a girl of sixteen.
+
+"Viola!" said Peggy. "You have been here an hour and a half, do you know
+it? and I must have a walk; I haven't been outside the door this
+afternoon. Put on your Tam and come along with me! You'd feel ever so
+much better if you would take more exercise."
+
+"Oh, no, I shouldn't! and I cannot see what you want to be walk,
+walking, all the everlasting time for, Peggy Montfort. What's the use of
+it?"
+
+"The use?" cried Peggy, with sparkling eyes. "Why, there's all the use
+in the world. In the first place, it makes you strong and healthy, and
+keeps you well."
+
+"Oh! but gym does that! We have to do gym, and I don't mind that; in
+fact it's rather fun, only it spoils your figure dreadfully."
+
+"But gym isn't enough, if you don't take any other exercise," said
+Peggy. "And besides, V., just think of the _joy_ of walking and running.
+Why, you see all the things growing, and breathe the air, and--and--hear
+the birds, and the water, and--well, I shouldn't want to live if I
+couldn't walk, that's all. Come along, and you'll see!"
+
+"Oh, I can't, I'm too tired."
+
+"You are tired, because you have been sitting in the house all day. And
+you are pale, and--"
+
+"No! am I?" cried Viola, running to the glass. "I'm so glad! I just love
+to be pale, it's so interesting. It makes my eyes look larger, too,
+doesn't it, Peggy? They do look very large to-day, don't they, Peggy?"
+
+Peggy sighed. "You do discourage me, Viola!" she said. "Well, good-bye.
+I must go. The others are waiting for me."
+
+"What others? Who else is going? What are you going to do?"
+
+"Why, I told you! We are going to walk."
+
+"Yes, but what _for_? Are you going to the shops, or going to see
+somebody? I can't see _any_ sense in just stupid walking, without any
+object. And you didn't tell me who was going."
+
+"You didn't give me a chance. Well, Rose Barclay is going, and two other
+freshmen whom I don't think you know, Clara Fair and Ethel Bird--and
+Lobelia Parkins."
+
+"Peggy Montfort! why _do_ you go with that little animal? I've told you
+before that I could not, for the honour of the corridor, have you seen
+with a creature that looks like that. Let her go with Colney Hatch if
+she wants company; they'd be two of a kind."
+
+"Colney Hatch is one of the brightest girls in school, Miss Cortlandt
+says so!"
+
+"Very likely; but that doesn't make her a fit associate for you, my
+Veezy-vee. You never seem to understand about different sets. I want you
+to belong to the smart set, and you won't."
+
+"Do the Owls belong to it?" demanded Peggy, turning red.
+
+"Peggy, how dense you are! The Owls don't belong to any set because they
+won't. Of course they could belong to any set they pleased."
+
+"Does Grace Wolfe belong to it?"
+
+"The Goat? Why, she used to; but she's so awfully queer, you know; the
+Goat has grown too awfully queer for anything. She stays by herself
+mostly, ever since she cut loose from the Gang. And Vivia is gone," she
+wailed, "and Blanche Haight,--Blanchey was not very nice, but her gowns
+fitted like a seraph's, and the style to her hats was too perfectly
+killing for anything, you know it was. And now there isn't any one, not
+a single soul, that I care to talk to about clothes. I've had my pink
+waist done over, and it's simply dandy--the sweetest thing you ever saw
+in your life; and nobody cares. I am so unhappy!"
+
+"I haven't seen that new hat you told me about!" said Peggy, with a
+happy stroke of diplomacy. If any one had told Margaret Montfort that
+her Peggy would ever develop a talent for diplomacy she would have
+opened her eyes wide indeed; but one learns many things at
+boarding-school.
+
+Viola brightened at once.
+
+"No! didn't I?" she cried, her whole manner changing. "Would you like to
+see it, Peggy? It is really too cute for anything, it just _is_! What
+makes you shut up your mouth that way?"
+
+"Oh, nothing! Well, yes, it is something. You won't mind if I tell you?
+Well, I used to say 'cute,' and Margaret showed me what bad English it
+was, and how silly it sounded. So I made up my mind to stop it, and
+every time I wanted to say it I screwed up my mouth and counted ten.
+Just the same with 'elegant.' I've broken myself of that, too, but it
+was hard work."
+
+"Elegant! simply elegant!" repeated Viola, thoughtfully. "The Goat won't
+let you say that, either, or the Owls. What's the use of being so fussy?
+besides, elegant is a real word, they can't say it isn't, so now!"
+
+"Oh! of course it is, and it has its real use. You can speak of an
+elegant dress, or an elegant carriage, and then it's all right; but I
+used to say I had had an elegant time, don't you know? and talk about
+elegant cake, and all that kind of thing. And when once you have learned
+better, it does sound awfully silly."
+
+"Well, they make just as much fuss about 'awful,' and there you are
+saying that, and you say it all the time."
+
+"I know!" said poor Peggy, hanging her head. "I know I do, though I try
+awfully hard not to. There! that's the way it is. It does seem as if I
+couldn't get over that, but I'm going on trying. And if you don't get
+your hat this minute, V., I shall go without you. I can't wait any
+longer. It's awfully--it's _very_ late."
+
+"Why, I'm coming, as fast as I can; how impatient you are, Peggy! You
+aren't half as fond of me as I am of you, or you would not be in such a
+hurry to get away to that little fright. There, here it is! Now isn't
+that dandy, simply dandy? I do think it is too perf'ly sweet for
+anything!"
+
+It was a pretty hat, and Viola certainly looked charming in it. She was
+so pleased with her appearance that she could not resist the temptation
+of "showing off" to the other girls; so she followed Peggy down to the
+lawn, where a little group was already gathered. At sight of a junior,
+even so unformidable a junior as Viola Vincent, poor little Lobelia
+Parkins shrank into a small knotted heap of misery. Through Peggy's
+intercession, Rose Barclay and the two other freshmen had been kind to
+her, and had agreed to let her share their walks, which they took now
+semi-weekly under Peggy's leadership. None of them cared for her, or
+felt much interest in her, but they did care for Peggy Montfort, partly
+because she was the strongest girl in the class, partly because of the
+fame that had accrued to her since her exploit in resisting and breaking
+up the famous Gang; but mostly, perhaps, because everybody felt and said
+that Peggy Montfort was "all right," which in schoolgirl parlance meant
+that she was a cheerful, kindly, and right-minded girl. So, though her
+chief friends were still among the juniors, she was well known and well
+liked in her own class.
+
+Peggy took Lobelia's hand, and drew it resolutely through her arm.
+
+"We'll lead the way!" she cried. "Rose and Viola, you two come next, and
+Clara and Ethel bring up the rear. How's that?"
+
+All agreed to the arrangement; and the six started off in high spirits.
+
+"Where are we going to-day?" asked Rose Barclay. "Don't kill us, Peggy!
+I haven't got over being stiff yet, from the last tramp. It was jolly,
+though."
+
+"It was splendid!" chimed in Ethel Bird. "Why, I had no idea what pretty
+places there were about here. Shall we go to the woods again?"
+
+"I thought of going up Spy Hill!" said Peggy. "It isn't very high, and
+there's a lovely view from the top."
+
+"Oh, I never can get as far as that!" cried Viola, aghast. "You said a
+little walk, Peggy, and that is miles and miles, I know it is. Oh, I
+think I'll go back."
+
+"Oh, don't!" cried Rose, in a tone of heartfelt interest that won
+Viola's susceptible heart. "It isn't very far, truly it isn't; and I
+want to ask you where you got that hat. It is too perfectly lovely for
+anything! I've got to have a new hat, and I do wish--"
+
+"My dear!" cried Viola, dimpling all over with pleasure, "I'll tell you
+all about it. You see--"
+
+There was no more trouble with Viola. Peggy chuckled, and started off at
+a round pace, the others following.
+
+The two Owls, standing at their window with arms intertwined, just
+thinking of taking a little flutter in the cool of the afternoon, looked
+after them with friendly eyes.
+
+"What's the matter with Peggy Montfort?" said the Fluffy to the Snowy.
+
+"_She's_ all right!" said the Snowy to the Fluffy. And then they looked
+at each other sternly, and shook their heads in grave rebuke. "My dear,"
+they said both together, "we are surprised!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV.
+
+WHAT WAS THE MATTER WITH LOBELIA PARKINS?
+
+
+"Lobelia, I insist upon knowing!"
+
+"Oh, Peggy, please don't ask me!"
+
+"But I will ask you. I do ask you. What is it that you are afraid of? I
+shall find out sooner or later, so you might as well give up at once and
+tell me."
+
+Lobelia looked around her uneasily. She and Peggy were sitting in a cosy
+little hollow under the lee of a great brown rock, waiting for the
+others to come up.
+
+"Come!" said Peggy. "There's nobody behind that rock. What is the matter
+with you, Lobelia Parkins, and why don't you sleep? Out with it!"
+
+Lobelia sighed, and twisted her buttons. "I--I never am a very good
+sleeper," she said at last. "I--I'm nervous, Peggy. And then--"
+
+"And then, what?"
+
+"Oh, dear me! I can't tell you. You won't believe me if I tell you.
+Things come into my room and frighten me."
+
+"Things? What do you mean, Lobelia?"
+
+"I don't know what I mean!" cried the poor girl, looking about her
+again, as if in dread of some unseen terror. "I don't know who it is, or
+what it is. Something--or somebody--comes through my room at night and
+goes out of the window."
+
+"Ah!" said Peggy. "Well, go on. How long has this been going on?"
+
+"Oh, ever so long! At first--Peggy, you will feel badly if I tell you
+this."
+
+"Well, then, I've got to feel badly," said Peggy, stoutly. "Though I
+can't see what I have to do with it--so far. I'll have plenty to do with
+it from now on!" she added, significantly. "Go on, Lobelia."
+
+"Well, you know that time you were so good to me, Peggy; when Blanche
+Haight and those others were teasing me, and you came in like a lioness
+and drove them off. I never shall forget it as long as I live, Peggy,
+never!"
+
+"Nonsense!" said Peggy. "It wasn't anything at all. Don't be absurd,
+Lobelia. Well, what since then?"
+
+"It began after that. She--I know that it used to be Blanche Haight
+then--she used to come in after I was in bed, and frighten me. She had a
+sheet on, and at first I thought it was a ghost, and I fainted the first
+time, I think; and then she used--she used to make faces and pinch me,
+and one time I saw her ring, and so I knew who it was."
+
+"The cowardly brute!" muttered Peggy. "It's well for her that she's out
+of this school. Now, Lobelia Parkins, why, in the name of all that is
+feeble-minded and ridiculous, didn't you tell me this before?"
+
+"Oh, I couldn't!" said Lobelia. "I had given you enough trouble, Peggy.
+And besides--"
+
+"Well! besides what?"
+
+"I was afraid! I was afraid she would kill me if I told."
+
+"My goodness gracious _me_!" cried Peggy, bouncing on her mossy seat,
+till Lobelia shrank away scared and trembling. "Do you think we live in
+the Middle Ages, Lobelia Parkins? This is what comes of reading history;
+it puts all those old-fangled notions into your head, till you have no
+sense left. I know! You had all that stuff about Florence and Rome, and
+poisoning, and all that. I had it too; awful stuff, and probably
+two-thirds lies. History is the father of lies, you know; somebody says
+so somewhere."
+
+"I--I thought it was Herodotus who was called that," Lobelia ventured,
+timidly.
+
+"Perhaps it was; it's all the same."
+
+"No, I am wrong. Herodotus was called the father of history, and then
+some other people said he was the father of lies; but now it has all
+come true, so he isn't any more!"
+
+Lobelia, who was stupid and painstaking, proffered this lucid
+explanation painfully, and then gasped; it seemed a liberty for her to
+explain anything to anybody.
+
+"Who cares?" said Peggy. "He's dead, anyhow. Oh, how it used to provoke
+my dearest Margaret when I said that. I only mean, I never see how it
+can matter so much as people think. But you are not dead, Lobelia; and
+the idea of your being killed, here in this school, in the nineteenth
+century! Why, it is absurd, don't you see? It is funny! You must laugh
+about it, my dear!"
+
+Lobelia, with an effort, produced a watery smile; seeing which, Peggy's
+mood changed, and she laid her hand instantly on the skinny, shrinking
+arm.
+
+"My dear, don't think I was laughing at _you_," she cried, warmly. "No;
+I am going to be furious in a minute, when I get round to that part
+again. Well, but Lobelia, Blanche Haight is gone now, and a good
+riddance, and yet you say you are still afraid. What are you afraid of?"
+
+"I--I don't know who it is now!" said Lobelia. "But some one comes
+through, just the same."
+
+"How do you mean, just the same? some one pinches you?"
+
+"No! oh, no! this person never speaks to me or looks at me.
+It--she--only wants to go through the window. It has something light
+gray over its head and shoulders. It goes down the fire-escape and
+stays about half an hour, and then comes back. I--I don't mind it so
+very much, now. I dare say it's all right, only--I can't sleep very
+well, you know."
+
+"I see!" said Peggy. "Well, I think we can settle that matter, Lobelia.
+Hush! here come the others. We won't say anything more about it now.
+Well, girls, how did it go? Isn't it a lovely little scramble?"
+
+Rose Barclay and Viola appeared, with the other two just behind. Viola
+was panting, and her delicate colour was deepened by exertion till she
+was almost as rosy as her companion.
+
+"My dear!" she cried. "You are responsible for my life! I am killed;
+simply killed, Peggy Montfort. I shall never recover from this awful
+fatigue, I know I shall not."
+
+"Nonsense!" said Peggy, briefly. "Here! sit down here, V., and get your
+breath; you'll be all right in a minute. It wasn't bad, was it, Rose?"
+
+"It was a bit stiff in one place!" Rose admitted. "I rather think we
+took the wrong turn, Peggy. Did you say left, after the big pine?"
+
+"No, right; you didn't come up that bank? Poor little V.! no wonder she
+thinks she is killed. Let me take your hat off, V., and get you some
+water or something."
+
+But Viola refused to part with her hat. She sat panting and crimson, and
+seemed really exhausted. Peggy eyed her with remorse. "I couldn't know
+that you would take the wrong turn, could I?" she said. "I'm awfully
+sorry!"
+
+"Oh, but it was fine!" said Ethel Bird. "How do you find out all these
+places, Peggy? This is just lovely, isn't it?"
+
+"By looking," said Peggy. "I like to poke about, and I came on this the
+other day. See, here's a little baby spring, trickling right out of the
+rock here. Isn't it pretty? and the water is clear and cold as ice.
+Shall I make you a leaf-cup, Viola? The best way, though, is to put your
+mouth down and drink, this way."
+
+"Oh, I never would do that!" cried Clara Fair. "Why, a snake might go
+right down your throat, Peggy Montfort; truly it might. There was a
+man--"
+
+"Oh, don't talk about a man!" cried Rose Barclay. "How could you, Clara?
+You remind me of my German lesson."
+
+"I never said a word about your German lesson," said Clara, who was
+literal and matter-of-fact.
+
+"No, but you reminded me," said Rose, who was imaginative and poetic.
+"All the morning I was saying to myself:
+
+        "'Der dickere Mann,
+         Des dickeren Mannes,
+         Dem dickeren Manne,
+         Den dickeren Mann.'"
+
+"You seem to have learned it, anyhow," said Peggy, laughing.
+
+"Oh, but that isn't all!" said Rose. "There is more horror. It goes on,
+you know:
+
+        "'Die dickeren Männer,
+         Der dickeren Männer,
+         Den dickeren Männern,
+         Die dickeren Männer.'"
+
+"I think foreign languages are the silliest things in the world!"
+declared Peggy. "Well, I do! Such perfect foolishness as they talk! I
+have no patience with them."
+
+"Well, but Peggy, they aren't foreign when they are at home!" protested
+Ethel.
+
+"Well, then, I wish they would stay at home. I don't know whether German
+is so bad, though that sounds awful, all that you said just now, Rose;
+but I have French; and I have to try to mince and simper, and twist my
+mouth up into all kinds of shapes, just saying things that are too silly
+to _be_ said. I wish there was a law that no one in this country should
+ever speak anything but English. It would be ever so much more
+sensible."
+
+"So it would!" assented Rose. "I say! what a pity we didn't think to
+bring something to eat! I'm awfully hungry, walking all this way."
+
+"All this way, Rose!" said Peggy. "Why, how far do you think it is?"
+
+"Oh, four or five miles, I'm sure!"
+
+"Well, it isn't two. Look here, girls, what is the reason none of you
+seem to know how to walk?"
+
+"What do you mean? We have walked, haven't we? Here we are."
+
+"Oh, you call this a walk! that's just it, I tell you. You walk a mile,
+or two at the very most, and you think you have done something
+wonderful; and poor Viola is all tired out, and says she will never come
+again. Well, but this isn't what _I_ call walking, you know. Why, I went
+with the Owls the other day, and we walked fifteen miles if we did a
+step, and it was perfectly glorious. _That's_ what _I_ call walking, and
+I do wonder how it is that none of you ever learned. You are all strong
+and well, aren't you?"
+
+Yes, they were all strong and well; except Viola, who still declared she
+had got her death, and should never recover.
+
+"Well, but what's the use?" asked Rose. "I think this is great fun, to
+come to a pretty place like this, and sit and talk and look at the view;
+but just to go on walking and stalking along the way you and the Owls
+do,--what's the use of it? We are not ostriches, and why should we
+pretend we are? Besides, it takes such a lot of time."
+
+"And what would you be doing with your time?" asked Peggy, hotly.
+"Reading stories, or just sitting, sitting, and talking, talking. My
+goodness gracious _me_! the way some of the girls just sit around all
+their spare time, doing nothing, makes me tired. Why, if I hadn't
+stalked, as you call it, how would you have come here to-day, and seen
+the prettiest place you ever saw since you came here--for it is, and you
+can't deny it, girls. I do hate to see people doing nothing. I don't
+much care what they do, so long as it is _something_!"
+
+"Peggy, you're getting very ferocious, do you know it?" said Clara Fair.
+"And, after all, we did come, and now we are doing just as much as you
+are, and why are you shouting at us?"
+
+"I won't shout any more," said Peggy, laughing. "I suppose we all have
+our hobbies, haven't we? Walking is one of mine; and you are going to
+like it just as much as I do, girls, before we get through the term.
+Why, there are about twenty of the loveliest walks, and none of
+them--hallo!"
+
+Peggy stopped abruptly, and seemed to listen.
+
+"What's the matter?" asked Rose. "I didn't hear anything."
+
+"I thought I did," said Peggy, quietly. "Be still a minute, will you?"
+
+She bent her head. There was a moment of perfect silence; then,
+somewhere close at hand, a singular dry, rattling sound.
+
+"What a queer noise!" said Ethel. "What is it?"
+
+"It's time to go home, girls!" said Peggy. "You'd better start along,
+and I'll come behind you. Come, Viola, give me your hand--so! Now take
+her, Rose, and hurry along! Lobelia, go with them, will you?"
+
+"What upon earth is the matter, Peggy Montfort?" asked Rose, eyeing her
+curiously. "What do you want to get us out of the way for? I believe you
+have found something, and want to keep it to yourself."
+
+"Rose, _please_ go!" said Peggy, earnestly. "I am coming, I tell you.
+No, not there! that way--along by the big pine. Keep away from the
+rock--so! Now hurry, and I'm coming right along."
+
+The girls hardly knew why they obeyed; but there was such a singular
+earnestness in Peggy's look and gesture that they did not stay to
+question her, but one and all--or so it seemed--turned and hastened down
+the side of the hill.
+
+No sooner were their backs turned than Peggy, whose keen eyes had been
+fixed all this time on one spot, moved swiftly behind a great rock that
+stood close by. There, stooping, she sought with eager hands and eyes;
+sought and found a stout stick. She tried its strength--it was strong
+and tough. Then warily she came back, and looked once more at the pile
+of withered leaves that had riveted her attention before. The pile
+seemed to move--to undulate; and from it came once more the dry,
+rattling sound. Something reared itself, brown and slender; at the same
+instant a shriek rang through the wood. It did not come from Peggy's
+lips. Like a flash, the girl had sprung forward, and caught the snake's
+neck under her crotched stick, just as he was raising himself to strike.
+Pinned firmly to the earth, the creature could only twist and wriggle in
+impotent rage. Looking around coolly, Peggy saw Lobelia's face peering
+around the trunk of a tree, pale with horror.
+
+"Well!" said Peggy. "You are a nice obedient child, aren't you? Since
+you are there, you might get me a good stone; he's all right; he can't
+get his head round."
+
+Gasping and trembling, Lobelia found and brought a stone, which she held
+out at arm's length.
+
+"Oh, Peggy!" she whispered. "Is it--is it a rattlesnake?"
+
+"That's what!" said Peggy, relapsing into slang in the absorption of the
+moment. "He won't be a rattlesnake much longer, though. There! now you
+can look, Lobelia; he's dead. I tell you he's dead, as dead as Julius
+Cæsar. What are you crying for, child?"
+
+Lobelia came forward, trembling and cringing.
+
+"Oh, Peggy, I knew it was. I didn't say anything, because I thought you
+wouldn't want me to--"
+
+"Quite right," said Peggy. "Sensible rabbit!"
+
+"And--and I am terribly afraid of snakes--oh, I was sure you would be
+killed, Peggy!"
+
+"And so you came back to be killed with me? Lobelia, what a foolish girl
+you are. There, there, don't cry. Why, the snake isn't crying, and he
+really has been killed."
+
+"Oh, Peggy, if you had been killed, I should have died. I shouldn't have
+needed any snake to kill me."
+
+"Nonsense!" said Peggy, gruffly. "Lobelia, do stop crying. My goodness
+gracious _me_, come along, or we shall have them all back again after
+us. I'm going to bring him too, and get Colney to dry him for me. He's a
+beauty! look at him, Lobelia! Not look at him? Why, I tell you he's
+dead, as dead as--who was he?--the Father of Lies! Come along, now."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI.
+
+THE TERROR BY NIGHT.
+
+
+All was quiet in No. 18, Corridor C. It was the room directly above
+Peggy; and was tenanted, as we have seen, by Lobelia Parkins. Lobelia
+was in bed at this moment, though it was before the usual bedtime. She
+had felt ill and dizzy-brained for several days, and Peggy had begged
+her to go to bed early and get a good long sleep. Peggy herself lay on a
+mattress on the floor. It was against the rule, but for once the
+law-abiding Peggy was wilfully breaking the rule. She felt strong in
+Miss Russell's confidence in her; and she meant to find out who and what
+it was that was "frightening Lobelia silly," as she expressed it.
+Accordingly, here she was, in her wrapper, with a blanket rolled around
+her. The night was warm, and the window was thrown wide open, Peggy
+having been brought up to love fresh air. Lobelia shivered, but would
+rather have frozen stiff than say a word, if Peggy preferred to have the
+room cold. Each girl hoped the other was asleep. Lobelia hardly dared to
+breathe; she lay still as a mouse, feeling a delightful sense of comfort
+and security, such as she had not felt since she came to this nightmare
+of a place. Not to be alone any more, with the night and the terrible
+things it brought; to have this friend, so strong, so kind, so helpful,
+lying close beside the bed, ready to help, to comfort,--Lobelia's poor
+shrinking spirit took courage, and she held her breath now and then, for
+the pure pleasure of hearing Peggy's calm, regular breathing. Surely she
+must be asleep! She could not breathe like that unless she were sleeping
+quietly. Oh, might nothing happen to break her friend's rest!
+
+Peggy was very nearly asleep, it was true. She had meant to stay awake
+as long as there was any possibility of any one's coming into the room.
+She was valiantly wide awake at first, and lay blinking at the moon,
+which Was shining in the most obliging manner full upon the spot where
+she lay. Peggy wondered what those mountains were like which made the
+strange figures on the broad, silver disk. They must be tremendous!
+Think of them, miles high, with deep, awful valleys between, and all
+dead and white and dry like bone. And all they seemed to be good for now
+was for us to make faces and things out of, and stories--to
+please--the--children. Peggy was getting very sleepy. She opened her
+eyes wider, and stared harder at the moon. It seemed to be staring back.
+They were certainly eyes, not--mountains--and one of them was winking at
+her; and now she seemed to hear a sound, a voice, coming from far,
+far--ages away, and saying, whispering--
+
+Then, all in a moment, sleep, and the moon and its mountains were as if
+they had never been.
+
+The door opened, swiftly and noiselessly, and some one darted in,--a
+tall, slender figure, with gray drapery over the head and shoulders. It
+turned and halted, facing the door. Peggy sprang up in bull-dog
+silence, and was about to fling herself bodily on the intruder; but an
+arm thrown out, a familiar gesture, a whispered word, checked her, and
+she stood motionless, hardly drawing breath. Next moment footsteps were
+heard in the corridor, as of some one hastening, and making every effort
+to be silent. The door was pushed hastily open, and Miss Pugsley stood
+on the threshold. She was panting, and her dress was disarranged.
+
+"Ah!" she cried, in a spiteful whisper. "I have caught you at last, have
+I? I know you, miss! No need to hide your face! I know you well enough,
+and this is the end of your fine doings. Lift up that veil, I command
+you!"
+
+The gray figure advanced toward her one step, and lifted the veil; and
+even Peggy's stout heart turned to water within her. Miss Pugsley
+recoiled with a wild shriek from the waxen countenance, the hollow
+burning eyes, the fleshless, grinning lips; recoiled, staggered, and
+fled back moaning along the corridor. The gray figure dropped its veil
+and darted in pursuit. Peggy, running to the door, saw them vanish
+around the corner; then she returned, to find Lobelia fallen into a dead
+faint, her head hanging over the side of the bed.
+
+As she bent over her anxiously, rubbing her hands and trying to rouse
+her, a single board creaked in the corridor; next moment the gray figure
+entered again, this time quietly and without hurry. The veil was thrown
+back, revealing a well-known face. The hideous death's head was now
+carried in the hand.
+
+"Sorry if I alarmed you, Innocent!" said Grace Wolfe. "What in the name
+of unreason are you doing here?"
+
+"Oh, Grace, she has fainted!" cried Peggy. "Help me! Bring some water,
+do!"
+
+Grace vanished again, and was back in two minutes with water and
+smelling-salts. As they bent over the unconscious girl, bathing her
+temples and holding the salts to her nose, a few hurried sentences were
+exchanged.
+
+"What was it? What have you there, Grace?"
+
+[Illustration: "'OH, GRACE, SHE HAS FAINTED!'"]
+
+"Oh, nothing; merely Colney's skull; not her own, you understand, but
+that of her charmer."
+
+"But--but the eyes glared! I saw them glare, like fire."
+
+"Phosphorus, my sweet babe! Hast no chemistry to thy name? 'Twere well
+to mend thy ways."
+
+"And why--what were you doing, Grace? Oh, see what you have done! Look
+at this poor child, and tell me why you came to play such pranks in her
+room."
+
+Peggy's voice was stern enough. She forgot her love and admiration for
+Grace; she only saw what seemed like wanton cruelty toward a forlorn and
+helpless creature, and her blood was up.
+
+Grace shrugged her shoulders.
+
+"I am sorry," she said. "I am even very sorry, Innocent. What more would
+you have? I didn't mean to come in; indeed, I had no thought of the
+little creature at all. I had a vow that the next time that woman looked
+through my keyhole she should repent it. I think she did. If she does it
+again, I'll shoot her; I've just told her so."
+
+"Why--how did you know? What did she do?"
+
+"Oh, child, I can't always tell you how I know things. I feel them in my
+bones. This is full moon, and it was borne in upon me that she thought I
+would be up to something to-night, and would be upon the watch; so I
+went on the watch, too. I arranged a pretty scene of confusion in my
+room, open window, things all thrown about,--just as it would look if I
+had been having a lark; left the light burning, went and borrowed this
+soulful smiler, and treated it a little,--no, Colney knows nothing about
+it; no use in getting her into trouble; then I took my mosquito-netting
+mantle, and hid in the broom-closet near my door. Sure enough, I hadn't
+been there long when along comes my Puggy, in felt slippers, and looks
+in at my keyhole. I waited, to make sure, then I came gliding past,
+without observing her, you see, corridor being pretty dark. She observed
+me, however, and pursued. I led her quite a pretty dance, till I thought
+her breath would be getting short, and then I turned in here, partly
+because it was handy, partly because--well, I have been in the habit of
+passing through here, when the kid was asleep. See! she's opening her
+eyes. Speak to her, you! She's more used to you."
+
+Peggy lifted Lobelia's head into her lap. "How are you now, dear?" she
+asked, stroking the thin hair affectionately. "Lobelia, it's Peggy! You
+are all right; there's no one here, no one to hurt you. That--that was
+only a trick, Lobelia."
+
+Lobelia moaned, but made no reply. Grace leaned forward. "Peggy is
+right," she said, softly. "It was a trick, Lobelia, and not meant for
+you at all. I--I never thought about you, I'm afraid. Do you feel better
+now? I'm truly sorry, my dear."
+
+There was no answering look of intelligence in Lobelia's face. She lay
+shivering, with wide, frightened eyes.
+
+"Oh, Grace, I'm afraid she's ill!" said Peggy. "See! she doesn't seem to
+know us. What shall we do? Lobelia! Do look at me! Do speak to me! Oh,
+Grace, what shall we do? Where are you going?"
+
+"I am going to call Miss Russell," said Grace.
+
+Miss Russell came presently, and looked very grave when she saw
+Lobelia's face, which was now flushed with fever, her eyes still staring
+wide, as if they saw some dreadful vision.
+
+"What has happened?" she said, briefly. "I must have the truth!"
+
+Grace told her the truth, every word, not keeping back anything: merely
+adding that Peggy had nothing to do with it all.
+
+"And what were you doing here, Peggy?" asked Miss Russell.
+
+Peggy explained. "I meant to tell whatever I found out, to-morrow, Miss
+Russell," she added. "I thought you would want me to discover what--what
+had been going on."
+
+Miss Russell nodded. "Go to your rooms now, girls," was all she said.
+"Or--no; Peggy, ask Miss Cortlandt to send at once for Doctor Hendon.
+Grace, you will remain in your room till I come to you."
+
+Grace tried to rise in obedience; but the sick girl grasped her dress,
+and held it tight. "Don't leave me," she said, in a hardly audible
+whisper.
+
+"You don't want me, you poor thing!" said Grace; and though she spoke
+low, her tone was very bitter. "Let me go, and you shall never see me
+again. Don't trouble about me, Miss Russell. I'll pack my trunk, and be
+off in the morning before any one is awake."
+
+"You will do as I tell you," said Miss Russell, quietly. "Peggy, go
+quickly! Now, my poor child, let me take your hand. Move softly, Grace,
+and I think you can slip away."
+
+Grace tried once more to loosen the hold of the cramped, skinny hand,
+but Lobelia only clutched the tighter; and now, in her delirium, she
+caught Grace's hand with her other one, and held it tight, tight. "Don't
+leave me!" she muttered. "Peggy, Peggy, don't leave me!"
+
+Upon this, Grace looked up at Miss Russell; the hard, defiant look was
+gone, the wild blue eyes were swimming in tears. "Let me stay," she
+murmured. "Miss Russell, let me stay with her. I'll go away after she
+gets well. She thinks I am Peggy, and you know I am a good nurse. Let
+me stay and take care of her, and I will bless you all my life, even if
+I never see you again."
+
+"You shall stay," said Miss Russell. "My poor Grace, this may be the
+hardest and heaviest punishment I could give you. You shall stay, and
+see what your cruel and wilful carelessness has brought to pass. God
+help us and you!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII.
+
+WAITING.
+
+
+In the dreadful days that followed, Grace Wolfe hardly left the sick
+girl's side. The doctor came, and pronounced the trouble a brain fever,
+brought on by fear and worry. A trained nurse came and took charge.
+Lobelia submitted to her care, but her one conscious instinct was that
+of clinging to Grace. Whether, as seemed most probable, she took her for
+Peggy, or whether she simply felt and craved the magnetism of the wild
+girl's touch and presence, they could not tell; but she was never quiet
+save when Grace's hand was resting on her. Her aunt came, her sole
+living relative; and seeing her, poor Lobelia was explained. Prim,
+fussy, and forbidding, her rich dress showing the same utter
+tastelessness that marked that of her niece, Miss Parkins was not the
+woman one would have chosen to be the mother of a girl like Lobelia. She
+looked at the sick girl, and said it was very unfortunate; she was
+always having illnesses, and had given them no end of anxiety.
+
+"She has had everything that money could buy!" she said, over and over.
+"It has never seemed to make any difference; her mother was the same
+sort of person, unreasonable, always wanting what she couldn't have. My
+brother had a great deal of trouble with her, and Lobelia is like her. I
+have tried to do my duty by her. Do you think she will get well,
+doctor?"
+
+"Yes, I do think she will get well!" replied Doctor Hendon, glaring at
+her in a way that made Miss Russell feel alarm for her safety. "I think
+she will get well if she stays here, and has care and tenderness and
+sympathetic treatment. You are her sister?" He turned upon Grace, who
+sat beside the bed, passing her light hand over the sick girl's forehead
+with smooth, regular strokes.
+
+"No," said Miss Russell. "This is one of the pupils, Miss Wolfe.
+She--was in the room when this attack came on, and Lobelia has clung to
+her from the first in a singular manner. I did not dare to remove her,
+and so, as you see, she has simply stayed here, helping the nurse."
+
+"I see!" said the doctor. "I suppose she was--hum! stay close by her!"
+this was to Grace. "You have a touch, I see. Probably you have been kind
+to her,--poor, forlorn, miserable little creature as ever I saw in my
+life!" The last words were hurried out as if they were one, in a gruff,
+not to say savage whisper.
+
+Grace looked up at him. "I am the cause of her illness," she said,
+quietly. "I have never been kind to her, or taken any notice of her. I
+have come through her room, using it for a passage when I was breaking
+bounds, and have frightened her--to death."
+
+The doctor looked at her under his bushy eyebrows. "That may all be so!"
+he said. "All the same, you may now have the chance of saving her life.
+Stay by her, that's all I have to say to you."
+
+"And what have you to say to me, doctor?" asked Miss Parkins. "I have a
+great responsibility. Lobelia will inherit a large fortune if she lives.
+She has had everything that money--"
+
+"You can go home!" said Doctor Hendon, with a sudden movement suggestive
+of biting. "Go home, and stay there--I--mean, have things ready for her
+when she is ready for a change. Good morning! Ya-ouw!" this last was a
+manner of snarl with which he favoured Miss Parkins as he trotted out of
+the room. The lady stared after him. "Is he a little touched?" she
+asked. "He doesn't seem quite sane."
+
+Miss Russell assured her that Doctor Hendon was eminently sane, and got
+her out of the room as soon as possible.
+
+Grace remained, and hour by hour kept her watch at the sick girl's
+pillow, laying her magic touch on the burning brow, singing the soft
+songs that seemed more than anything else to soothe the sufferer. So
+sitting, hour by hour, day after day, the old life seemed to slip away
+from Grace Wolfe. She felt it going, felt the change coming on spirit
+and thought, but made no effort to hinder the change. All the
+restlessness, the wild longing for freedom, the beating her head against
+the friendly bars,--where was it now? She was content to sit here,
+watching with the nurse the changes that came over the face of their
+patient. They talked together in low voices which soothed rather than
+disturbed; one asking, the other relating, the woman of experience and
+the eager girl exchanged thoughts and confidences. Many times in the day
+the girls came to the door, Peggy and the Owls, and now and then an
+anxious, frightened freshman. Peggy had longed to assist in the nursing,
+but she had too heavy a hand, and hers was not the gift. Gertrude
+Merryweather had it, and she sometimes took Grace's place, and sent her
+down for a breath of fresh air and a run with Bertha or Peggy on the
+lawn. Grace went obediently, for she knew she must keep up her strength;
+but she was always back again at the first possible instant, and her
+thoughts never seemed to go with her, but stayed at her post.
+
+"My dear," said Miss Russell once, "I cannot let you wear yourself out.
+Let Gertrude watch to-night while Miss Carter rests!" But Grace only
+said, "I'd give my life if I could, Miss Russell. She's going to get
+well if my life can do it!" and Miss Russell, looking into the blue eyes
+and meeting the spirit of resolution that shone there, could only kiss
+the girl's cheek and pass on.
+
+Lobelia was very ill, and a shadow hung over the whole school. Lessons
+went on as usual, but the girls spoke low in their recitations, and
+there was an unconscious hurry in both teachers and pupils, all anxious
+to get through, to ask and hear the last tidings from the sickroom. In
+those days, too, teachers and pupils learned to know each other as never
+before. The grave women who cared so much--so strangely much, it often
+seemed--whether a lesson were well or ill learned, who made such a fuss
+about trifles, and set such hard tasks, and made such unreasonable
+rules, behold! they were just as anxious and troubled as if Lobelia had
+been one of their own number, instead of the most insignificant
+freshman in the whole school. Miss Boyle was not simply a mathematical
+machine, Rose Barclay found out. She really cared about them, cared
+enough to call them into her room, and want to hear all about that last
+walk, when Peggy had killed the rattlesnake,--oh, how brave Peggy had
+been,--and how poor Lobelia had seen it, too, and with her inborn terror
+of snakes had perhaps got the first panic that, after brooding and
+brooding, and being added to the terror by nights, had ended in this.
+
+Miss Pugsley was gone. Her departure had hardly been noticed, was
+well-nigh forgotten by this time; but Colney Hatch found Miss Mink
+sniffing mouse-like sniffs in a corner, and wept with her, and offered
+her a live bat that she had just caught, by way of consolation. But
+their tears were for Grace, for they hardly knew Lobelia save by sight.
+
+As for Miss Russell and Emily Cortlandt, they were the life and stay of
+the school in these days. Steadfast and cheerful, always hopeful,
+bringing forward every favourable symptom and sharing it with the whole
+school; not a girl of all the seventy-odd who did not feel their
+sympathy and friendship like strong hands ready to take theirs and
+uphold them.
+
+One day, when things were at the worst, Peggy found Viola in her room,
+crying on the divan.
+
+"What is the matter?" she asked, rather briefly. Viola's troubles seemed
+microscopic in this time of heart-wringing anxiety.
+
+Viola raised her head, and her eyes were red with weeping.
+
+"They say she's going to die, Peggy!" she said.
+
+"Nonsense!" said Peggy, gruffly. "Who says so?"
+
+"Oh, all the girls. They say Doctor Hendon shook his head when he went
+out this morning; you know that's a very bad sign. Oh, Peggy, I wish I
+had been good to the poor little thing. You have always been good to
+her. I don't believe you suffered as much as I did from her clothes, but
+I wish I had been good to her all the same. Peggy, if she gets well, I'm
+going to do over her hats for her, and try to make her look different.
+Peggy, where are you going? Don't leave me! Lobelia is going to die, and
+I feel so frightened."
+
+"I don't believe she is going to die," said Peggy. "I am going to the
+study to see Miss Russell; come with me if you like, V."
+
+Viola crept along beside her, cowering in Peggy's shadow as they passed
+the door of the sick-room. Peggy paused to listen. From within came the
+sound of soft singing, and the faint rustle of a wood fire. What was
+Grace singing? one of the quaint French songs that she loved,--
+
+        "Trois anges sont venus ce soir,
+         M'apportaient de bien belles choses;
+         L'un d'eux avaient un encensoir,
+         Le deuxième un chapelet de roses.
+         Et le troisième avait en main
+         Une robe toute fleurie,
+         De perles, d'or et de jasmin,
+         Comme en a Madame Marie.
+                 Noël! Noël!
+         Nous venons du ciel,
+         T'apporter ce que tu desires;
+         Car le bon Dieu,
+         Au fond du ciel bleu,
+         A chagrin lorsque tu soupires!"
+
+The two girls crept softly past, Viola wiping the tears from her eyes.
+They went down to the study, and, knocking gently, were bidden to enter.
+Miss Russell and Miss Cortlandt were sitting together, and at their feet
+sat the Snowy and the Fluffy Owls, curled up on two hassocks. Peggy
+looked in timidly.
+
+"Come in, Peggy!" said Miss Russell's cheerful voice. "Who is that with
+you? Oh, Viola? come in, my dear! Do you want anything?"
+
+"No, Miss Russell," said Peggy. "I--I just wanted to come in, that was
+all."
+
+"So did we!" said the Fluffy. "We just came, and we feel so much better.
+Sit down here, Peggy."
+
+She patted the floor beside her, and Peggy and Viola sat down. Peggy
+heaved a sigh of relief. "I thought you would let us come," she said.
+"It's so dreadful not to be able to do anything, isn't it, Miss Russell?
+If we could help in any way, or feel that we were doing anything at
+all, it wouldn't be so bad. I came by the door just now, and Grace was
+singing, and it all sounded so quiet and peaceful. You think it is all
+going well, don't you, Miss Russell? You don't think she is worse
+to-day, do you, Miss Russell?"
+
+Miss Russell put back Peggy's hair, which had fallen into her eyes as
+she looked up eagerly. "Dear," she said, "I was just telling Gertrude
+and Bertha how it is. Doctor Hendon thinks there will be a change
+to-day; he thinks the crisis is coming. It is a time of great danger,
+but he has good hope, and we must have it, too. And, girls, you are all
+longing to help; now, you can help us to-day. You can help very much
+indeed. The house must be kept absolutely quiet this afternoon. The
+girls are in their rooms now; but if you could get them off for a walk,
+some of them, and send the rest to the gymnasium, you would be doing us
+all a service. Miss Cortlandt is going to the gymnasium, and she will
+give them a drill, or let them dance, if they like--you don't think they
+feel like dancing? No more do I! I shall not leave Lobelia's room
+myself till the change comes; I am going back there now, as soon as the
+doctor comes. Ah! there he is now! Remember, dear girls, quiet; and for
+the rest, hope and patience--and trust!"
+
+She kissed them each in turn, quietly and gravely, and was gone. Turning
+to Emily Cortlandt, they saw that her eyes were full of tears; yet she
+spoke cheerfully. "Miss Russell is so wise, girls!" she said. "I am sure
+you will do all you can--it is an anxious time. One thing she forgot to
+say,--I wouldn't let the other girls know, if you can help it, how grave
+the danger is. Some of them are nervous, and might have hysterics, or
+even be ill. Viola, my child, you look very pale. Don't you feel well?"
+
+Viola was trembling all over. She came close to Miss Cortlandt and
+nestled up to her like a little child. "I'm afraid!" she said, simply.
+"I never was near where anybody died. I'm dreadfully afraid, Miss
+Cortlandt."
+
+Very gently Emily Cortlandt spoke then to the frightened child, and to
+the other three girls, whose strong, sensible faces were grave enough,
+but who were able to possess themselves in courage and quiet. She told
+them some of her thoughts, the thoughts of a gentle Christian woman; of
+the hope and love and promise that made death seem to her only the white
+door that led into life, a life toward which we must all look, and for
+which we must shape ourselves as we pass through this world of joy and
+sorrow. She told them of young lives which had seemed cruelly cut off
+here; and of how it was her thought that death had been to them not the
+end, but the beginning; and of the lovely light they had shed behind
+them, of gentleness and hope and love. Then she spoke more brightly, and
+told them how strong, after all, life was in the young, and how one
+could always hope, while even a spark remained. Doctor Hendon had good
+hope, she repeated, and they must have it, too.
+
+"And now," she said, "I must go, and you must go, too. Find the girls
+quietly, and bring them to me, or take them out for one of your good
+walks; and let us, whatever we do, do it cheerfully!"
+
+Faithfully the Owls and Peggy laboured, that November afternoon. First
+they soothed and comforted Viola, finishing the good work that Miss
+Cortlandt had begun; and they induced her to go to the gymnasium and
+take a party with her. Then they went about softly from door to door
+through the corridors, not spreading any alarm, merely saying that Miss
+Russell thought they would all better go out, as the afternoon was so
+fine, and that they were to go quietly, as Lobelia might be asleep.
+Before long, without noise or confusion, the whole school was out,
+either in the gymnasium or on the road. The walkers divided into three
+parties, Peggy leading the freshmen, Gertrude the juniors, while Bertha
+marshalled the sophomores, who came like lambs, half proud, half shy, at
+being under the leadership of the renowned Fluffy. The seniors, of
+course, could be trusted to take care of themselves. They were a small
+class, and somehow--as happens in every school with one class and
+another--had never made themselves a power; they had gone now with the
+rest to the gymnasium.
+
+Peggy, as she walked at the head of her troop, tried to feel her cousin
+Margaret's hand in hers. Always humble, and distrustful of her own
+powers, she tried hard to think what Margaret would do in her place. She
+would tell stories, probably, wonderful stories of heroes and great
+deeds. Ah! but Peggy did not know the stories in the books; they never
+stayed by her. Well, then, she must tell what she did know! She found
+herself talking about her home life, the home on the great Western
+ranch; of her father and brothers, and the many feats in their strong,
+active life. Here, if she had only known it, were stories better than
+any in Margaret's books. How Brother Jim hunted the white wolf for three
+days in the mountains; how Hugh set the trap for the young grizzly, and
+more wonderful, how he tamed him and made him his friend and servant;
+how Father Montfort saved the three men who were snowed up in Desolation
+Gulch, and brought them out one by one on his shoulders, just as their
+last biscuit was gone and they had sat down to die,--on and on went the
+tale, for it was a story without an end. On and on went the girls, too,
+unconscious of their going, forgetting to think they were tired,
+forgetting everything save the joy of listening. The shadows were
+lengthening fast when Peggy, still relating, turned her face homeward,
+wondering with thankfulness, as she noted the position of the sun, how
+she had been able to take them so far without once hearing a groan or a
+sigh of weariness. She looked around, and saw only sparkling eyes and
+rosy cheeks. "A month ago," she thought, "they would have said I had
+almost killed them. They really are hardening, and I'm so glad!"
+
+"Oh, go on, Peggy!" cried Rose Barclay. "You are never going to stop
+there! What became of the one with the wooden leg? We must know!"
+
+On went the story, and on went the girls; the sun sank lower and lower,
+the shadows crept longer and longer, the air grew cool and thin with
+the coming night. The man with the wooden leg had chopped it up for
+fuel, and Father Montfort had brought him and all the others in triumph
+to the ranch, and set them down by the fire, when-- "Oh, dear me!" cried
+Ethel Fair. "What a shame, girls! Here we are at the gate. I say! let's
+go on a little farther, Peggy."
+
+But Peggy was wise, and knew when to stop; besides, now that she was
+near the house again, the anxiety and distress that had been lulled by
+the walk and the story-telling, came back like a flood, and filled her
+heart. They were crossing the lawn; what tidings would greet them at the
+door? Some one was standing there now; Miss Cortlandt, was it? no, Miss
+Russell herself. She was waiting for them with the news; would it be
+good or bad? Peggy hung back for an instant; then she walked steadily
+forward. "Quiet, girls!" was all she said. "I think Miss Russell has
+something to tell us."
+
+They were at the foot of the steps now; and Miss Russell was coming down
+to meet them, running, the grave and stately woman, to meet them, like
+a girl. Her hands were outstretched, her face was all aglow with joy,
+the glad tears ran down her cheeks.
+
+"It is over!" she whispered. "Softly, my dear children. Come softly in.
+The crisis is over, and the child will live! Come with me, and let us
+thank God together!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII.
+
+THE END AND THE BEGINNING.
+
+
+It was a month later. The first snow had fallen, and the lawn was white
+with it, and all the trees and bushes powdered with frost. Coming out of
+the class-room one day, her heart singing of sines and cosines and
+tangents, Peggy found the Snowy and the Fluffy waiting for her at the
+door, with radiant faces.
+
+"Oh, what?" cried Peggy. "A letter?"
+
+"Yes," said Gertrude. "It has just come, though the postmark is two or
+three days ago. Where shall we go to read it? Your room, Peggy? So we
+will; it's nearer than the Nest, and I know you can't wait."
+
+Grace's letters were indeed things to wait for in those days. She had
+gone to Lobelia's home with her; for, on coming to herself, the invalid
+had still clung to her new friend, with a persistency strange in one so
+timid and fearful. Convalescence came, with its unwilling fretfulness,
+its fits of unreason. Still Lobelia clung to Grace, and no one else
+could make her listen and obey. The nurse laughed, and said she might as
+well go, and leave her diploma with Miss Wolfe; yet stayed, for the two
+worked together in pleasant harmony and friendship. At last, Doctor
+Hendon ordered a change of scene, and now, too, Grace must go with her.
+The Parkins mansion was within driving distance of Pentland; the whole
+school had turned out to see the departure, the sick girl lying on
+cushions, her thin face already showing the signs of returning health,
+and really transfigured by the light of love and gratitude that beamed
+from it, as she looked from Grace to Peggy, and back again to Grace. She
+beckoned to Peggy, who pressed to her side and bent over her. "What is
+it, dear?" she whispered.
+
+"Peggy!"
+
+"Yes, Lobelia."
+
+"Peggy, you don't mind?"
+
+"Mind what? I don't mind anything, now that you are getting well."
+
+"You--you were my first friend, the only friend I had. You don't
+mind--that I love her? I couldn't help it, Peggy. She kept me alive, you
+see. Often and often, when I was drifting away, and ready to die, she
+held me, and would not let me go. You are sure you don't mind, Peggy?"
+
+Peggy kissed her heartily, and told her not to talk nonsense. "If you
+didn't love her," she said, "I'd have nothing to do with you, Lobelia
+Parkins. Do you hear that? Nothing! I wouldn't speak to you in the
+street, if I met you."
+
+Lobelia smiled, and leaned back on the cushions with closed eyes and a
+look of absolute content. "You are so funny, Peggy!" she murmured. "She
+is funny, too. I like people who are funny. Good-bye, and thank
+everybody. Everybody is so kind!"
+
+The carriage drove away, and the last thing the girls saw was Grace's
+face, looking down at her charge; grave as ever,--Grace rarely smiled,
+and they hardly knew the sound of her laugh,--but bright as Lobelia's
+own with love and purpose and gladness. So they passed out of sight.
+
+And since then had come letters every week, telling of the child's
+progress; one to Miss Russell always, and one to the Owls or to Peggy.
+It was one of these that Gertrude took from her pocket now and opened,
+as they sat together on Peggy's divan.
+
+"You see, it is dated three days ago; probably been carried in a pocket,
+from the look of it."
+
+        "DEAR SNOWY, ALSO FLUFFY:--Tu whit! She has
+        been gaining so fast this week, we shall soon
+        forget she has been ill at all. She can eat
+        anything she likes, and she likes a great deal.
+        Miss P. keeps exclaiming at her appetite.
+        Apparently the child never ate anything before
+        she went to school. The rule of the house is,
+        or was, one shredded wheat Abomination for
+        breakfast, one chop for dinner, one smoked
+        herring for supper. All this served on huge and
+        hideous silver dishes. This order is changed.
+        Miss Parkins almost fainted when I ordered the
+        first meal. She weeps every day over the
+        butcher's book, but the child fattens apace,
+        and all is well. I had to frighten her--the
+        aunt--a little, though, before things went
+        smoothly.
+
+        "Yesterday we explored the house, the Babe and
+        I. The amazing thing is that she lived at all
+        after she got her eyes open. Apparently every
+        article cost a thousand dollars; most awful old
+        mausoleum you can imagine; you never saw such a
+        place, for there couldn't be two. The bed I
+        sleep in has all-round curtains of apple-green
+        plush, with bead fringe three inches deep. The
+        mantelpiece and table-top and so on are gray
+        marble, and the ornaments are two deformed gilt
+        cherubs holding a slop-jar with a clock-face in
+        the middle of it. Also two unspeakable
+        alabaster jugs, three feet high, and two Parian
+        busts under glass cases. They are supposed to
+        be Luther and Melanchthon; I think they are
+        Lucifer and Mammon. Well, the poor little thing
+        is used to it, and doesn't know what is the
+        matter. Wait till Monday week,--I mean till
+        some future day,--and she shall know, but not
+        now. She doesn't think it a homelike house, she
+        says!
+
+        "I shall be coming back almost any time now, as
+        soon as I can get away. It's dreadful to leave
+        her,--'I'm wae to think upo' yon den, e'en for
+        her sake,'--but I must get back before exams,
+        and she is really all right, only not of course
+        wholly strong yet. She will come back next
+        term; and meanwhile she is to travel with an
+        old servant who was her nurse, and who has some
+        spark of humanity in her composition.
+
+        "I'm coming back, I tell you; at least,
+        something is coming back. I don't say whether
+        it will be the Goat or the Wolf, or what; I'm
+        pretty sure that--
+
+        "'Lawk a mercy on me,
+         This is none of I!'
+
+        "Good-bye, you feathered things! How do
+        feathers feel? How do you get about? There are
+        good points about the creature, I can see that;
+        you can see in the dark--but so could the Wolf!
+        and it would be nice to be able to ruffle up
+        your feathers and put a tongue in every wound
+        of Puggy's--but she is gone, isn't she? Alas!
+        and if you don't know Shakespeare when I talk
+        him, why, you are an ignorant set, and don't
+        deserve your names. This is for the Innocent,
+        too, mind! Give her my love, and tell
+        her--never mind; I'll tell her myself.
+
+        "So no more at present, Respected Fowls, from
+        your most obedient, humble servant,
+
+                                 "THE HYBRID."
+
+The three girls were silent for a moment after Gertrude had folded the
+letter again. Then, "Do you suppose she will really be changed?" asked
+Peggy. "I--I don't think I want Grace to be changed, do you, girls?"
+
+"That depends!" said Bertha, with her chin on her hands, in her
+favourite judicial attitude. "Of course it would be despair if we
+should lose her real, true self. If she could only stay Grace Wolfe, and
+change her point of view, why, then--"
+
+"That is just what she will do, I feel sure of it," said Gertrude,
+earnestly. "She has been through an experience--oh, we can't know what
+it has been, girls, because we are just plain people, you know, and
+Grace is--well, I think she has genius, or something very like it. If
+only the power and the sweetness and brightness are turned into helping,
+you see, instead of hindering--oh, how much she can do! and I believe
+she's going to do it, too. But come, Fluffy, I must go home. Won't you
+come, Peggy? We have half an hour before study-time."
+
+Peggy followed only too gladly along the corridor; it was always a treat
+to spend half an hour in the Owl's Nest. Gertrude was first; she opened
+the door of her room, and paused on the threshold with a low cry. Bertha
+and Peggy hurried forward and looked over her shoulder--to see a strange
+sight.
+
+Something--or somebody--was sitting on the window-seat. Something gray
+and soft. It had a round feathered head, with two feathery horns jutting
+from it; it had round bright eyes, which blinked curiously at the
+astonished girls. Below the head were--arms, were they, or wings? They
+were feathery too, and they drooped over something that might be a
+skirt, though no feet were visible. In the gathering twilight the figure
+sat on the window-seat and blinked, looking like nothing that was in
+heaven or earth; and the three girls stood and stared, holding each
+other's hands. Presently the silence was broken.
+
+"Bubo Virginianus!" said a grave, melodious voice from under the
+feathers. "The Great Horned Owl. Description: Large and strongly
+organised; ear-tufts large, erectile; bill strong, fully curved; wing
+rather long; third quill usually longest; tail short; legs and toes--"
+
+"Grace!" cried Gertrude Merryweather.
+
+"Tu whit!" replied the figure. "I may also in this connection remark, tu
+whoo! This well-known bird is a resident in all the New England
+schools--I should say States--throughout the year. It is not so common
+in Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island as in the other States,
+where, in the vast tracts of forest, it is quite abundant. Samuels. Easy
+there! spare the Plumage!"
+
+The three girls had flung themselves upon the strange figure, which
+flapped its arms for a moment, as if contemplating flight. Then, waving
+them off with one arm, it lifted the feathered head, and gazed at them
+with melancholy blue eyes.
+
+"Tu whit!" repeated the Scapegoat. "I may be allowed, _in_ this
+connection, to repeat, tu whoo! Don't kill me, Innocent; I should be
+less useful dead."
+
+It did seem as if they would hug her to death. They laughed, they cried,
+they questioned, they talked, all in one breath; no one would have
+recognised the sedate Owls or the sensible Peggy. Grace regarded them
+with grave benignity, as she untied the owl's head, and loosed the
+feathered cape from her shoulders.
+
+"Rather neat, I thought?" she said, turning the head around on her hand.
+"The beak is a little wobbly, but the general character--eh?--is pretty
+good? I couldn't manage the toes and claws; there wasn't time, and,
+besides, they would have excited remark, even if the weather had been
+warm enough to make them comfortable for travelling. Well, my Snowy, my
+Fluffy, how is it? Is there room for another Owl in the forest?"
+
+"Oh, Grace!" cried Bertha.
+
+"Oh, my dear!" cried Gertrude; and their arms were around her again,
+while Peggy sat down on the floor and fairly burst into tears.
+
+Grace was silent for a little, her head resting on Gertrude's shoulder.
+When she spoke, her voice had not its usual even flow, but hesitated,
+almost faltered, now and then.
+
+"I am going to try!" she said. "It will take a long time, my Owls, and
+you will have to be very patient with me. I shall probably never be
+wholly domesticated, but--but you will help me, and the Innocent here
+will help me; won't you, Innocent?"
+
+[Illustration: "'WE FOUR AGAINST THE WORLD!'"]
+
+"Oh, Grace, if I only could? but what can I do? I don't see how I can
+ever do anything!"
+
+"You began it all!" said Grace. "The way you looked--that night I made
+you go out, little Peggy. You didn't know, but the face of an Innocent
+can be a terrible thing, and I saw, and knew--things I hadn't known
+before. No need of going back to that now. But--Snowy--Samuels says I
+make an amusing pet in captivity. You'll try me?"
+
+"Won't we!" cried the Snowy Owl. "Grace, dear, we'll all try together.
+Oh, we all have to keep trying, don't we, all our lives long? It
+wouldn't be worth anything if we didn't have to try, to work and fight
+for it. It shall be we three against the world,--the Snowy, the Fluffy,
+and the Horny. No, we four, for what should we do without our Peggy? Get
+up, Peggy, you ridiculous child; stop crying, and come and sit here
+close by us."
+
+"Oh!" cried Peggy. "Isn't there some kind of Owl that I could be? I am
+too stupid, of course, but I might be a screech-owl, don't you think
+so, Snowy?"
+
+Grace held up her hand. "Forbid the thought!" she said, gravely. "Who
+would get us our mice? We must have a Human Being connected with us. I
+think of moving into Bedlam, as Colney has a fine assortment of mice on
+hand generally. I refuse bats, probably on account of the strong musky
+odour, but a mouse dragged across the floor of my cage fills me with
+excitement. Samuels, part of it at least. No, we must have a Human Being
+in the Owlery, and that Human Being must be the Innocent. We Four
+against the World, then! Hands on it, my Owls!"
+
+The four girls stood up, and, joining hands, looked in each other's
+faces. "We Four against the World!" they repeated. "The Snowy, the
+Fluffy, the Horny, and the Innocent; Hurrah for us!" and the shout they
+raised brought the whole corridor running to see what was going on.
+
+
+THE END.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Transcriber's Notes:
+
+Obvious punctuation errors repaired.
+
+Page 5, caption was missing from original. Added from the List of
+Illustrations.
+
+Page 233, "all" changed to "a" (For a reply)
+
+Page 301, "does't" changed to "doesn't" (and doesn't know that)
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Peggy, by Laura E. Richards
+
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Peggy, by Laura E. Richards
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Peggy
+
+Author: Laura E. Richards
+
+Illustrator: Etheldred B. Barry
+
+Release Date: May 12, 2008 [EBook #25448]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PEGGY ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Suzanne Shell, Emmy and the Online Distributed
+Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 270px;">
+<img src="images/cover01.jpg" width="270" height="400" alt="Cover" title="Cover" />
+</div>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[1]</a></span></p>
+
+<h1>PEGGY</h1>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[2]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><div class='bbox'>
+<h2><span style='u'><i>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Books by Laura E. Richards.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</i></span></h2>
+
+
+<p>"Mrs. Richards has made for herself a little niche apart in the literary
+world, from her delicate treatment of New England village life."&mdash;<i>Boston
+Post.</i></p>
+<div class='center'>&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;<br />
+<br />
+<b><big>THE CAPTAIN JANUARY SERIES.</big></b></div>
+
+
+<div class='hang1'><b>CAPTAIN JANUARY.</b> 16mo, cloth, 50 cents.</div>
+
+<p>A charming idyl of New England coast life, whose success has been
+very remarkable. One reads it, is thoroughly charmed by it, tells
+others, and so its fame has been heralded by its readers, until to-day
+it is selling by the thousands, constantly enlarging the circle of its
+delighted admirers.</p>
+
+<div class='hang1'><b>SAME.</b> <i>Illustrated Holiday Edition.</i> With thirty half-tone pictures
+from drawings by Frank T. Merrill. 4to, cloth, $1.25.<br /><br /></div>
+
+<div class='hang1'><b>MELODY.</b> The Story of a Child. 16mo, 50 cents.</div>
+
+<p>"Had there never been a 'Captain January,' 'Melody' would easily
+take first place."&mdash;<i>Boston Times.</i><br /><br /></p>
+
+<div class='hang1'><b>SAME.</b> <i>Illustrated Holiday Edition.</i> With thirty half-tone pictures
+from drawings by Frank T. Merrill. 4to, cloth, $1.25.<br /><br /></div>
+
+<div class='hang1'><b>MARIE.</b> 16mo, 50 cents.</div>
+
+<p>"Seldom has Mrs. Richards drawn a more irresistible picture, or
+framed one with more artistic literary adjustment."&mdash;<i>Boston Herald.</i></p>
+
+<p>"A perfect literary gem."&mdash;<i>Boston Transcript.</i><br /><br /></p>
+
+<div class='hang1'><b>NARCISSA</b>, and a companion story, <b>IN VERONA</b>. 16mo, cloth,
+50 cents.</div>
+
+<p>"Each is a simple, touching, sweet little story of rustic New England
+life, full of vivid pictures of interesting character, and refreshing for its
+unaffected genuineness and human feeling."&mdash;<i>Congregationalist.</i><br /><br /></p>
+
+<div class='hang1'><b>JIM OF HELLAS; or, IN DURANCE VILE</b>, and a companion
+story, <b>BETHESDA POOL</b>. 16mo, 50 cents.<br /><br /></div>
+
+<div class='hang1'><b>SOME SAY</b>, and a companion story, <b>NEIGHBOURS IN CYRUS</b>.
+16mo, 50 cents.<br /><br /></div>
+
+<div class='hang1'><b>ROSIN THE BEAU.</b> 16mo, 50 cents. A sequel to "Melody."</div>
+
+<div class='center'>&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;<br /></div>
+<div class='hang1'><b>ISLA HERON.</b> A charming prose idyl of quaint New England life.
+Small quarto, cloth, 75 cents.<br /><br /></div>
+
+<div class='hang1'><b>NAUTILUS.</b> A very interesting story, with illustrations; uniquely
+bound, small quarto, cloth, 75 cents.<br /><br /></div>
+
+<div class='hang1'><b>FIVE MINUTE STORIES.</b> A charming collection of short stories
+and clever poems for children. Small quarto, cloth, $1.25.<br /><br /></div>
+
+<div class='hang1'><b>THREE MARGARETS.</b> One of the most clever stories for girls
+that the author has written. 16mo, cloth, handsome cover design,
+$1.25.<br /><br /></div>
+
+<div class='hang1'><b>MARGARET MONTFORT.</b> The second volume in the series of
+which "Three Margarets" was so successful as the initial volume.
+16mo, cloth, handsome cover design, $1.25.<br /><br /></div>
+
+<div class='hang1'><b>PEGGY.</b> The third volume in the series of which the preceding ones
+have been so successful. 16mo, cloth, handsome cover design, $1.25.<br /><br /></div>
+
+<div class='hang1'><b>LOVE AND ROCKS.</b> A charming story of one of the pleasant
+islands that dot the rugged Maine coast. With etching frontispiece
+by Mercier. Tall 16mo, unique cover design on linen, gilt top, $1.00.<br /></div>
+<div class='center'>&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;<br />
+<i>Dana Estes &amp; Company, Publishers, Boston.</i></div><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[3]</a></span><br /><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[4]</a></span></p>
+</div>
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 265px;"><a name="frontis" id="frontis"></a>
+<img src="images/gs01.png" width="265" height="400" alt="&quot;PEACE BE TO THIS DWELLING&quot;" title="&quot;PEACE BE TO THIS DWELLING&quot;" />
+<span class="caption">&quot;PEACE BE TO THIS DWELLING&quot;</span>
+</div>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[5]</a></span></p>
+<h1>PEGGY</h1>
+
+<h3>BY</h3>
+<h2>LAURA E. RICHARDS</h2>
+
+<div class='center'>AUTHOR OF "CAPTAIN JANUARY," "MELODY,"<br />
+"QUEEN HILDEGARDE," ETC.<br />
+<br /><br /><br />
+<br />Illustrated by<br />
+ETHELDRED B. BARRY<br /><br /><br /></div>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 202px;">
+<img src="images/emblem.png" width="202" height="250" alt="Emblem" title="Emblem" />
+</div>
+
+<div class='center'><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />
+BOSTON<br />
+DANA ESTES &amp; COMPANY<br />
+PUBLISHERS<br /></div>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[6]</a></span></p>
+<div class='center'>
+<i><small>Copyright, 1899</small></i><br />
+<span class="smcap"><small>By Dana Estes &amp; Company</small></span><br />
+<br />
+<br /><br /><br />
+<b><small>Colonial Press:</small></b><br />
+<small>Electrotyped and Printed by C. H. Simonds &amp; Co.</small><br />
+<small>Boston, Mass., U. S. A.</small><br /></div>
+
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[7]</a></span></p>
+<h2>CONTENTS.</h2>
+
+
+
+
+<div class='center'>
+<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="Contents">
+<tr><td align='left' colspan='2'><small>CHAPTER</small></td><td align='left'><small>PAGE</small></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='right'>I.</td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">A New World</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_11">11</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='right'>II.</td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">The Box From Fernley</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_31">31</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='right'>III.</td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">In the "Gym."</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_51">51</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='right'>IV.</td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Enter the Scapegoat</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_72">72</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='right'>V.</td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">To the Rescue</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_89">89</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='right'>VI.</td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">The Owl's Nest</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_102">102</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='right'>VII.</td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Wedding Bells</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_121">121</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='right'>VIII.</td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">By Moonlight</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_141">141</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='right'>IX.</td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Faculty Meeting and Bedlam</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_160">160</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='right'>X.</td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Teacher and Pupil</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_182">182</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='right'>XI.</td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Decoration&mdash;and Other Things</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_194">194</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='right'>XII.</td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">An Adventure</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_210">210</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='right'>XIII.</td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Peggy Victrix</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_224">224</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='right'>XIV.</td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">On Spy Hill</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_240">240</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='right'>XV.</td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">What Was the Matter With Lobelia Parkins?</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_253">253</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='right'>XVI.</td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">The Terror by Night</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_268">268</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='right'>XVII.</td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Waiting</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_279">279</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='right'>XVIII.</td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">The End and the Beginning</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_297">297</a></td></tr>
+</table></div>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[9]</a></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[8]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2>LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.</h2>
+
+
+
+
+<div class='center'>
+<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="List of Illustratins">
+<tr><td align='left'>&nbsp;</td><td align='right'><small>PAGE</small></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">"'Peace be to this dwelling'"</span> (<a href="#Page_79">p. 79</a>)</td><td align='left'><i><a href="#frontis">Frontispiece</a></i></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">"'Bertha, look at this, will you?'"</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_36">36</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">"Up they went, hand over hand."</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_69">69</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">The Grand Tell in the Owl's Nest</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_120">120</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">"'Here! Take my hand and scramble out'"</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_207">207</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">"With one of her sudden movements she had thrown off her assailants"</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_237">237</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">"'Oh, Grace, she has fainted!'"</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_272">272</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">"'We four against the world!'"</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_308">308</a></td></tr>
+</table></div><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[10]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[11]</a></span></p>
+<h2>PEGGY.</h2>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2>CHAPTER I.</h2>
+
+<h3>A NEW WORLD.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"Miss Montfort!" said the Principal.</p>
+
+<p>Peggy looked about her.</p>
+
+<p>"I wonder if it's another cousin!" she
+said to herself. "It can't be, or Margaret
+would have known. Dear Margaret! now
+if she were only here, she could answer, and
+everybody would&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Miss Montfort!" said the Principal again,
+rather sharply.</p>
+
+<p>"Isn't that your name?" whispered the girl
+who sat beside Peggy. "You'll have to answer,
+you know!"</p>
+
+<p>Peggy started violently, and, looking up,
+met the Principal's eyes bent upon her. She<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[12]</a></span>
+struggled to her feet, feeling herself one
+blush from head to foot.</p>
+
+<p>"I&mdash;I beg your pardon!" she faltered.
+"I didn't suppose&mdash;did you mean me?"</p>
+
+<p>"You are Miss Montfort, are you not?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, no! my cousins are both&mdash;that is,&mdash;I
+am just Peggy!"</p>
+
+<p>There was a general titter, which the Principal
+checked with her pencil. "Young ladies!"
+she said in a warning tone. "Miss
+Montfort, you will have room No. 18, in the
+second corridor. You will be alone for the
+present."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, goody!" cried Peggy. "I mean&mdash;I'm
+ever so much obliged, thank you! Can
+I go now?"</p>
+
+<p>"You <i>may</i> go now!" said the Principal,
+with a slight emphasis on the auxiliary.</p>
+
+<p>Peggy stumbled over the foot of the girl
+next her, stepped on her own dress, tripped
+and came to her knees; picked herself up,
+with a sound of rending cloth, and finally
+got out of the room. This time the titter
+was not so easily checked. Peggy heard it
+rippling behind her as she fled. Even Miss<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[13]</a></span>
+Russell smiled as she rapped on the desk, and
+said one word to herself: "Untrained!"</p>
+
+<p>But the girl who had sat beside Peggy
+rubbed her foot, which hurt a good deal, and
+said three words: "Poor little thing!"</p>
+
+<p>No. 18 in the second corridor was a good-sized
+room, with two windows, one of them
+crossed on the outside by a fire-escape. Its
+present aspect was bare and unhomelike.
+The furniture consisted of an iron bedstead,
+a bureau and wash-stand, two chairs and a
+small table, all neat, but severely plain. The
+small square of carpet on the floor was a
+cold gray mixture with brown flowers on it.
+As Peggy Montfort looked about her, her
+heart sank. Was she to live here, to spend
+her days and nights here, for a whole endless
+year? She thought of her room at home,
+the great sunny room that she shared with
+her sister Jean. That had four windows,
+which were generally flung wide open; it
+was bare, because she and Jean liked to
+have plenty of space for gymnastics and
+wrestling; but that was a homelike, accustomed
+bareness, and they loved it. The<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[14]</a></span>
+great old four-post bed, with the round balls
+on which they loved to stand and perform
+circus tricks; the hammock slung across one
+end; the birds' nests and hawks' wings that
+adorned the walls in lieu of pictures; the
+antlers on which they hung their hats,&mdash;all
+these, or the thought of them, smote Peggy's
+stout heart, and sent it lower and lower down.</p>
+
+<p>A maid knocked at the door: here was
+Miss Montfort's trunk, and would she unpack
+it, please, as the man would be coming again
+to take the empty trunks to the attic.</p>
+
+<p>Peggy fell to work with ardour; here, at
+least, was something to do, in this strange,
+lonesome place. Arriving in the afternoon, a
+day or two after the beginning of school, her
+lessons were not to begin till the next morning.</p>
+
+<p>Every dress, as she lifted it out, seemed a
+bit of home. Here was the triangular tear
+in her blue gingham, that Jean mended for
+her. One could hardly see it now! Dear
+Jean! she was neat-handed, and she had a
+little look of Margaret, the same soft hair
+and clear, quiet eyes. Here was her beloved
+bicycle skirt! Ah, there was something<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[15]</a></span>
+heavy in the pocket. Peggy explored, and
+drew forth an apple; that brought the tears,
+which were not very far off in the first place,
+and there was a good deal of salt in the
+apple as she ate it. She was so determined
+to make the best of everything, however,
+that she fought back the homesickness that
+was rising like a flood within her, and even
+managed to whistle a tune as she hung up
+her dresses and laid her stockings and handkerchiefs
+in the drawers. Then the shoe-bag
+must be hung against the closet door, the bag
+that Margaret had made and worked with
+her initials. Dearest Margaret! and here
+was the pincushion that Flora gave her, and
+the writing-case from Brother Hugh&mdash; Oh!
+she would write to him every week of her
+life, indeed she would! and so on and so on.</p>
+
+<p>When the trunk was empty, the room
+looked less forlorn, though still pretty bare,
+for in Peggy's home little thought was given
+to anything not of practical use. The door
+was open, and happening to look up she
+caught a glimpse of the opposite room, on
+the other side of the narrow corridor. Here,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[16]</a></span>
+too, the door stood open, and Peggy gazed open-eyed.
+A greater contrast could hardly be
+imagined. Here every available inch of wall-space
+was covered, with photographs, with
+Japanese fans and umbrellas, with posters
+and ribbons and flags. The room itself was
+choked, it seemed to Peggy, with chairs and
+tables, low tables covered with books, with
+cups and saucers, with knickknacks of every
+possible description. The whole effect was
+bewildering, but so gay and cheerful that
+Peggy sighed as she glanced back at her own
+bare white walls, at the bureau with its sober
+brush and comb, and the polished table where
+the writing-case lay in solitary state. She
+could not imagine living in a room like that
+other: she should stifle, and throw half the
+things out of the window; but it would be
+nice to have just a few more things! If she
+had only thought! Jean would have been
+glad to share the nests with her, and she
+could have had the rattlesnake skin, for had
+she not killed him herself? and then there
+were the fossils!</p>
+
+<p>As Peggy meditated, steps came along the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[17]</a></span>
+corridor, and halted at her door. A face
+peeped in. "May I come in?" asked the
+girl who had sat beside her in the class-room.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, do! I wish you would!" cried Peggy,
+eagerly. "I am so glad to see you! Sit
+down! I wanted to tell you&mdash;you were awfully
+kind to let me know she meant me.
+You see, I never was called Miss Montfort
+in my life before."</p>
+
+<p>The girl sat down, and looked kindly at
+Peggy. She was a singular-looking girl,
+short and dark, with a curious effect of
+squareness in her thickset figure. Her face
+was plain, but one forgot that when one met
+the bright, intelligent gaze of her dark eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"I ought to introduce myself!" she said.
+"My name is Bertha Haughton. I'm a
+neighbour of yours. No!" she added, laughing,
+as Peggy glanced involuntarily across the
+way. "That is Vanity Fair. I don't live
+there; I live in the Owls' Nest, some way
+down the corridor."</p>
+
+<p>"Are all the rooms named?" asked Peggy,
+wondering.</p>
+
+<p>"Most of them, on this corridor, at least.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[18]</a></span>
+There's Vanity Fair and Rag Fair and the
+Smithsonian Institute on the other side&mdash;oh!
+and the China Shop and the Corner Grocery,
+too. And on this side is ours, the Owls'
+Nest, and Bedlam, and the Soap Factory, and
+the Nursery, and this room of yours."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, how interesting!" cried Peggy. "Do
+tell me what the names mean! Why Owls'
+Nest?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, well, we got the name of studying
+hard, that's all. We don't study harder than
+ever so many others, but in our freshman
+year we&mdash;my chum and I&mdash;passed an examination
+that a good many failed in, and so
+we got the name of owls. That's really all!
+And the China Shop&mdash;well! Ada Bull had
+it last year, and she had a mania for china-painting;
+and that with the name, together,
+you see! Then there is the Soap Factory,&mdash;that
+is quite a story! you really want to hear
+it? well!</p>
+
+<p>"You know we are not allowed to buy
+candy, or to have it sent to us. This girl's
+mother&mdash;I won't tell her name, she's in
+college now&mdash;was a very silly person, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[19]</a></span>
+she sent her a great box of chocolate, five or
+six pounds (though she knew the rules, mind
+you!), all done up like soap."</p>
+
+<p>"Like soap!" repeated Peggy.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes! the box was marked soap, and the
+chocolate was in little cakes, just like the little
+sample cakes of soap they send round, don't
+you know? and each cake wrapped up in
+paper, with '<i>Savon de Chocolat</i>' stamped on
+it. It came from Paris, I believe.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, of course the girl ought to have
+told Miss Russell at once, but she didn't.
+She kept the box under her bed, and told all
+the girls she knew; and of course they kept
+coming into her room all day long, and her
+pocket was always full, and, however it happened,
+at last Miss Russell suspected something.
+One day she came suddenly upon
+Margie in the hall, and saw that she was
+eating something, and asked her what it was.
+We're not allowed to eat going about the
+house, of course. Margie had just bitten off
+half a cake, and she had the other half in
+her hand, with the printed side up, '<i>Savon
+de Chocolat!</i>' and she said 'Soap!'<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[20]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"'Soap!' said Miss Russell.</p>
+
+<p>"'Yes!' said Margie. 'Soap, Miss Russell.'</p>
+
+<p>"The Principal looked at her a minute, and
+then I suppose she smelt the chocolate. She
+told her to wait, and then she went into her
+own room and came out with a little cake of
+tar soap&mdash;sample cake&mdash;that looked for all
+the world like chocolate soap.</p>
+
+<p>"'Pray try this!' she said, as grave as a
+judge. 'I am sure you will find it excellent.
+I must insist upon your trying it, since you
+have a taste for soap.'</p>
+
+<p>"Poor Margie! she had a good deal of
+pluck, and when she saw there was no help
+for it, she took a bite of the soap. But
+it was too horrid; she couldn't swallow it.
+She choked, and ran to her own room; the
+Principal followed her, and then the whole
+story came out. Margie never told us just
+what Miss Russell said. The chocolate was
+sent to the Orphans' Home next day, and she
+was a pretty serious girl for some time after.
+So now you know why that room is called the
+Soap Factory."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[21]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"That's a splendid story!" cried Peggy.
+"Why, I think this is great. Did this room
+have a name, too? I'm sure it must have!
+Do tell me what it is!"</p>
+
+<p>A queer look crossed the dark girl's face.</p>
+
+<p>"It has been called Broadway!" she said.
+"I hope it may be changed now." She hesitated,
+and was about to speak again, when
+two girls came along arm in arm.</p>
+
+<p>"Look!" said Bertha Haughton. "There
+are your opposite neighbours, Vanity and Vexation
+of Spirit. I'll call them over and
+introduce them."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, please don't!" cried Peggy, under
+her breath, catching her companion's arm.
+But it was too late.</p>
+
+<p>"V. V.," called Bertha, in her clear, hearty
+voice, "come and be introduced to Miss
+Montfort."</p>
+
+<p>The girls turned and came forward, one
+eagerly, the other rather unwillingly.</p>
+
+<p>"Miss Viola Vincent, Miss Vivia Varnham,"
+said Bertha Haughton, "this is Miss&mdash;Peggy,
+did you say?&mdash;Miss Peggy Montfort."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[22]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Miss Varnham simply bowed, but Viola
+Vincent advanced with outstretched hand.</p>
+
+<p>"How do you <i>do?</i>" she cried; and she
+lifted Peggy's hand to the level of her chin,
+and shook it gently from side to side. "Awfully
+glad to see you! It's been too perfectly
+horrid to have this room empty; hasn't it,
+V?"</p>
+
+<p>"A great bore!" assented Miss Varnham,
+who looked thoroughly bored herself.</p>
+
+<p>Both girls had entered the room, and were
+standing, looking about them. Peggy stood,
+too, feeling unspeakably shy and awkward,
+and not knowing what to say. Bertha
+Haughton gave her a quick, friendly glance,
+and made a slight motion with her head
+toward a chair. Peggy started, and coloured
+violently.</p>
+
+<p>"I beg your pardon!" she stammered.
+"Won't you sit down? here are two chairs;
+and you and I can sit on the bed!" she
+turned to Miss Haughton with an air of
+relief; she seemed already an old friend.</p>
+
+<p>Peggy's timid glances at the newcomers
+showed her that they belonged to a species<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[23]</a></span>
+unknown to her. Living on a great prairie
+farm, she had known no girls save her sisters
+and the two cousins with whom she had spent
+a happy summer at Fernley House, the home
+of her uncle, Mr. John Montfort, a year before.</p>
+
+<p>But neither sisters nor cousins, nor Bertha
+Haughton herself, bore any resemblance to the
+two young women who now seated themselves
+on her two straight-backed chairs. Both were
+dressed in the extreme of the fashion, which
+was not a specially graceful one. Both
+wore their hair elaborately dressed, with a
+profusion of gold and silver pins, a passing
+fancy easily carried to extravagance. Both
+were pretty, and there was even a kind of
+likeness between them, though it vanished
+when one looked closely. Viola Vincent had
+limpid blue eyes, and long lashes which she
+had a way of dropping, as she had been told
+that they looked well on her cheek, which was
+clear and delicately tinted. She smiled a good
+deal, and in doing so showed a pretty dimple
+in one cheek. In spite of a certain affectation,
+Peggy thought her charming.</p>
+
+<p>Vivia Varnham was less attractive, in spite<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[24]</a></span>
+of her bright hazel eyes and pretty fluffy
+hair; there was a supercilious lift to her eyebrows,
+an unamiable droop to the corners of
+her mouth. Peggy did not make this analysis;
+she only thought, "I shall not like her,
+I know I sha'n't!"</p>
+
+<p>The girls chattered away without much
+regard to her, and she only half understood
+their talk.</p>
+
+<p>"My dear! <i>Have</i> you heard?" This was
+from Viola to Bertha Haughton. She patted
+herself all over while she talked, now her
+hair, now her collar, now her blouse, little
+approving pats.</p>
+
+<p>"You never hear anything, you owls!
+When <i>is</i> the Snowy coming back? She has
+been away forty years! I simply can't exist
+without her. Why, my dear, we are to have
+the straw-ride after all. Miss Russell says we
+may. Isn't it perf'ly fine?"</p>
+
+<p>"Are you sure?" said Bertha Haughton,
+doubtfully. "You know last time she said
+we couldn't go again, because Grace acted so,
+pulling out the linch-pin and dropping us all
+into the road."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[25]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"My dear, I know! that's just it! The
+Goat went to her this morning and said she
+would stay at home and do double lessons if
+the rest of us could only go. Noble of the
+Goat, I call it; only it won't be half so much
+fun without her, and Billy gone, too. Oh,
+you can't possibly imagine how we miss Billy.
+How forlorn this room looks without all her
+pretty things!" She glanced about the room.
+"Perf'ly awful, isn't it?" she said.</p>
+
+<p>Poor Peggy flushed scarlet. Bertha Haughton
+flashed her a glance of indignant sympathy.</p>
+
+<p>"Billy had the room simply ridiculous!"
+she said, hastily. "Almost as bad as your
+toyshop, Vanity. I can't abide a frippy
+room!"</p>
+
+<p>Viola Vincent opened her blue eyes wide.
+"What ruffled you up, Fluffy?" she said.
+"I didn't say anything about the Nest."
+Then, happening to glance at Peggy, she
+realised what she had said, and blushed a
+little herself.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm sure I didn't mean anything!" she
+cried, with a little giggle. "Of course when<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[26]</a></span>
+Miss Montfort gets all her things out and
+arranged, it will be quite charming, I'm sure
+it will."</p>
+
+<p>"I haven't any more things!" said honest
+Peggy. She managed to keep her voice
+steady, but the tears would come into her
+eyes, and she raged at herself.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, you'll accumulate them!" said good-natured
+Viola, who liked to have people comfortable,
+if it did not take too much trouble.
+"Won't she, V.? We had hardly anything
+when we came, had we, V.? Barns, my dear,
+were nothing to us, were they, V.?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, of course not!" assented Miss Varnham;
+but her smile was so like a sneer, and
+her glance about the room so cold and contemptuous,
+that Peggy felt dislike hardening
+at her heart.</p>
+
+<p>"What is all that noise in the entry?"
+exclaimed Bertha Haughton, anxious to
+change the conversation. "It sounds as if
+an elephant were coming to call."</p>
+
+<p>Viola Vincent fluttered to the door, patting
+her waist affectionately as she went.</p>
+
+<p>"My <i>dear!</i>" she cried, in high-pitched<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[27]</a></span>
+staccato tones. "It's a box, an express box.
+Oh, it's a perfect monster, a mammoth! Vi,
+this must be your dresses. Hurrah! we'll
+have a grand trying on."</p>
+
+<p>Vivia Varnham looked out. A burly expressman
+was staggering forward with an
+enormous box, almost as big as a packing-case.</p>
+
+<p>"Take it in there!" she said, imperiously,
+motioning across the corridor. "Put it down
+carefully, mind! Miss Varnham, is it?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, miss," said the man, respectfully.
+"Miss Montfort!"</p>
+
+<p>"Me!" cried Peggy, starting to her feet.
+"Oh, there must be some mistake. I wasn't&mdash;there's
+nothing coming for me."</p>
+
+<p>"It must be for you!" said Bertha Haughton.
+"There is no other Miss Montfort in the
+school. Look at the address, and you may
+know the handwriting!"</p>
+
+<p>Peggy looked. In a clear, bold hand was
+written:</p>
+
+<div class='center'>
+Miss Peggy Montfort,<br />
+At Miss Russell's School,<br />
+Pentland.<br />
+Glass, with care.  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; All charges paid.<br /></div>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[28]</a></span>"Oh!" she cried, clasping her hands. "It
+<i>is</i> for me! It's from Uncle John! Oh, what
+do you suppose&mdash;what can it be?"</p>
+
+<p>"Bring it in here, please," said Bertha
+Haughton, quietly, to the man, who still
+stood balancing the box. "There! set it
+against the wall; thank you! Now," as the
+man departed, "we need a screw-driver. Have
+you one, Viola?"</p>
+
+<p>"My <i>dear!</i> I had one, but the Goat broke
+it, using it for a step, you know, to get up to
+the next story. I use a can-opener now, but
+that will only do for small boxes. I don't
+have&mdash;well, State Houses, coming every
+day," she added, with a good-natured laugh,
+glancing at the great box.</p>
+
+<p>Bertha Haughton ran to fetch a screw-driver
+from her room, and the other two
+girls moved toward the door. Vivia Varnham
+looked black. She had made sure the
+box was for her, and felt aggrieved at the
+stupid freshman who appropriated it. Viola
+Vincent, on the other hand, was delighted.
+"I'm awfully glad!" she said. "It's simply
+dandy, having a box come. Ta, ta! I hope<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[29]</a></span>
+it will be something perf'ly splendid, dresses
+and hats and all kinds of giddiness. I love
+giddiness! When you want to be giddy, you
+must come to us; the Owls are too worthy.
+There's Fluffy back again with the screw-driver.
+Ta again! Awfully glad!"</p>
+
+<p>Peggy was half inclined to ask Viola to
+stay, but still it was rather a relief when the
+opposite door closed. Whatever the box contained,
+she could not have enjoyed it with
+those sharp, cold eyes of Viola Varnham
+looking on.</p>
+
+<p>"Here is the screw-driver!" cried Bertha,
+out of breath with her flight along the corridor.
+"It's very strong, you need not be
+afraid of pressing on it. Can I do anything
+more to help you? If not, I must go. I hope
+it is something very nice indeed!"</p>
+
+<p>"Go! you!" cried Peggy. "Oh, must
+you? Can't you stay and help me see what
+it is? It isn't any fun opening boxes alone,"
+she added, piteously.</p>
+
+<p>The girl does not live who would not rather
+unpack a box than eat her dinner. "If you
+are sure you want me," said Bertha. "I<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[30]</a></span>
+didn't want to be in the way, that was
+all."</p>
+
+<p>"In the way! Oh, Miss Haughton! Why,
+you are the only friend I have here in this
+lonesome place."</p>
+
+<p>"If I am going to be your friend, I am not
+going to be Miss Haughton another minute.
+Do you really want me to stay, Peggy?"</p>
+
+<p>"I do, Bertha, indeed I do."</p>
+
+<p>"Honour bright?"</p>
+
+<p>"Honour brightest!"</p>
+
+<p>"Hurrah, then! And now for the box!"</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[31]</a></span></p>
+<h2>CHAPTER II.</h2>
+
+<h3>THE BOX FROM FERNLEY.</h3>
+
+
+<p>The box was no ordinary rough affair,
+knocked together for simple purposes of transportation.
+It was neatly and carefully made,
+the edges fitting closely together, the lid
+furnished with hinges.</p>
+
+<p>"We must take care how we open this!"
+said Bertha. "It would be a shame to spoil
+such a fine box."</p>
+
+<p>Peggy was used to tools of every description,
+and she drew out the screws deftly, then
+lifted the lid. Both girls bent eagerly forward.
+Nothing was visible but white paper,
+neatly fitted to the top of the box. Yes! on
+the paper lay a card, on which was written,
+"For Peggy's housekeeping. From Uncle
+John and Margaret, with best love."</p>
+
+<p>The handwriting was Margaret's, and Peggy<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[32]</a></span>
+seized and kissed it before going further. "It
+is Margaret!" she said. "Dear, darling
+Margaret, the best friend I have in the world.
+Oh, how dear and kind and lovely of them
+both! What <i>do</i> you suppose they have sent
+me?"</p>
+
+<p>"Suppose we see!" said Bertha Haughton.
+Yet both girls lingered a moment, tasting the
+joy of suspense.</p>
+
+<p>It was not a joy to be long indulged, however.
+Together they lifted the paper, and
+lo! more paper, but this time enveloping various
+mysterious packages neatly tied with pink
+tape.</p>
+
+<p>"Margaret's tape!" cried Peggy. "Uncle
+John gave her a great big spool of it, because
+she said she had never seen enough in her
+life. Oh, what a fat bundle! You shall
+open it, Bertha, because you have been so
+good to me."</p>
+
+<p>"Open your bundle!" cried Bertha. "Indeed
+I will not! I never heard of such a
+thing. Be quick, though, for I do want to
+see."</p>
+
+<p>The big square parcel revealed an afghan,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[33]</a></span>
+knitted in long stripes of red and blue, the
+colours rich and warm, and harmonising
+pleasantly.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, what a beauty!" cried Bertha, while
+Peggy gazed in silent delight. "My dear, it
+warms the whole room! and the length of it,
+and the breadth! why, it will go on double.
+I never saw such a splendid one."</p>
+
+<p>Indeed, the great afghan had been Margaret's
+"pick-up work" ever since she first
+heard that Peggy was going to school, and
+loving thoughts were knitted into every stripe.</p>
+
+<p>"What next?" said Bertha. "My dear,
+sofa-pillows!"</p>
+
+<p>So they were, four of them, each prettier
+than the other.</p>
+
+<p>"But what shall I do with them?" said
+Peggy, with a comical glance around the room.
+"There's no sign of a sofa. Never mind!
+they are perfect beauties. Oh, and what can
+this be? Oh, Bertha, see, it is a bookcase!"</p>
+
+<p>The six pieces of polished wood were quickly
+fitted together, and there was indeed a bookcase,
+not very large, but still ample to contain
+all the books Peggy would be likely to need.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[34]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Where are your books?" asked Bertha,
+innocently; and Peggy hung her head.</p>
+
+<p>"My Bible is in my drawer," she said.
+"I&mdash;I didn't bring any other books. I'm
+a dreadful dunce," she added, timidly. "I
+might as well tell you now, for you'd find it
+out anyhow, the very first time you talked
+about books. I don't&mdash;care&mdash;about them,
+much."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh!" and Bertha looked a little blank,
+being a bookworm herself. "But there must
+be some books you are fond of, Peggy?"</p>
+
+<p>Peggy shook her head despondently. "I
+don't believe there are," she said. "Oh, of
+course I like 'Treasure Island,' and 'Robin
+Hood,' and that kind of thing. But history,
+and the Waverley Novels&mdash;why, Margaret
+would like to read the Waverley Novels all
+day; and they put me to sleep in five
+minutes."</p>
+
+<p>She looked anxiously at her new friend, to
+see the effect of this dreadful confession; but
+Bertha only laughed. "Well, I love the
+Waverleys very much myself," she said;
+"but I know everybody doesn't care for<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[35]</a></span>
+them. But when you want to read, Peggy,
+what do you do?"</p>
+
+<p>"But I don't want to read," said Peggy,
+humbly. "It&mdash;it seems such a waste of
+time; except Coues, of course, and he wouldn't
+go in my trunk, and Pa is going to send him
+by express."</p>
+
+<p>"What do you mean?" asked Bertha, puzzled
+in her turn. "Cows!"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, the book, you know! Oh, I couldn't
+live without that."</p>
+
+<p>"Do you mean a herd-book? Of course,
+you said you lived on a farm. You mean that
+you study pedigrees and that kind of thing?"</p>
+
+<p>Now it was Peggy's turn to laugh, as she
+explained that she meant Prof. J. Elliott
+Coues's admirable book on birds.</p>
+
+<p>"Pa has Samuels," she added, "but I
+couldn't bring that, because it is out of print,
+and too valuable. Besides, he isn't so thorough
+as Coues, don't you know, especially in anatomy
+and that part. Is there a good class in
+anatomy here? Of course I shall want to
+join that."</p>
+<div class="figleft" style="width: 267px;">
+<img src="images/gs02.png" width="267" height="400" alt="&quot;&#39;BERTHA, LOOK AT THIS, WILL YOU?&#39;&quot;" title="&quot;&#39;BERTHA, LOOK AT THIS, WILL YOU?&#39;&quot;" />
+<span class="caption">&quot;&#39;BERTHA, LOOK AT THIS, WILL YOU?&#39;&quot;</span>
+</div>
+<p>"Oh, dear!" cried Bertha, in comical dismay,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[36]</a></span>
+"I don't know! Peggy Montfort, you
+are not a dunce at all; you are just shamming.
+The idea of any one <i>wanting</i> to study
+anatomy!"</p>
+
+<p>"The idea of wanting to study anything
+else," cried Peggy, "except physics and
+geometry. It's this horrible literature and
+stuff that I cannot bear. But we can't stop
+and talk, with the box only half unpacked.
+Oh, pictures! Now I do like pictures, when
+they are the right kind. Bertha, look at this,
+will you?"</p>
+
+<p>With difficulty she lifted out a large picture
+which filled the box from end to end.
+Both girls uttered a cry of delight. It was
+the "Automedon" of Henri Regnault. The
+great horses rearing and plunging, the heroic
+figure of the charioteer, seemed to take Peggy's
+breath. "It&mdash;it's the kind of thing you
+dream about, isn't it?" she said. "They are
+alive; I believe they'll break through the
+glass in another minute. Oh, there can't be
+anything else as splendid as this!"</p>
+
+
+
+<p>But when she drew out next a fine photograph
+of "The Night Watch," she hardly<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[37]</a></span>
+knew what to say. The gleaming eyes of the
+lions, prowling among the ruined columns,
+fascinated her almost as much as the wild
+horses had done. She had less to say to the
+beautiful photograph of the Sistine Madonna,
+which came next; yet she looked at it with
+eyes of wistful affection. It was Margaret's
+favourite picture, and she loved it on that account
+as well as its own. Yet her taste was
+for "critters," as she freely acknowledged;
+and she glowed again as Bertha held up an
+engraving of "Sheridan's Ride," with the
+great captain riding straight out of the picture
+at her.</p>
+
+<p>"That's the kind of thing she wants!"
+Mr. Montfort had said, when he and his niece
+Margaret were having their delightful "Peggy-lark,"
+as he called it. "The Sistine by all
+means, Meg; but no more old masters for our
+Peggy. She won't understand them, and she
+won't like them. What was it she said about
+your pet St. Anthony?"</p>
+
+<p>"She said he looked as if he had gone out
+for clams and fallen into the mud!" said Margaret,
+rather ruefully. "I suppose you are<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[38]</a></span>
+right, Uncle John; but, oh, do look at this
+lovely Murillo angel! How could she help
+loving this?"</p>
+
+<p>"The anatomy of it would distress her,"
+said Mr. Montfort, dryly. "You know Peggy
+is strong on anatomy. Better take the 'Automedon.'"</p>
+
+<p>"Which you said was out of drawing!"
+cried Margaret, with a flash of mischief. "Oh,
+if you are going to put false ideas into her
+head, Uncle John&mdash;" on which she was very
+properly told to choose her pictures, and not
+be saucy.</p>
+
+<p>The last picture in the box had not been
+chosen in any picture-shop; and at sight of it
+Peggy sat down on the bed and began to cry.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, dear!" she said. "What shall I do?
+Oh, Margaret, Margaret, what shall I do?"</p>
+
+<p>Kind-hearted Bertha was distressed. "Don't
+cry, dear!" she said. "I know! I know
+just how it feels. Is it your father and
+sister?"</p>
+
+<p>"No! oh, no!" said Peggy, wiping her
+eyes. "Of course it's different with Pa and
+the girls, because I shall be going home every<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[39]</a></span>
+vacation, you know. But I never was so
+happy in all my life as I was there; and
+seeing it&mdash;it is Fernley, and Uncle John
+and Margaret."</p>
+
+<p>The large photograph showed a stately
+house shadowed by lofty trees. Standing on
+the stone verandah were two figures, one, that
+of a tall man in a black velvet coat, with
+bright dark eyes; the other a slender girl
+with a sweet, thoughtful face. Both seemed
+to be looking straight at Peggy, and she felt
+Uncle John's kind look and Margaret's tender
+smile like warmth at her heart.</p>
+
+<p>"I&mdash;I'm only crying because&mdash;I'm&mdash;glad!"
+she said. And Bertha seemed to
+understand that, too.</p>
+
+<p>But the wonderful box was not yet empty;
+it really seemed like the famous bag of the
+Fairy Blackstick. Out came a gay Oriental
+cloth, which made another thing of the chilly
+little polished table; item, a bureau-cover
+embroidered with gold-coloured chrysanthemums;
+item, a wonderful work-basket, fitted
+with everything that a needlewoman's heart
+could desire; item, a spirit-lamp and a hot-water<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[40]</a></span>
+bottle, and a neat little tool-chest.
+Peggy sighed over the work-basket, and resolved
+to do her very best, but at sight of the
+tool-chest her eyes sparkled, and she seized
+upon it with delight, and caressed each shining
+implement as if it were a living and beloved
+creature.</p>
+
+<p>"Did you ever see such a little duck of a
+saw?" she cried. "Oh, I must go to work
+and make something this very day. Only,
+these two dears have sent me everything that
+I could ever possibly need. What is that,
+Bertha? There can't be anything more!"</p>
+
+<p>There could, though, and was. The bottom
+of the box was fitted with a cushion or mattress
+of chintz, chrysanthemums again, on a
+pale green ground; and the last parcel of
+all contained several yards of the same material.</p>
+
+<p>"What do you suppose&mdash; Oh, I see!"
+cried Peggy. "The box,&mdash;we wondered why
+it was such a good box, don't you know? It
+is to be a kind of sofa, or window-seat, or
+something; and this is the cushion, and the
+rest is for a flounce and curtains. Oh, dear,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[41]</a></span>
+did you ever hear of anything so perfectly
+lovely? Dear Uncle John, dear Margaret!"
+and she wept again, and, in default of Margaret,
+hugged the biggest sofa-pillow, a wonderful
+affair of soft yellow silk, with ruffles
+and puffles.</p>
+
+<p>"Come," said Bertha, "this will never do,
+Peggy! We must get these all arranged
+before tea, mustn't we? The gong will sound
+in a few minutes."</p>
+
+<p>Peggy dried her tears, and the two girls
+went to work with right good will. In ten
+minutes the dreary room was as cheerful and
+homelike a place as heart could desire. The
+pictures were hung (I forgot to mention that
+the fairy box contained picture-hooks and
+wire, hidden away in a corner), the cushions
+fitted, the chintz tacked in a neat flounce
+around the box, which straightway became a
+divan, and looked positively Oriental with the
+pillows heaped with careful carelessness on it.</p>
+
+<p>Peggy stood and surveyed the whole effect
+with shining eyes. "When the curtains are
+up&mdash;" she said, and looked inquiringly at
+Bertha.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[42]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"When the curtains are up," said Bertha,
+"it will be one of the pleasantest rooms in
+the whole school."</p>
+
+<p>And then the gong sounded, and they went
+down to tea.</p>
+
+<p>A throng of girls was pouring into the
+great dining-room. Few of them noticed the
+newcomer, being taken up with their own
+concerns, laughing and chatting, hurrying to
+their places; yet Peggy felt as if all eyes
+were upon her. She clung close to Bertha
+Haughton's arm; but now that friendly arm
+was drawn away.</p>
+
+<p>"I must leave you here, Peggy," said
+Bertha.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, don't leave me! Oh, can't I sit by
+you?" asked poor Peggy, in an agonised
+whisper.</p>
+
+<p>"No, dear, I have to go over there, quite
+to the other side of the room. See, Miss
+Russell is beckoning to you. You are to sit
+at her table, with the other freshmen. Cheer
+up, Peggy, it'll be all right after the first
+minute."</p>
+
+<p>Bertha nodded kindly, and took her way<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[43]</a></span>
+across the hall, while Peggy stumbled along,
+tripping over several dresses (she always
+stumbled when she was embarrassed), to the
+table where the Principal sat. There were
+six tables, twelve girls to each table, with a
+teacher at the head. Miss Russell greeted
+Peggy pleasantly, and it occurred to our
+friend for the first time that the Principal
+was not a Gorgon, but a human being, with
+a grave face, it is true, but with kind and
+friendly eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"I trust you have been resting after your
+journey, Miss Montfort! Yes? That is
+good. Coming so late yesterday you did not
+meet your classmates, who had already gone
+to their rooms. Miss Parkins, Miss Barclay,
+Miss Manton,&mdash;this is Miss Peggy Montfort.
+I hope you will introduce her to the other
+young ladies after tea."</p>
+
+<p>The three girls nearest Peggy bowed, all
+more or less shyly; it was comforting to feel
+that there were others who felt as strange as
+she did. In fact, Miss Parkins, who sat on
+her left, was so manifestly and miserably
+frightened that Peggy felt herself a lion by<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[44]</a></span>
+comparison, and, by way of improving acquaintance,
+asked her boldly for the salt.</p>
+
+<p>Miss Parkins gasped, shivered, clutched
+the pepper-pot, and dropped it into her own
+plate. The other freshmen giggled nervously,
+but Peggy glowed with compassion and
+sympathy.</p>
+
+<p>"Never mind!" she whispered. "That's
+just the kind of thing I am doing all the
+time. There is the salt; why, I can reach
+it myself, and nobody ever wants pepper,
+anyhow. There, that's all right!"</p>
+
+<p>The girl lifted a pair of eyes so red with
+crying, so humble and grateful and altogether
+piteous, that Peggy's own eyes almost overflowed.
+She put her hand under the table,
+found a little limp, cold paw, and gave it
+a hearty squeeze. "Cheer up!" she said.
+"It'll be better pretty soon, I&mdash;I guess.
+I am&mdash;homesick&mdash;too!"</p>
+
+<p>Then, finding a sob rising in her throat, she
+hastily filled her mouth with buttered toast,
+choked, and caught herself with a wild sound,
+half cough, half snort, that brought the eyes
+of the whole table upon her. The strange<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[45]</a></span>
+thing was, Peggy did not seem to care this
+time. They were only freshmen like herself.
+Any one of them might have choked just as
+well as she, and she was bigger than any of
+them. If those other girls had seen, now!
+not Bertha, but the other two! She glanced
+over to the opposite table, where the two V's
+sat facing her; but they were chattering
+away, with no thought of freshmen or their
+doings. Viola Vincent looked very pretty in
+a pale blue blouse and white piqu&eacute; skirt; she
+was evidently in high spirits, and was patting
+her hair and her waist with perfect satisfaction.</p>
+
+<p>"Perf'ly <i>fine!</i>" came to Peggy's ears, in
+her clear piping voice. "My <i>dear</i>, it will be
+simply <i>dandy!</i>"</p>
+
+<p>Peggy glanced at the Principal, she hardly
+knew why, except that Margaret disliked
+slang; and she saw her brows contract with a
+momentary look of vexation. "It does sound
+rather horrid!" she thought. "I wonder if I
+shall have to give up saying 'awfully!' That
+would be perfectly awful. Besides, it sounds
+awfully affected to talk like a book all the
+time."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[46]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Thus meditating, Peggy let her napkin slip
+down to the floor. Her neighbour saw it, and
+both stooped at the same time to pick it up.
+Their heads came together with a violent
+crack. "Ow!" cried Peggy, and rubbed her
+flaxen poll vigorously. Miss Parkins was too
+frightened to know whether she was hurt or
+not. "Never mind!" said Peggy. "It was
+my fault just as much as yours. Did you get
+an awful crack? Oh! I mean, did you hurt
+yourself?"</p>
+
+<p>The poor girl murmured something, but it
+was more like a sob than a speech; and
+Peggy could only press the limp hand again,
+and resolve that when she knew the girl a
+little better she would try to put some spirit
+into her. Her own spirit was rising. She
+felt that ten pairs of eyes were watching her
+furtively; that her companions were taking
+notes, and that every spoonful she ate was
+counted and criticised; but still her courage
+was good, and she was even able to notice
+that the biscuits were light and the peach
+preserves delicious.</p>
+
+<p>I said ten pairs of eyes, for the eleventh<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[47]</a></span>
+had never been lifted above the level of the
+table-cloth, save for that one grateful glance
+over the spilt pepper. Certainly Miss Parkins
+was a queer-looking little person. Very
+small and slight, with a certain wizened look
+that did not belong to so young a face; a long,
+thin nose, and two small reddish-brown eyes
+that looked as if they had always been given
+to crying. The child&mdash;she did not look more
+than a child&mdash;had no beauty of any kind;
+yet a certain gentleness of look redeemed the
+poor little face from absolute ugliness. She
+was queerly dressed, too. Her gown was of
+good, even rich material, but in questionable
+taste, and cut in a fashion that might have
+suited her grandmother. Peggy's own ideas
+of dress were primitive, and she was not very
+observant, but she did feel that blue poplin
+stamped with large red roses was not a suitable
+dress for a schoolgirl, even if she were
+not small and plain and wizened, and even if
+it were not cut in a bygone fashion.</p>
+
+<p>Peggy saw, or fancied she saw, glances of
+amused contempt thrown at her poor little
+neighbour.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[48]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"All the more reason," she thought, "why
+I should make friends with her."</p>
+
+<p>"Do you&mdash;did you come yesterday, or the
+day before?" she asked, as cheerfully as she
+could.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh! yes, I think so!" was the reply, in a
+gasping whisper. This was not very encouraging,
+but Peggy proceeded.</p>
+
+<p>"Did you have far to come? I came all the
+way from Ohio."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh! no, I don't think so!"</p>
+
+<p>"It took me all day to get here. It's
+horrid travelling alone, don't you think so?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh! I&mdash;don't know! I never travelled."</p>
+
+<p>On the whole, the girl seemed so distressed
+that Peggy felt it would be a cruel kindness
+to pursue the conversation. "I needn't talk
+to the others," she said to herself. "They
+came before I did; they can talk to me if
+they want to."</p>
+
+<p>But now supper was over, and the girls
+rose with a whirr, like a flock of pigeons, and
+fluttered out of the dining-room. Peggy
+looked longingly after Bertha Haughton;
+indeed, Bertha seemed to be lingering, looking<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[49]</a></span>
+for her; but at that moment two or three
+girls swooped down upon the junior, and
+began a hubbub of questions. Peggy felt all
+her shyness rushing back in a flood. Turning
+to flee, she almost fell over little Miss Parkins,
+who was hastening on her way, too. "Come!"
+said Peggy. "We are both strange cats;
+suppose we stay together! What happens
+now, do you know? This is my first evening
+here. It's awfully queer, isn't it?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh!" gasped Miss Parkins. "They&mdash;she&mdash;read
+something last night. Don't you
+think I might go to my room? I want to go
+to my room! Don't you think I might?"</p>
+
+<p>"Of course you may!" said Peggy, on fire
+with sympathy. "It's a pity if you've got
+to hear reading when you don't want to.
+Cut along, young 'un!"</p>
+
+<p>Her brother's familiar phrase rose naturally
+to her lips; it was unfortunate that at
+that moment one of the teachers happened
+to pass by. She was a long, sallow woman,
+with greenish eyes set too near together, and
+the gaze she fixed upon Peggy was appalling
+in its severity.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[50]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Young ladies are required to attend the
+reading!" she said. "Your expression is an
+improper one, Miss Montfort!" and pinching
+her lips together she passed on.</p>
+
+<p>"My goodness gracious me!" whispered
+Peggy. "Who is that?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh! hush! oh, don't!" whispered Lobelia
+Parkins, miserably. "She's going to read
+to-night, because the Principal has a cold;
+I heard them saying so. That is Miss
+Pugsley!"</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[51]</a></span></p>
+<h2>CHAPTER III.</h2>
+
+<h3>IN THE "GYM."</h3>
+
+
+<p>Peggy's pillow was quite damp when she
+went to sleep that night. To be sure she had
+been cheered by a friendly call from Bertha
+Haughton, but even that could not keep the
+homesickness from triumphing, when she was
+left alone, and the sounds in the corridor died
+away, and the light was out. Home seemed
+so far, so endlessly far away; she felt so
+utterly alone in the world! Education seemed
+a foolish and meaningless thing beside the
+love and comfort of home. What would she
+not give to be able to put out her hand and
+feel her sister Jean beside her, warm and loving,
+her own flesh and blood!</p>
+
+<p>So the pillow was damp, as I have said;
+but Peggy was young and healthy, and she
+fell asleep after awhile, and when she woke<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[52]</a></span>
+again the sun was up and the pillow was
+dry. Now she did put out her hand for Jean,
+forgetting where she was; and finding nothing
+but a cold wall, lay looking around her,
+coming back to the present. The room
+looked very strange at first. "Maybe I'm
+not awake!" said Peggy, wisely; then she
+pinched herself, and with the pinch the whole
+thing came back.</p>
+
+<p>"Why, of course!" she said. "Oh, dear!
+well, here I am; and I wanted to come, and
+I've been thinking about it for months, and
+then it goes and is like this!" She sighed, and
+wondered what they were doing at home, and
+at Fernley; then she became interested in her
+pretty room, and her heart overflowed once
+more with love to her dear ones at Fernley,
+who had made it so bright and charming for
+her. "I know what Margaret would say!"
+exclaimed Peggy, raising her head from the
+pillow. "She would say, 'Now you are there,
+my dear, try to make the best of it;' and so
+I will! You hear me!" These last words
+were spoken aloud with some severity, and
+appeared to be addressed to the brush and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[53]</a></span>
+comb, which took no notice whatever. And
+then Peggy made the best of that moment,
+and got up.</p>
+
+<p>Breakfast was another ordeal, but not so
+bad as the tea of the night before; after
+breakfast came prayers, and then the class-room.
+Peggy found herself seated at a desk,
+beside one of her classmates, Rose Barclay,
+a pretty brunette, with rosy cheeks and bright
+dark eyes. In the brief pause before study-time,
+the two girls made acquaintance, and
+Peggy learned that theirs was the largest
+freshman class the school had ever had. All
+the others were in the west wing, where the
+freshmen belonged.</p>
+
+<p>"You came late," said Rose Barclay, "and
+that's why you are over among the Jews and
+Seas. That's what they call the juniors and
+seniors; I've learned so much already!" she
+said, laughing. "They seem to have nicknames
+for everything and everybody in this place."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes!" said Peggy. "Even the rooms
+are named!" and she told of Vanity Fair and
+the Owls' Nest.</p>
+
+<p>"Corridor A?" asked Rose Barclay. "Oh,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[54]</a></span>
+they must be Jews. That is Judea, I am
+pretty sure; and the Senior Corridor is the
+Mediterranean. It's awfully silly, isn't it?
+and yet it's funny, too. I suppose we shall
+get into the swing of it after awhile. You
+homesick?"</p>
+
+<p>Peggy nodded.</p>
+
+<p>"So'm I! Cry last night?"</p>
+
+<p>Peggy nodded again.</p>
+
+<p>"So did I! but not so much as the girl
+next door to me. My! she must have cried
+about all night, I should think. I woke up
+two or three times, and she was crying every
+time, and I heard her sniffing in her bath
+this morning."</p>
+
+<p>"Why didn't you go in and try to cheer
+her up?" demanded Peggy, rather fiercely.</p>
+
+<p>Rose Barclay stared. "Oh, I couldn't
+do that! why, I've never spoken to her; it
+was that queer little piece that sat next to
+you. Besides, she looks as if she'd die if
+any one spoke to her."</p>
+
+<p>The school was called to order, and Peggy
+soon forgot homesickness and everything else
+in the keen joy of mathematics.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[55]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>She had chosen the scientific course&mdash;there
+were three courses in the school&mdash;in
+order to get as much of practical and as little
+of literary knowledge as might be. Geometry
+was her delight, and it was geometry over
+which she was bending now.</p>
+
+<p>Most of the teachers at Pentland School
+expected little of the new pupil from Ohio.
+The written examinations that Peggy had
+passed had caused many a head-shaking. The
+history teacher sighed; the gentle mistress
+of English literature groaned, and said, "Why
+must this child come here?" Only Miss
+Boyle, the mistress of mathematics, had
+nodded her head over the papers. "Here's
+a girl who knows what she is about!" she
+said. Accordingly, when Peggy entered class
+this morning, she was surprised at the cordial
+greeting she received from the bright-eyed
+lady at the central desk; and an indefinable
+sense of being at home and among
+friends stole gradually over her, as she
+wrestled with one delightful problem after
+another.</p>
+
+<p>Rose Barclay, at her side, was biting her<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[56]</a></span>
+pencil and twisting her pretty forehead into
+hard knots, and making little progress; but
+Peggy had forgotten her existence. The
+period passed like a moment, as theorem after
+theorem was disposed of.</p>
+
+<p>"Let EDF and BAC be two triangles, having
+the angle E equal to the angle B, the
+angle F to the angle C, and the included side
+EF to the included side BC; then will the
+triangle EDF be equal to the triangle BAC?"</p>
+
+<p>"Of course it will!" Peggy drew triangles
+in swift and accurate demonstration. "Put
+the side EF on its equal BC, and let the
+point E fall on B, and the point F on C.
+Then, you see, of course&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't see how any one is ever to do this!"
+murmured her neighbour, in despair. "Why!
+why, you've done yours. Oh, just let me
+see, won't you? I never can work it out in
+the world, so do let me copy yours!"</p>
+
+<p>Peggy reddened to the tips of her ears.
+"Do you&mdash;can you&mdash;are we allowed to do
+that?" she stammered.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh! Just as you please!" said Rose
+Barclay, coldly. "I thought you might be<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[57]</a></span>
+willing to oblige me, that's all. It's of no
+consequence!"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh! But you don't understand!" whispered
+Peggy, eagerly; but Rose had turned
+away, and paid no heed to her; and Miss
+Boyle tapped with her pencil and said,
+"Young ladies! No whispering in class, if
+you please!"</p>
+
+<p>In a few minutes a bell rang, and all the
+girls sprang up in great relief; geometry was
+not generally popular, and now came the
+"gym" hour, dear to all. Peggy turned at
+once to her neighbour, sure that she would be
+able to explain everything to the satisfaction
+of both. To her amazement and distress she
+met a look so cold and hostile that it seemed
+to freeze the words on her lips.</p>
+
+<p>"Miss Barclay!" she said, imploringly.
+"You didn't understand me, indeed you
+didn't. I should be perfectly delighted to
+help you, of course I should, only I thought
+it might be against the rules. Of course, I
+might have known you would know what is
+allowed. I'm awfully sorry!"</p>
+
+<p>Rose Barclay hesitated; her face seemed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[58]</a></span>
+to soften for a moment; then it hardened
+again, and another change came over it which
+Peggy did not comprehend.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know what you mean!" she muttered.
+"Please excuse me, I am in a hurry."
+She was gone, and Peggy, turning in great
+distress, found Miss Boyle standing at her
+elbow. Had she heard? Peggy was sure
+she could not have heard, for there was no
+look of surprise or of anything peculiar in
+her pleasant face.</p>
+
+<p>"You like geometry, Miss Montfort?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, yes, I love geometry! Oh, please,
+are we allowed to help each other, Miss
+Boyle?"</p>
+
+<p>"Certainly not!" said Miss Boyle, quietly.
+"Not upon any account. You can see for
+yourself that there would be no use in a girl's
+taking geometry if she cannot do the work
+herself."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I see! I thought so, only&mdash;thank
+you very much. Do you&mdash;shall I go now?"</p>
+
+<p>She looked around, and was startled to see
+that all the other girls had disappeared, and
+she was alone with the teacher.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[59]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Miss Boyle smiled, and her smile was so
+friendly that it warmed poor Peggy's heart.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, you may go now," she said; "but
+I shall hope to see something of you, Miss
+Montfort. If you will come to my room
+some evening, I will show you some pretty
+problems that are not in the text-books."</p>
+
+<p>With this, the highest compliment she could
+pay a pupil, Miss Boyle went on her way; and
+Peggy, after wandering through two or three
+deserted class-rooms, and breaking in upon a
+senior committee-meeting of a highly private
+nature, and walking into a pantry, found
+herself at last in the gymnasium.</p>
+
+<p>This was a lofty and spacious room, fitted
+with every possible appliance for gymnastic
+exercises. Peggy's eyes brightened as she
+gazed about her, at the rope-ladders, the
+parallel bars, the rings and vaulting-horses
+and spring-boards. If this were not Paradise,
+Peggy did not know what was, that
+was all.</p>
+
+<p>Some of the girls were already arrayed in
+blouse and full trousers, and were taking
+their place in ranks, under the eye of an<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[60]</a></span>
+alert, graceful young woman in a pretty
+dark blue suit. Others were hurrying up
+from some apartment on a lower floor, and
+from the stairway came a hum of voices
+which showed that others were still making
+ready.</p>
+
+<p>Bertha Haughton, in crimson blouse and
+black trousers, hurried up to Peggy.</p>
+
+<p>"Here you are!" she cried. "I have been
+trying to find you. Where are your gym
+things? Haven't got any? Oh, how too
+bad!"</p>
+
+<p>"I didn't know!" said poor Peggy. "It
+didn't say in the programme, did it? Can't I
+do anything without them? Oh, dear."</p>
+
+<p>Her face, so bright a moment before,
+clouded so instantly with disappointment and
+mortification, that the experienced junior could
+hardly repress a smile.</p>
+
+<p>"My dear! my dear!" she cried. "Do
+wait till I tell you. You can wear the
+Snowy's things. She hasn't come back yet,
+and you can wear them just as well as not
+till she comes."</p>
+
+<p>"The Snowy?" repeated Peggy. She remembered<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[61]</a></span>
+vaguely that she had heard the
+name, but it meant nothing to her in her
+trouble.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, my chum, the Snowy Owl. I'm the
+Fluffy one, don't you remember? The Snowy
+is a bit taller than you, but that is no matter;
+you can wear them perfectly well, I tell you.
+Come along, and I'll get you into them."</p>
+
+<p>Peggy hung back, protesting faintly against
+appropriating the clothes of a person she had
+never seen; but finally she yielded to Bertha's
+vigorous pulls, and followed her down a winding
+stair, into a narrow room filled with a
+hubbub of girls in every stage of dressing
+and undressing. Viola Vincent fluttered up
+to her (it is difficult to flutter in a gymnasium
+suit, and only Viola's supremely butterfly
+quality enabled her to do it), a charming
+vision of pale blue, with a profusion of tiny
+brass buttons twinkling wherever a button
+could be put.</p>
+
+<p>"Here you are!" she cried, airily. "I
+haven't seen you for an age. I've been telling
+everybody about you, the V. V's vis-&agrave;-vis.
+It sounds so quaint, doesn't it? I adore quaintness.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[62]</a></span>
+How do you like my new suit, Fluffy?
+Isn't it too cute for anything? This is the
+first time I've worn it; I think it is too
+perfectly sweet to live in, don't you?"</p>
+
+<p>"I hope not!" said Bertha, laughing.
+"We should be sorry to have you pass
+away, Vanity, because your dress is too
+sweet."</p>
+
+<p>"No, but really!" continued Viola, earnestly.
+"Do I exaggerate, Fluffy? <i>Isn't</i> it
+the sweetest thing you ever saw? I ask because
+I want to know, you know!"</p>
+
+<p>Bertha's only reply was to pull her pink
+ear good-naturedly, and then dive head-foremost
+into a locker.</p>
+
+<p>"You find the Fluffy quaint?" said Viola
+to Peggy. "Yes? she is quaint, but delicious!
+So is the Snowy! I simply could not exist
+without them; they are the guiding stars of
+the corridor, don't you know? What are you
+about, Fluffy? What are you doing with the
+Snowy's togs? She has not come back, no!"
+clasping her hands in ecstasy. "<i>Don't</i> tell
+me the Snowy has come back, Fluff!"</p>
+
+<p>"I certainly won't!" said Bertha, coolly.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[63]</a></span>
+"She isn't coming back till day after to-morrow.
+Peggy Montfort is going to wear
+her things till her own are ready, that's all.
+Don't excite yourself too much, Vanity; it'll
+take the colour out of your hair."</p>
+
+<p>"No! <i>Do</i> you think so?" replied Viola;
+"really? ah! here's V., ready at last. What I
+have to endure, V., waiting while you prink,
+no tongue can tell. Ta, dears, come up
+soon!" and she fluttered away, arm in arm
+with her chum.</p>
+
+<p>"Is she always like that?" asked Peggy,
+bewildered.</p>
+
+<p>"Who? Vanity? Oh, yes! there's no possible
+harm in Vanity; she is really the best
+hearted creature in the world. The other,
+though,&mdash;well, you want to be a little on
+your guard with Vivia. Oh, we are the best
+friends in the world, of course; only, her
+temper is a little uncertain at times, and it's
+just as well to know about it. There! why,
+the trousers fit you to perfection!" The
+trousers, as wide as the Flying Dutchman's,
+certainly fell comfortably enough about Peggy's
+stout knees.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[64]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Now for the blouse! I'll put it over your
+head!"</p>
+
+<p>A silent but breathless struggle followed,
+from which Peggy emerged panting and crimson,
+but victorious. "Oh, I do hope she&mdash;your
+chum&mdash;won't mind!" she cried. "I
+am so afraid I shall get them dirty!" for it
+was a whim of the Snowy Owl's to wear a
+white gym suit, and it was as fresh as if it
+were just out of the tub, as indeed it was.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, that is no matter! She washes them
+every week; she likes to wash; it's one of her
+accomplishments. Come along now!"</p>
+
+<p>They ran up-stairs, and found the class just
+forming in ranks. A gesture bade them fall
+into line with the rest, and Peggy stood with
+her toes on a chalk mark, waiting the word
+of command.</p>
+
+<p>It came. "Left foot forward&mdash;fall out!"
+At the command every girl put out her left
+foot as far as she could, and flung her whole
+weight forward on it. Peggy did the same,
+and fell on her nose with a resounding crash.
+The class giggled, but were sharply checked
+by the teacher.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[65]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"We will try this once more. Try to balance
+the body carefully! Take time! Once
+more! Left foot forward&mdash;fall out!"</p>
+
+<p>Again the line dropped forward with one
+motion; and again our poor Peggy fell on her
+nose. This time the nose protested in its way,
+and bled; great crimson drops fell on the white
+plumage of the Snowy Owl. Almost crying
+with distress and mortification, Peggy felt for
+her handkerchief. Alas! she was not used to
+trousers, and no pocket could she find, though
+there was one, and her handkerchief was in
+it. What should she do? She was just
+about to make a bolt for the stairs, when a
+handkerchief was thrust into her hand. She
+clapped it to her suffering nose, and looked
+gratefully at her left-hand neighbour in the
+ranks. The girl nodded slightly, and said,
+"All serene! better ask leave to retire. Hold
+arms over head, stop it!" She was a slender
+girl, with a pensive face and melancholy blue
+eyes. Her hair was plainly parted, Madonna-fashion,
+and there was something remote and
+old-world about her whole look and air.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, thank you!" murmured poor Peggy.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[66]</a></span>
+"You're awfully kind!" She hoped the tiresome
+bleeding would stop on the instant, but
+it did not; she was obliged to ask leave to go
+down-stairs; and receiving it, dashed down
+headlong, and cannoned violently against
+Vivia Varnham, who had gone down for
+something she had forgotten.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I beg your pardon!" gasped Peggy.
+"I'm&mdash;awfully clumsy&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"I think you are!" said the other, with
+a flash of her hazel eyes. "Perhaps you'll let
+me pass now, please, before you make another
+exhibition of yourself." She went on, with
+a scornful toss of her head.</p>
+
+<p>Poor Peggy! her tears flowed fast over the
+friendly handkerchief. "I wish I was dead!"
+she sobbed. "I wish I had never come to
+this horrid, odious place, where everybody is
+so hateful. And I can't hold up my arms
+when I have to hold this to my nose all the
+time."</p>
+
+<p>"Quite so!" said a quiet voice behind her.
+The sad-looking girl took her hands and held
+them straight up in one of her own, the other
+keeping the handkerchief in position. No<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[67]</a></span>
+word was spoken, but in five minutes the
+bleeding was stopped.</p>
+
+<p>"Basin&mdash;water!" said the stranger. "Don't
+mention it!" as Peggy tried to falter her
+thanks. And she was gone.</p>
+
+<p>Peggy waited till she felt sure of herself
+and her nose. Then she spoke severely to
+herself, and asked what Uncle John would
+say to such behaviour. "<i>Everybody</i> isn't
+hateful!" she said. "And anyhow, there are
+some things there that I can do, if I haven't
+learned this trick. I won't give up till I've
+gone up that rope."</p>
+
+<p>Her eye had been caught by a stout rope
+dangling from the ceiling. This was in her
+own line, and she felt that if she could redeem
+herself in her own eyes, she should not care
+so much about all those other laughing eyes.
+And yet, perhaps she thought more about
+those eyes than she was aware of, for our
+Peggy was very human.</p>
+
+<p>This time fortune favoured her. As she
+emerged from the lower regions, a girl was
+just trying to climb the rope; in fact, there
+were three ropes hanging side by side, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[68]</a></span>
+the climbing of them was part of the regular
+exercise. She sought Bertha, who was most
+sympathetic, not having been near enough to
+help Peggy.</p>
+
+<p>"Climb the rope? Oh, you'd better not
+try that, Peggy! it takes a lot of practice.
+Why, I've been here two years, and I can't
+get to the top yet. Really, it's very hard.
+Let's come and swing on the ring, if you are
+quite sure about your poor nose."</p>
+
+<p>But Peggy did not want to swing on the
+rings, nor to do anything else that Bertha
+proposed; she wanted to climb that rope, and
+she meant to do it; the prairie blood was roused.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I'll ask Miss Brent," said good-natured
+Bertha, finding her determined. "You
+say you have had some experience in climbing?
+Perhaps she'll let you go a little way up."</p>
+
+<p>Miss Brent, interrogated, came and looked
+Peggy over carefully; felt her muscles, asked
+her a few questions, and then said, "You may
+have the next turn, Miss Montfort."</p>
+
+<div class="figright" style="width: 265px;">
+<img src="images/gs03.png" width="265" height="400" alt="&quot;UP THEY WENT, HAND OVER HAND.&quot;" title="&quot;UP THEY WENT, HAND OVER HAND.&quot;" />
+<span class="caption">&quot;UP THEY WENT, HAND OVER HAND.&quot;</span>
+</div>
+
+<p>The girl on the rope next her was having
+a sad time of it. She swung this way and
+that; her legs waved wildly in the air; and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[69]</a></span>
+at length she came down "all abroad," having
+only ascended a few feet. At the same
+moment, the girl on the next rope dropped,
+so that two were left unoccupied. Peggy
+advanced and laid her hand upon one rope,
+just as Vivia Varnham took possession of the
+other. On the third, the pensive girl with
+the Madonna braids was swinging easily, half-way
+up to the ceiling; she twisted her feet
+around the rope, and, so resting, observed the
+progress of the other two.</p>
+
+<p>Up they went, hand over hand. Vivia
+Varnham gave a glance of disdain when she
+saw who her rival was. She was light and
+agile, and did not for an instant think that
+this heavy, clumsy creature could make any
+headway against her. She went up lightly and
+easily, but somehow the heavy, clumsy creature
+managed to keep abreast of her; was even
+gaining upon her, drawing up, up, above her
+head. Vivia put on a spurt, and passed
+Peggy, climbing very swiftly&mdash;for a moment;
+then the ache in her wrists compelled her to
+slacken her rate of speed, and the thickset
+figure came up, up, steadily and surely. Truth<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[70]</a></span>
+to tell, though Peggy Montfort was awkward,
+she was as strong as a steer. Her weight
+was not fat, but sheer bone and brawn; and
+her one hundred and forty pounds were easy
+enough for her to carry, even up a rope thirty
+feet long. But Vivia Varnham, with all her
+lightness and quickness, had little strength in
+her wrists. They ached painfully, but she
+would not give up. Her face flushed, her
+breath came in distressful gasps, she struggled
+on and up. They were more than half-way
+up; they had passed the quiet observer,
+swinging comfortably with her feet twisted in
+her rope. "Better go down, V.!" said the girl
+with the sad eyes. "She's too many for you!"</p>
+
+<p>Vivia shook her head with an angry gesture.
+Her eyes swam, the pain in her wrists
+was unendurable; but she set her teeth, and
+struggled on, till from below came the voice
+of Miss Brent, calm and authoritative.</p>
+
+<p>"Come down, Miss Varnham! You have
+gone far enough."</p>
+
+<p>Most unwillingly, with sullen face and fluttering
+breath, Vivia slid to the floor. She
+expected, everybody expected, to hear the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[71]</a></span>
+order repeated for the benefit of the newcomer,
+the audacious freshman who had ventured
+upon junior ground; for the rope-climbing
+was not generally attempted till the
+third year. But Miss Brent kept her eyes on
+Peggy, and smiled, and made no sign.</p>
+
+<p>Peggy was enjoying herself immensely.
+She was not a swift climber, but there was no
+tiring her, and this, as she said to herself,
+was "great!" She wished Margaret could
+see her! No! It would frighten dear Margaret.
+Rita, then! Rita loved feats of skill;
+probably she could climb far better than she,
+Peggy, could; Rita was so light, so graceful,
+so fearless.</p>
+
+<p>A shout rang from below. Something
+passed her on the next rope, light and swift
+as a bird in flight. She could almost touch
+the ceiling now; she looked up; there, at the
+very top of the next rope, was her friend of
+the dressing-room, gazing at her with melancholy
+blue eyes, and holding out a slender
+hand.</p>
+
+<p>"Shake!" said the girl with the Madonna
+braids.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[72]</a></span></p>
+<h2>CHAPTER IV.</h2>
+
+<h3>ENTER THE SCAPEGOAT.</h3>
+
+
+<p>Peggy was sitting alone in her room that
+evening, studying, when there rose a hubbub
+outside her window; wheels, and the trampling
+of horses, and girls' voices. She ran to
+the window and looked out; there was a
+great hay-rigging, drawn by four stout horses,
+and comfortably lined with straw. Girls
+were climbing into it on every side, and more
+and more came pouring out of the house.
+It was full moon, and their faces shone so
+clear and merry in the light, that Peggy
+could not help feeling a pang, not of envy,
+but of longing. Of course there had been no
+question of her going; it was a junior affair;
+but they all looked so happy and jolly, and it
+was so lonely here! As she stood longing,
+Viola Vincent popped her pretty head in to
+say good-bye.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[73]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Thought you might like to see my
+toque!" she said, fluttering in the doorway.
+"It's the first time I have had it on. Isn't it
+dandy? Isn't it perfectly sweet?"</p>
+
+<p>Peggy thought it charming, and said so;
+she was rapidly losing her heart to her pretty
+butterfly neighbour.</p>
+
+<p>"I thought you'd like to see it!" said
+Viola, na&iuml;vely. "It makes it easier to study,
+if you see something pretty. Ta, dear! I
+wish you were going. We shall have a dandy
+time, simply dandy!"</p>
+
+<p>She fluttered out, and left the door ajar
+behind her, so that Peggy could not help hearing
+the half-whispered colloquy that ensued
+in the corridor.</p>
+
+<p>"Went to say good-bye to the Veezy Vee.
+Why shouldn't I?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why should you? You'll have her
+around your neck if you don't take care,
+like a lump, as she is."</p>
+
+<p>"Hush, V.! you're quite vinegar, aren't
+you? Why? She's perfectly harmless, and
+I find her quaint. You know I adore quaintness!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[74]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Oh, come along, and don't talk flummery
+to me; you know I can't stand it."</p>
+
+<p>The two passed on, and Peggy's ears
+burned uncomfortably. Evidently Vivia Varnham
+had taken a violent dislike to her; well,
+she certainly returned it. And of course
+that would prevent her from ever seeing
+much of the other, sweet pretty thing. Well,
+of course she should have to be alone most
+of the time. She went to the window again,
+and saw the two V's climbing in; then there
+was a great shouting and waving of handkerchiefs,
+and they drove away. Peggy sighed,
+and sat down once more to her task. It was
+rhetoric, and her whole nature cried out
+against it; but the study was prescribed, and
+the teacher, Miss Pugsley, was reported to be
+very strict. Peggy put her elbows on the
+table, and her head on her hands, and bent
+in good earnest over the book.</p>
+
+<p>"'Both prepositions and conjunctions are
+called connectives.'</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, dear! then why can't we <i>call</i> them
+connectives, and have one word to remember,
+instead of three?<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[75]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"'When I say the hen barks'&mdash;why,
+that makes nonsense! Oh, I got two lines
+mixed up. 'When I say the dog barks, I
+speak of some particular dog.' Well, anybody
+can see that. Oh, I do wonder if Flora
+will remember to wash Peter's ear, where he
+had the canker! It was almost well, but still
+it will need washing. Dear Peter! dear dogs!
+they will miss me, I know they will. If one
+could only have a dog here, it wouldn't be
+half so bad. I could have a basket for him
+to sleep in, you know, and then in the morning
+he would get up on the bed, and we'd
+have a beautiful time. There's a dog barking
+now! He wants to be let in, poor dear! How
+perfectly idiotic some people are, not to know
+what a dog wants. I remember that stupid
+man at home beating poor Peter,&mdash;beating
+him with a hoe, when all the time Peter was
+telling him that a tramp was stealing the
+melons. Yes; but when Petie saw that the
+man was an idiot, he went and attended to
+the tramp himself, and you never saw a
+tramp so scared in your life. Oh, dear!
+well!<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[76]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"'He was in the room, and went out of it.' I
+wish I could go out of this room; but I don't
+know where I should go to. Bertha went, of
+course, with the others. If it wasn't for
+Bertha, I really don't think I could possibly
+stay here."</p>
+
+<p>A knock at the door; and Bertha's square,
+cheerful face looked in. "Any chance to
+study here? there's something the matter
+with my lamp, why,&mdash;Peggy!"</p>
+
+<p>For Peggy had jumped up and thrown her
+arms around her friend's neck, and given
+her a hug which took her breath.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, you dear!" cried Peggy. "I never
+was so glad to see anybody in my life. Here,
+take this chair, Bertha. Oh, it was just
+lovely of you to come in. You knew I would
+be forlorn, I know that was why you came.
+But why didn't you go on the straw-ride?
+I supposed of course you had gone."</p>
+
+<p>"One question at a time," pleaded Bertha;
+"and I can't answer any if you destroy my
+breathing apparatus, Hippolyta."</p>
+
+<p>"Why Hippolyta?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh; she was Queen of the Amazons, don't<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[77]</a></span>
+you know? Only because you are so strong,
+my dear."</p>
+
+<p>"No," said Peggy, dolefully. "I never
+heard of her. Margaret would know, but I
+am awfully stupid, I told you I was. Do you
+have rhetoric, Bertha?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not this year. I had it the first two
+years. It's not so bad; in fact, I was rather
+fond of it."</p>
+
+<p>Peggy gazed at her in such unfeigned
+amazement that Bertha could not help laughing;
+but there was never any sneer in
+Bertha's laugh. "Come!" she said. "Now
+we'll sit down and study our prettiest. See!
+I have a lot of Greek to do. Peggy, don't
+look like that! What is the matter?"</p>
+
+<p>Peggy had recoiled in horror, her blue eyes
+opened to their widest extent.</p>
+
+<p>"Greek!" she cried. "You don't&mdash;I
+sha'n't have to take Greek, shall I? because
+I would rather die, and I should die!"</p>
+
+<p>"Nonsense! no, I don't know that you will
+have to take it at all. What course have you
+taken,&mdash;scientific? Oh, no, you don't have
+Greek in that. What have you had to-day?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[78]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Geometry! Of course that was splendid."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, indeed! was it?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, yes; I just love geometry. I could
+do it all day, but we only have it one hour."
+And Peggy looked injured.</p>
+
+<p>"Well," said Bertha, "you are a queer girl,
+Peggy Montfort. But there'll be one happy
+person in this school, and that is Miss Boyle."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't understand you! Don't most girls,&mdash;don't
+you like geometry, Bertha?"</p>
+
+<p>"My dear, I regard everything in the shape
+of mathematics with terror and disgust. I
+don't know any geometry, nor any algebra.
+I've been through them both, and the more
+I learned, the more I didn't know. As to
+arithmetic, I know that four quarts make a
+gallon, and that really is all my mind is equal
+to. But if you won't let me study my Greek,
+Peggy, I shall go home again to the Nest."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I do! I will!" cried poor Peggy;
+and there was silence for a time, both girls
+studying in earnest, the silence only broken
+by the turning of a page, or a heartfelt sigh
+from Peggy as she dealt with parts of speech.</p>
+
+<p>So thoroughly were they absorbed in their<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[79]</a></span>
+task that they did not hear sundry noises
+outside the window. The window was open,
+for the night was warm as well as bright;
+indeed, the upper half of it was pushed entirely
+down, so that it was like a double half-door
+of glass. Outside this window was the
+black skeleton of the fire-escape; and if the
+two girls had been on the alert, they might
+have heard various unobtrusive sounds from
+this direction. As it was, they both started
+violently when a clear voice addressed them
+in quiet and thoughtful tones.</p>
+
+<p>"Peace to this dwelling!" said the voice.</p>
+
+<p>Peggy looked up hastily. There, leaning
+on the window-sash, as calm and composed as
+she had been at the top of the rope, was the
+stranger with the melancholy eyes and the
+Madonna braids.</p>
+
+<p>"Peace!" she repeated. "Piece of pie!
+have some!" She held out a large segment
+of pie, and added, "Any admittance for the
+Goat?"</p>
+
+<p>Peggy was still too startled to find breath
+to answer, but Bertha sprang up, crying,
+"Grace! how could you frighten us so?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[80]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Not Grace!" said the stranger, with an
+unmoved countenance. "Goat! let us not
+deceive the Innocent! A scapegrace is one
+thing, a scapegoat is another, and from some
+points a preferable one. But the Innocent is
+abroad, I perceive. Innocent, I am the Scapegoat.
+Is there admittance?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh!" gasped Peggy, blushing and faltering.
+"Oh, please come in! I&mdash;I didn't know
+you were waiting for me to&mdash; Sha'n't I open
+it from the bottom?"</p>
+
+<p>"If you will take the pie," said the stranger,
+gravely; "thank you; that is your piece, this
+is mine,&mdash;already bitten, or I would offer it to
+the Fluffy."</p>
+
+<p>Relieved of two large pieces of pie, she laid
+one hand on the sash, and vaulted lightly
+over; then she shook hands solemnly with
+Peggy, took her own piece of pie, and, seating
+herself on the floor, proceeded to eat it daintily.</p>
+
+<p>"It is a good pie!" she said. "If not
+afraid of pollution, Fluffy, a bite?"</p>
+
+<p>Bertha was looking half amused, half angry.
+"Grace, how can you act so?" she said.</p>
+
+<p>"How?" said Grace. "My sweet child, it<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[81]</a></span>
+is as easy as breathing. I will give instruction
+at any time, without charge."</p>
+
+<p>"I thought you were doing double lessons,"
+Bertha went on, "and being as good
+as gold. Grace, you can be so good!"</p>
+
+<p>"Can't I!" said Grace; her tone was one
+of admiring gravity; her blue eyes kept their
+look of pensive sadness.</p>
+
+<p>"And it's a thing I admire, goodness!" she
+went on, shaking her head. "That's why I
+practise it. Double lessons? I'll warrant you!
+this is the second time I have been down here
+to-night, for example; other things in proportion."
+She waved her hand, and fell to again
+at her pie.</p>
+
+<p>Peggy had been sitting open-eyed, watching
+this singular person, not knowing what to
+say. Now, however, meeting the solemn
+gaze of the large sad eyes, she felt compelled
+to speech.</p>
+
+<p>"It&mdash;it's delicious!" she said, timidly.
+"Wouldn't you rather sit in a chair, Miss&mdash;"
+she hesitated, not liking to say "Grace."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, dear!" said Bertha, still put out.
+"You make me forget my manners and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[82]</a></span>
+everything, Grace. Peggy, this is Miss Grace
+Wolfe; Grace, Miss Peggy Montfort."</p>
+
+<p>"Charmed!" said Miss Wolfe. "But we
+have met before, Fluffy, or I should not have
+descended."</p>
+
+<div class='poem'>
+"We met, 'twas on a rope,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">And I thought she had done me;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">I felt, I could not feel,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">For my fate was upon me.</span><br />
+</div>
+
+<p>"If it hadn't been for your possession
+of peas, you would have beaten me, Miss
+Montfort. As it was, here's to our next
+meeting under the ceiling!" She took a large
+bite of pie, and regarded Peggy benevolently.</p>
+
+<p>"Of peas?" repeated Peggy, vaguely, feeling
+that this might be English, but was not sense.</p>
+
+<p>"Precisely. <i>Avoir du pois</i>, literally, to
+possess a pea! The French language. But
+you should have seen Vexation!" this strange
+person added, turning to Bertha. "Did see
+her? Well, she was a pleasant sight. Noxious
+animal, Vexation! It is a joy to see her taken
+down occasionally."</p>
+
+<p>"I notice you are good friends enough,
+where any mischief is afoot!" said Bertha,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[83]</a></span>
+bluntly. She broke a corner off the pie, and
+added, "Goat, this is mince pie!"</p>
+
+<p>"It is! it is!" said Miss Wolfe. "Ever
+discriminating, my own! And good? Say it is
+good, Fluffy!"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, it is uncommonly good!" said
+Bertha. "Where did you get it? You've no
+business to have it, of course!"</p>
+
+<p>"I got it out of a bandbox, sweet one!"
+replied Grace Wolfe. "It lives&mdash;they live,
+I should say, for there are three of them,
+thanks be to praise!&mdash;in a bandbox. A
+round one, or, to be more exact, oval in form,
+covered with wall-paper, whereon purple
+scrolls dispute the mastery with pink lozenges.
+It's the sweetest thing in bandboxes
+that I've seen since time was."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, but the pies!"</p>
+
+<p>"The pies! as I was saying, three of them;
+ample, full moons of rapture!</p>
+
+<div class='poem'>
+"They came in beauty, side by side,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">They filled one home with glee.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Their bones are scattered&mdash;"</span><br />
+</div>
+
+<div class='unindent'>She paused with an expressive gesture.</div>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[84]</a></span>"The best of it is,&mdash;you will admit that
+this is neat, Fluffy, even if your slavery to
+the virtues compels your disapproval,&mdash;the
+best of it is, the bandbox is the property of
+our Puggy."</p>
+
+<p>"Miss Pugsley's bandbox! Oh, Grace!"</p>
+
+<p>"Precisely! Our Puggy goes heavily without
+it, I am told. What would you? It was
+outside her door, while sweeping was going
+on; one is human, after all. She was out,
+with the best bonnet on her head. Poor head!
+Poor bonnet! My hearty commiseration for
+both! When she returned, no bandbox! At
+present she harries the domestics; she hasn't
+thought of me yet, for a wonder. To-morrow,
+or the day after, I shall finish the pies&mdash;alas!
+Then I return the repository, and
+her bonnet acquires a fine, full, fruity flavour
+that annihilation alone can remove.</p>
+
+<div class='poem'>
+"You may break, you may shatter<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">The tile if you will,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">But the scent of the brandy</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">Will cling round it still."</span><br />
+</div>
+
+<p>"Grace! What a diabolical plot! and you<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[85]</a></span>
+have been lying awake, I suppose, chuckling
+over this!"</p>
+
+<p>Miss Wolfe waved her hand in deprecation.
+"Not lying awake, sweet one! Too slight a
+thing for that; still, it served to amuse.
+One must live, even you will admit that.
+What's this? Greek? Give it me!" She
+stretched out her hand for the book, but
+Bertha held it fast.</p>
+
+<p>"No! no, Goat; I want it myself, and
+besides, you have no business here, you know
+you haven't."</p>
+
+<p>"No; and you?" replied the other,
+coolly.</p>
+
+<p>"I have permission; my lamp is out of
+order, and I asked Miss Russell if I might
+study in here," said Bertha. "But you will
+get into trouble if you stay, Grace, you know
+you will. Be good now, and go home!"</p>
+
+<p>Grace Wolfe gazed pensively at her.</p>
+
+<p>"You would check the interchange of
+souls?" she said. "I feel drawn to this
+Innocent, Fluff! I feel that she may have an
+influence over me for good. You would not
+part us? Could'st love a Goat, Innocent?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[86]</a></span>
+she added, turning to Peggy, and fixing her
+eyes on her with mournful intensity.</p>
+
+<p>Peggy blushed, but before she could reply
+Bertha struck in decidedly.</p>
+
+<p>"Grace, just one word! Peggy Montfort is
+a stranger, and I am not going to let her get
+into trouble if I can help it. And I don't
+want you to get into trouble, either!" she
+added, more gently. "You know, my dear&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>She stopped suddenly, for Grace Wolfe
+threw up her hand with a warning gesture;
+then, with a single swift movement, she
+rolled under the bed, and was out of sight.</p>
+
+<p>"Study!" said Bertha, in a low whisper.
+"Study <i>hard!</i>"</p>
+
+<p>Wholly bewildered, Peggy fixed her eyes
+on her book. She had heard no sound before,
+but now came a footfall in the corridor. A
+knock at the door, and Miss Russell opened
+it and looked in.</p>
+
+<p>"Your lamp is in order now, Bertha," she
+said. "I thought I would tell you, as I was
+going by; but you can stay a little longer, if
+you like. How charming you have made
+your room, Miss Montfort."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[87]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Won't&mdash;won't you come in, Miss Russell?"
+stammered poor Peggy, conscious of
+Grace Wolfe's eyes under the bed, yet feeling
+that civility admitted of only one answer.</p>
+
+<p>"Not now, thank you! Some day soon
+I shall come and make you a little visit,
+though, with pleasure. Good night, young
+ladies!"</p>
+
+<p>She nodded kindly, closed the door, and
+passed on.</p>
+
+<p>The girls drew breath. A moment, and
+Grace Wolfe rolled out again, rose, and shook
+her neat dress.</p>
+
+<p>"So much for Buckingham!" she said.
+"The good point about Principie is, she is
+respectable. Now, my Puggy would have
+looked through the keyhole first. But I foresee
+a visit to my own humble cot, to see
+whether I have learned my lessons.</p>
+
+<div class='poem'>
+"Oh! Farewell, friends!<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Here Thisbe ends!"</span><br />
+</div>
+
+<p>She waved her hand, vaulted once more
+over the window, and was gone. An occasional
+faint, cat-like sound told of her progress<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[88]</a></span>
+up the fire-escape; then a window
+creaked slightly overhead, and all was silent.</p>
+
+<p>Bertha Haughton ruffled up her curly black
+locks with a gesture of exasperation.</p>
+
+<p>"And the worst of it is," she said, "that
+girl will know her Greek better than any one
+in class. That's half the trouble; she learns
+so quickly, her lessons don't take half her
+time, and she puts the rest into mischief."</p>
+
+<p>"She seems awfully clever!" said Peggy,
+timidly.</p>
+
+<p>Bertha nodded. "She is just that, my
+dear; awfully clever! I'll tell you more
+about her to-morrow, but now we must study
+hard, for we've only twenty minutes left.
+Only, my dear, when you think of the Goat,
+remember three things: she is D. D. D.,&mdash;dear,
+delightful,&mdash;and dangerous!"</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[89]</a></span></p>
+<h2>CHAPTER V.</h2>
+
+<h3>TO THE RESCUE.</h3>
+
+
+<p>The next morning proved a hard one for
+Peggy; the rhetoric lesson was the first that
+must be recited. She had studied it hard,
+but somehow the rules seemed to make little
+impression. Whenever she tried to fix them
+in her mind, there came between her and the
+page two melancholy blue eyes, and she
+seemed to hear a voice of singular quality,
+a voice with a thrill in it, saying, "Could'st
+love a Goat, Innocent?"</p>
+
+<p>So she was not as well prepared as she
+should have been when she went into the
+class; and on meeting Miss Pugsley's cold
+greenish brown eye, what she did know
+seemed to evaporate from the top of her
+head, leaving a total blank. She stumbled
+and floundered; she did not know what an<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[90]</a></span>
+antecedent was, and she could not remember
+ever to have heard of a reciprocal pronoun.</p>
+
+<p>"Pray, Miss Montfort, were you asleep or
+awake when you studied this lesson?" inquired
+Miss Pugsley, with acrid calm.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know!" replied Peggy, now thoroughly
+bewildered.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, if you were asleep, let me recommend
+you to try it again when you wake up;
+or if you were awake, perhaps you might do
+it better in your sleep."</p>
+
+<p>Peggy flushed scarlet, and the ready tears
+sprang into her eyes; but she forced them
+back, bit her lip, and tried not to feel the
+eyes of the whole class bent on her in amused
+astonishment. Miss Pugsley seemed to take
+positive pleasure in her ignorance and embarrassment.
+She put one question after another,
+each more ingeniously contrived than the
+last&mdash;or so it seemed&mdash;to show what Peggy
+did not know. At last, in self-defence, the
+poor child took refuge in one simple and invariable
+answer: "I don't know!" So confused
+was she that these words were the only
+ones she could utter, even when she knew<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[91]</a></span>
+the correct answer, or would have done so if
+she could have collected her wits. By the
+end of the hour, Peggy was entirely convinced
+that she was the dunce and butt of
+the school; that she knew nothing, and never
+would know anything.</p>
+
+<p>It seemed a cruel stroke of fate that this
+terrible period should be followed by that of
+general history, for Peggy detested history,
+as some of my readers already know. She
+went into the next class-room with an aching
+head, and a heart throbbing with a sense of
+utter worthlessness in herself, and of bitter
+cruelty in others. She did not even look up at
+the teacher, but kept her eyes fixed on her
+desk, and answered the few questions that
+meant anything to her, sullenly and unwillingly.
+She did try at first to follow the
+lesson, but her head ached so, the words
+seemed to sing themselves into mere nonsense,
+and she soon gave up the attempt; the
+more so as this teacher, who had been observing
+her pretty closely, for some reason or
+other asked her very few questions. At last,
+however, the blow fell.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[92]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Where did Philip of Macedon come from,
+Miss Montfort?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know," said Peggy.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I think you do," said Miss Cortlandt,
+with a pleasant smile, and checking, with a
+warning glance, the rising giggle.</p>
+
+<p>"Try again, Miss Montfort. Philip the
+Great, Philip of Macedon,&mdash;where did he
+come from? Surely you can tell me!"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know," said Peggy, doggedly;
+and at the moment she actually did not.</p>
+
+<p>"My dear child," said the teacher, "did you
+ever hear what was the colour of Washington's
+gray mare?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, ma'am," said Peggy.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, what was it?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know."</p>
+
+<p>Emily Cortlandt had graduated from college
+the year before. She laid down her pencil,
+and looked very kindly at the distracted
+girl.</p>
+
+<p>"I think you are not feeling well, Miss
+Montfort," she said. "Does your head ache?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, ma'am," said Peggy. She could not
+have said another word; her whole strength<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[93]</a></span>
+was needed to keep back the flood of tears
+that was rising, rising.</p>
+
+<p>"You need not stay through the lesson,"
+Miss Cortlandt went on, and the sympathy in
+her voice only brought the flood higher and
+nearer.</p>
+
+<p>"You can make up the lesson to me some
+other time. Now, you would better go and lie
+down for a little, and then take a turn in the
+fresh air. Miss Bangs, what was the date of
+Philip's first invasion?"</p>
+
+<p>Peggy never knew how she got out of the
+class-room. She longed to give at least a
+grateful look at the kind soul who had saved
+her, but her eyes were already swimming in
+tears. She fled along the corridor, sobbing
+hysterically, blinded with tears, conscious of
+only one thing, the desperate resolve to get
+to her room, before she broke down altogether.
+Flying thus around a corner, she rushed headlong
+into a group of girls who were gathered
+around something, she could not tell what.
+So violent was the shock that Peggy reeled
+and struck her head sharply against the wall.
+This brought her to herself. She caught back<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[94]</a></span>
+the sob on her lips, and dashed the tears
+from her eyes before any one saw them,&mdash;or
+so she hoped; then she looked to see what
+was going on. Next moment she had forgotten
+that there were such things as tears
+in the world.</p>
+
+<p>There were six or eight girls in the group,
+mostly sophomores, though a few were freshmen.
+They were looking down at something&mdash;somebody&mdash;crouching
+on the floor against
+the wall, and their laughter, checked for an
+instant by Peggy's onset, broke out afresh.
+"Here's Peggy Montfort, just in time to see
+the fun. Look, Miss Montfort, and see the
+fashions! Straight from Paris, and the very
+last thing!"</p>
+
+<p>The speaker was Blanche Haight, a tall
+sophomore with bleached hair, and eyes set
+too near together. She was considered a wit,
+and every time she spoke the other girls
+giggled and screamed.</p>
+
+<p>The person crouching on the floor was
+Lobelia Parkins. Her head was pressed
+against the wall, her face hidden in her
+hands; misery and terror were in every line<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[95]</a></span>
+of her poor little shrinking figure, but this
+only gave added delight to her tormentors.</p>
+
+<p>"Look, ladies, at the new sleeve!" cried
+Miss Haight, lifting the skinny arm, from
+which the blue poplin sleeve hung in an
+awkward fashion. "Did you ever see anything
+so exquisite? Look at the fringe, will
+you, and the pattern? I'm going to get Miss
+Russell to put her up on exhibition, so the
+whole school can have the benefit; it's a
+shame to keep it to ourselves!"</p>
+
+<p>"He! he! he!" went all the girls. "Blanche,
+you are too funny for anything!"</p>
+
+<p>"Where did your mother get it?" asked
+another; and this, as Peggy saw with a shock,
+was pretty Rose Barclay. "Did the ragman
+bring it around, or did she pick it up in the
+gutter? Say, Miss Parkins, I wish you'd tell
+us, 'cause we all want to know."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, of course we want to know!" cried
+Miss Haight. "I'm going to write this very
+night, to see if Mumma can't get me one like
+it. I never shall be happy till I&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>That sentence never was finished. The
+speaker found her own arm seized in a grip<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[96]</a></span>
+of iron, which forced her to drop the poor
+little arm in the blue sleeve. She was forced
+back against the wall, and found herself
+confronted by a pair of blue eyes blazing with
+righteous wrath.</p>
+
+<p>"How dare you?" cried Peggy Montfort,
+in a voice that quivered with rage. "You
+mean, cowardly brute, how dare you? Touch
+her again, and I'll choke the words down your
+throat!"</p>
+
+<p>Blanche Haight gasped for a moment; indeed,
+the whole group was cowed by this
+sudden vision of strength and fury. But she
+recovered herself in a moment.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, indeed!" she said. "I should like
+to know what this means, Miss Montfort? I
+should like to know who gave you authority
+to choke people, and abuse them, and call
+them names?"</p>
+
+<p>"You'll find out what it means!" said
+Peggy, waiving the second question, and replying
+to the first. "If you touch that child
+again, or so much as speak to her, I'll choke
+you."</p>
+
+<p>"Girls, do you hear this?" cried Blanche<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[97]</a></span>
+Haight. "Are you going to stand by, and
+let this girl ride over us?"</p>
+
+<p>"Shame!" cried the girls. "Bully!"</p>
+
+<p>"Bully!" cried Peggy, dropping her hold
+of Miss Haight, and turning to face the others.
+"You call me a bully, and you yourselves,
+eight great grown girls, standing around to
+torment and torture this poor helpless child?
+Shame on you! Shame on you all, every one!
+I'm ashamed to be in the same school with
+you. I&mdash;" (Here, I am sorry to say, Peggy
+forgot that she was a young lady, forgot
+everything save that she was the daughter of
+hot-blooded James Montfort.) "I could whip
+the whole lot of you, and I'll do it if you
+dare to say 'Boo!' but you don't!"</p>
+
+<p>It was a fact that no one did say "Boo!"
+There was a pause, Peggy standing with folded
+arms before the shrinking child, her whole
+figure dilated with passion, till she seemed
+to tower above the rest, who for their part
+cowered before her.</p>
+
+<p>Rose Barclay was the first to speak.</p>
+
+<p>"We are very fortunate to find a leader
+for the freshman class," she said, spitefully,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[98]</a></span>
+"and such a leader! Miss Montfort is too
+high-toned to help a classmate with her lesson,
+but not too high-toned to talk like a Bowery
+rowdy. Come, along, girls! I for one don't
+care to listen to any more such refined, elegant
+talk!"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, you'd better go along!" said Peggy,
+the Valkyr, briefly.</p>
+
+<p>"Pray, may I ask," said Blanche Haight,
+with a bitter sneer, "are you monitor of this
+corridor?"</p>
+
+<p>"No," said a voice behind her; "but I am."</p>
+
+<p>A girl had come quietly up the stairs, and
+was now standing close beside the excited
+group, none of whom had seen or heard her,&mdash;a
+tall girl, with red-gold hair, dressed as if
+she had just come from a journey.</p>
+
+<p>"I am the monitor of this corridor," she
+repeated. "Please go to your rooms, or I
+shall be obliged to report you."</p>
+
+<p>The girls shrunk together, whispering, the
+freshmen questioning the sophomores.</p>
+
+<p>"Who is it? Who is it?"</p>
+
+<p>"Hush! It's the junior president. Come
+along!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[99]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The group melted away; another moment,
+and all were gone save Peggy, who was now
+on the floor, with her arms around the little
+miserable creature, who still shrank close
+against the wall, as if her life depended
+on the contact.</p>
+
+<p>"There, dear!" she cried. "They are
+gone. Come! Don't huddle up so, you poor
+little thing. Those brutes are gone, and
+there's nobody here but me, Peggy, and&mdash;"
+she glanced up at the tall girl. "Oh! won't
+you help me?" she cried. "I think&mdash;she
+doesn't seem to hear what I am saying. Oh,
+is she dead?"</p>
+
+<p>"No," said the monitor. "I think she has
+fainted, though, poor little soul! We must
+carry her to her room. Do you know where
+it is? I have only just come back, and don't
+know where the freshmen are."</p>
+
+<p>"No, I don't know, but I'll take her to my
+room; I'm in No. 18. Oh, I can carry her
+alone; she's all skin and bone; she doesn't
+weigh anything."</p>
+
+<p>The little figure in the staring poplin gown
+hung quite limp, as Peggy lifted it. "You'd<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[100]</a></span>
+better let me help," said the tall girl, kindly.
+"We can make her more comfortable; so!"</p>
+
+<p>Together they carried her to Peggy's room,
+and laid her on the bed. It was really more
+fright and distress than actual fainting, for
+she soon opened her eyes, and looked eagerly
+at Peggy, but closed them again with a faint
+cry, at sight of the stranger.</p>
+
+<p>"You needn't be afraid of her!" cried
+Peggy, eagerly. "She isn't one of them;
+she's none of that horrid crowd. I don't
+know who you are," she said, "but I'm ever
+and ever and ever so much obliged to you. I
+don't know whether you heard what they
+were saying."</p>
+
+<p>And she poured out an indignant account
+of the cruelty she had witnessed and put
+a stop to. The stranger's eyes were stern
+enough, as she listened. "I heard only the
+end of it," she said, briefly, "but where I see
+Blanche Haight, I am never surprised at anything
+cruel or cowardly. I am very glad to
+know you; it was a mercy that you happened
+to come along just then. I hope we shall be
+friends, Miss&mdash;is it Miss Montfort?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[101]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Oh, that I will!" cried Peggy, responding
+with all her warm heart to the sweet
+smile and the lovely look in the clear blue
+eyes. "Oh, I should like to ever so much;
+but I don't know your name, do I?"</p>
+
+<p>The stranger smiled again. "They call
+me the Snowy Owl," she said, "but my name
+is Gertrude Merryweather."</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[102]</a></span></p>
+<h2>CHAPTER VI.</h2>
+
+<h3>THE OWL'S NEST.</h3>
+
+
+<p>When Peggy escorted Lobelia Parkins back
+to her room, she found that it was the one
+directly above her own. Point for point, the
+rooms were alike, fire-escape and all,&mdash;so far
+as the actual outlines were concerned; there,
+however, the likeness ended. There had been
+no Uncle John, no Margaret, in this case.
+The room was furnished, evidently, by the
+same hand that had dressed the girl, and with
+equal taste. The carpet on the floor was
+costly, but hideous as staring colours and
+execrable design could make it. The furniture
+was cumbrous, and the fact that the
+ugly chairs were rosewood, and their cushions
+brocade, made them neither beautiful nor
+comfortable. On the bureau were some bottles
+of red Bohemian glass, such as were thought<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[103]</a></span>
+handsome fifty years ago; an elephant of a
+writing-desk, staring with plush and gilding,
+almost covered the table. Altogether, the
+room was as desolate as its occupant; more
+could not be said. Lobelia seemed smaller
+and more shrunken than ever amid all this
+tasteless display; she seemed conscious of it,
+too, as she gazed piteously at Peggy. She
+had been crying, in a furtive, frightened way;
+and, gazing at her, Peggy felt that it must be
+years ago that she was crying, too, and hoping
+for nothing in the world save to get to her
+room and have a good solid deluge of tears.
+At present it seemed hardly likely that she
+should ever weep again; she felt strong and
+confident, and was still burning with indignation,
+none the less hotly that the outward
+flame had gone down. Her kind companion
+had been obliged to leave them, with the
+promise of seeing them soon again. Peggy
+thought she might stay a few minutes, though
+the gong for gym had already rung.</p>
+
+<p>"Now, Lobelia," she was saying,&mdash;"I am
+going to call you Lobelia, you know, and you
+are to call me Peggy, and we are going to be<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[104]</a></span>
+friends. Now, Lobelia, mind what I say! if
+those girls ever give you any more trouble,
+you are to come straight to me. Do you
+hear?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said Lobelia, faintly.</p>
+
+<p>"Have they tormented you before? Beasts!
+Or was this the first time?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, not&mdash;not so much!" said the girl,
+deprecatingly. "A little yesterday; but&mdash;I
+don't know whether they meant to be
+unkind, Peggy. I know that my dress <i>is</i>
+queer!"</p>
+
+<p>"Don't be so meek!" cried Peggy, unable
+to repress a little stamp of her foot, which
+made Lobelia start. "Have some spirit of
+your own, Lobelia. I tell you, these girls
+are mean, cowardly wretches, not fit for girls
+like the Owls to speak to. They don't speak
+to them much, either," she added, "and I'm
+not going to any more than I can help."</p>
+
+<p>Lobelia looked more miserable than ever.
+"Don't!" she said. "I can't bear to have
+any one get into trouble on my account. It&mdash;it
+needn't matter to you, Peggy. Of course
+you are very, very kind, and I think I should<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[105]</a></span>
+have died if you had not come along just
+then, for I couldn't seem to bear much more;
+but I don't want you to get into trouble."</p>
+
+<p>"Who's going to get into trouble?" demanded
+Peggy. "Guess I can take care of
+myself against such a set as that."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't want you to get into trouble!"
+repeated Lobelia; and, as she spoke, she
+glanced around the room with a peculiar
+shrinking look, one would say a look of dread,
+that Peggy did not understand.</p>
+
+<p>"Who's next door to you?" she asked,
+briefly. "Rose Barclay, for one, I know. Who
+is on the other side?"</p>
+
+<p>Lobelia thought it was another freshman,
+but was not sure.</p>
+
+<p>"Have they troubled you?" asked Peggy,
+suspiciously.</p>
+
+<p>But Lobelia shook her head, and seemed so
+distressed at the question that Peggy did not
+know what to think.</p>
+
+<p>"Please, please don't bother about me!"
+she implored. "I dare say it will be a good
+deal better now, after you and Miss
+Merryweather being so brave and so kind. I don't<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[106]</a></span>
+want to say anything against anybody. Please,
+please forget all about it, Peggy."</p>
+
+<p>"I want you to be brave yourself," cried
+Peggy; and Lobelia started again, and shrank
+in her chair. "Don't be so&mdash;so&mdash;well, I
+don't know any word but meeching, and
+Margaret won't let me say that. But have
+a spirit of your own, and stand up to them,
+and give 'em as good as they send. I would,
+I tell you, quick enough, if they tried it on
+me."</p>
+
+<p>Lobelia looked at her with hopeless eyes.
+"But I am not you!" she said. "I&mdash;Peggy,
+I know just how I look, and how I seem, and
+how little and ugly and queer I am. I don't
+wonder they laugh, I don't, really. I haven't
+any spirit, either; I can't have. You can't
+do anything with me; it isn't any use."</p>
+
+<p>Peggy gazed at her, with eyes almost as
+hopeless as her own. Yet she must make one
+more attempt; and with it the honest blood
+came into her face.</p>
+
+<p>"Look here, Lobelia!" she said, "I am awkward,
+too, and shy, and&mdash;and stupid, awfully
+stupid. Why, my cousin Rita used to call me&mdash;never<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[107]</a></span>
+mind, that was only before she grew
+so kind! But I know what it is to be laughed
+at, my dear! Only this morning, in rhetoric,
+Miss Pugsley was just as hateful as she could
+be, and all the girls laughed; yes, they did.
+So you are not so different as you think.
+Why,&mdash;I don't mind telling you,&mdash;when I
+came along just now, I was trying to get to
+my own room, so that I could have a good
+cry. There, Lobelia! now how do you
+feel?" Lobelia raised her eyes with a
+wondering look; but next moment her eyes fell
+on the looking-glass and she shook her
+head.</p>
+
+<p>"No!" she said. "No, Peggy! You are
+kind, and you want to make me feel comfortable;
+but look!"</p>
+
+<p>She motioned toward the mirror. Peggy
+looked, and her kind heart sank. She herself
+was no beauty; her round, fair face and
+honest blue eyes were pleasant to look at,
+and she had beautiful hair, but that was all;
+yet she could not help seeing that she was a
+very vision of loveliness beside the sallow,
+puny, almost deformed aspect of her poor<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[108]</a></span>
+little neighbour. She coloured deep with
+angry sympathy, but Lobelia only smiled, a
+wan little smile.</p>
+
+<p>"You see!" she said. "It's no use,
+Peggy."</p>
+
+<p>For all answer, Peggy threw her arms
+around the shrinking figure, and pressed it in
+a warm embrace. "I don't care!" she cried.
+"I don't say you are pretty, you poor little
+thing, but just remember that you are my
+friend, and if anybody dares to meddle with
+you again, they'll have to reckon with
+me, that's all. And now I must go, or I
+shall lose all the drill. Cheer up, Lobelia,
+and don't sit here and mope, mind! and if
+you have any more trouble, just knock on
+the floor, and I'll be up in half a quarter of
+a jiffy. Good-bye, dear!" and off she ran,
+feeling that at least she had left some degree
+of comfort and cheer behind her.</p>
+
+<p>Soon, however, came something that put
+Lobelia Parkins and her troubles out of Peggy's
+head for the time. Bertha Haughton
+was not at the gymnasium, but when Peggy
+came back to her own room after an hour of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[109]</a></span>
+rapture, she found a note pinned on her
+pincushion.</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"<span class="smcap">Dear Peggy</span>:&mdash;Study <i>hard</i>, please, and get
+through before this evening. The Snowy Owl is
+going to give us a Grand Tell about the wedding
+she has been to, and we both want you to come, too.
+I'm going to speak to Miss Russell, but you'd better
+ask her, too; it will be all right, for the Snowy has
+asked permission, anyhow. Eight o'clock, just after
+reading; be sure to come on time!</p>
+
+<div class='sig'>
+<span style="margin-right: 4em;">"Affectionately,</span><br />
+"<span class="smcap">Bertha</span>."<br />
+</div></div>
+
+<p>It was hard to study through that lovely
+afternoon, when the other girls, or most of
+them, were out-of-doors, playing tennis or
+basket-ball, and their voices came in at the
+window in every tone of joyousness and delight.
+It was very hard to study the detested
+rhetoric and history, but Peggy was strong in
+her good resolve, and bent steadily over her
+books, trying her very best. Once, indeed,
+came a sore temptation, when a ball struck
+her window lightly, and, going to look out,
+she saw Grace Wolfe standing below.</p>
+
+<p>"Come out, Innocent!" said the Scapegoat,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[110]</a></span>
+in her deep, musical tones. "Come and sport
+with me!</p>
+
+<div class='poem'>
+"The ship is ready and the wind blows fair,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">And I am bound for the sea, Mary Anne!"</span><br />
+</div>
+
+<p>"Oh! Oh, thank you!" cried Peggy. "I
+wish I could, but I have to work now, I'm
+afraid."</p>
+
+<div class='poem'>
+"Is this a time to think o' wark,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Wi' Scapegoat at the door?"</span><br />
+</div>
+
+<div class='unindent'>inquired Grace, looking up with her head on
+one side. "Why work at this hour, Innocent?
+Even the slaves of virtue, even the Owls, are
+at play now."</div>
+
+<p>Peggy leaned out of the window; it really
+seemed as if her body would be drawn out
+after her longing spirit, which had been
+out and away from the first summons.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, the Owls!" she said. "That's just
+it, Miss Wolfe."</p>
+
+<p>"No!" interrupted Grace. "Not Miss
+Wolfe! Not all &AElig;sop! Impossible to be
+wolf and goat at the same time, and do justice<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[111]</a></span>
+to either character. Let it be Goat, or
+Grace, as you like."</p>
+
+<p>"Grace, then, thank you! Well, you see,
+the Owls,&mdash;that is, Bertha asked me to come
+to their room this evening, and of course I
+want to dreadfully,&mdash;though not more dreadfully
+than I want to come out now," she
+added, wistfully. "And if I do, you see, I must
+get my rhetoric done. It's awfully hard, and
+I am so stupid about it, it takes me for ever.
+Oh, will you ask me again some time,
+please?"</p>
+
+<p>The Scapegoat regarded her for a moment,
+standing with the ball in her hand, swaying
+her light, graceful body to and fro.</p>
+
+<p>"Another slave of virtue?" she said. "Can
+I permit this? Innocent, I have half a mind
+to cause you to come down. I am to be
+thrown over for owls, who have, if you will
+consider the matter, neither horns nor hoofs?
+I am to let you stay and grind through
+the afternoon for them and for my Puggy?
+Well&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>Her whole face seemed to lighten with
+whimsical determination. She laid her hand<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[112]</a></span>
+on the fire-escape, and seemed on the point of
+mounting it, when suddenly another change
+came over her. Her eyes darkened into their
+usual melancholy look.</p>
+
+<p>"Here's luck!" she said, abruptly. "See
+you later, Innocent!" She was gone, and
+Peggy, with a revulsion of feeling, wished
+she had gone with her. Bertha was a dear,
+and Miss Merryweather looked lovely, but
+neither of them had the fascination of this
+strange girl, so unlike any one she had ever
+seen in her life.</p>
+
+<p>It was a forlorn afternoon; but Peggy
+stuck to her work manfully, and had the
+satisfaction of closing the book at last with
+the feeling that she was sure of it now, however
+things might be in the morning under
+Miss Pugsley's hostile eye.</p>
+
+<p>There was still a little time left before
+supper. She ran out to the lawn, hoping to
+find Grace Wolfe still there, but she was
+disappointed. The only occupants of the
+lawn were half a dozen sophomores clustered
+together at one end. Blanche Haight was
+among them, and at sight of Peggy she turned<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[113]</a></span>
+her back pointedly, and whispered to the
+others. They turned with one accord and
+stared at Peggy, with a cool insolence that
+made her blood boil within her and surge up
+in angry red to her forehead. She could not
+do anything about it; they had a right to
+stare, if they had no better manners. She
+returned the look for a moment, then turned
+away with a sore and angry heart. Fortunately,
+at this moment came out two classmates
+of her own whom she knew slightly,&mdash;mild,
+pleasant girls, with no special traits of
+interest, but still friendly and approachable.
+They were going to play tennis, and invited
+Peggy to join them; so she had a good half-hour
+of exercise and pleasure, and came in
+with rosy cheeks, and with the cobwebs all
+blown away for the time.</p>
+
+<p>At eight o'clock Peggy was standing before
+her glass, putting a last touch to her hair,
+and surveying her image with some anxiety.
+Did she "look nice?" Peggy had as little
+personal vanity as a girl could well have; but
+she had learned from her cousin Margaret
+that it was part of her duty to look as well<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[114]</a></span>
+as she could. Her cousin Rita would have
+had her go further than this.</p>
+
+<p>"Study, my child," Rita would cry, "to
+be beautiful! Let it be your dream by night,
+your thought by day!" And, in all kindness,
+Rita would try to teach her how to cross her
+feet so that they might look slender, how to
+extend her little finger when she raised her
+hand, "not too much, but to an exact point,
+<i>ch&eacute;rie!</i>" how to turn her head so as to
+show the lines of the neck to advantage. But
+Peggy's own good sense, aided by Margaret's
+calm wisdom, had told her the inappropriateness
+of Rita's graceful airs and poses to her
+own sturdy personality. She was to look
+nice; more she could not aspire to. So here
+she was to-night, in a pretty blue silk waist,
+with a serge skirt of a darker shade, her hair
+smoothly braided in one mammoth "pigtail,"
+and tied with blue ribbons, her neat collar
+fastened with a pretty pearl brooch. Thus
+attired, our Peggy was truly pleasant to look
+upon; and her "Is that right, Margaret?"
+brought a little satisfied nod of reply from
+the smiling image in the glass.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[115]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Drawing near the Owl's Nest, she heard a
+hum of voices, and straightway her heart
+sank again, and shyness possessed her. There
+was a crowd there! They would all be
+juniors and seniors, and she the only freshman
+among them. How could she go in? Oh!
+she almost wished she was up in the other
+corridor with the younger girls!</p>
+
+<p>But at this moment the door opened, and
+Bertha's kind face looked out.</p>
+
+<p>"Here you are, Peggy!" she cried, cordially.
+"Come along; there's plenty of room,
+for I've saved a place for you. Come!"</p>
+
+<p>For a moment Peggy hung back, and knew
+how Lobelia Parkins felt; then she made an
+effort, and followed Bertha into the room.</p>
+
+<p>The Owl's Nest was a corner room, with
+windows on two sides. It seemed to be furnished
+chiefly with books. There were the
+two brass beds, of course, the twin bureaus,
+the desks, and table. All of these, except
+the beds, were covered with books; bookshelves
+took up most of the wall space, though
+there were two or three good pictures, among
+them a great photograph of the sea, that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[116]</a></span>
+almost dashed the spray in one's face, so perfect
+was it. It was at a later visit that Peggy
+observed the books; now, she was conscious
+of nothing save the girls. The room was
+certainly full of them. There were three on
+each bed, curled up in every variety of picturesque
+and comfortable attitude; two sat
+on one of the bureaus, having pushed books
+and toilet articles up into a toppling and
+highly perilous mountain behind them; four
+more crouched somehow on the rather narrow
+window-seats. The rest were on the floor,
+except two early birds, who had come in time
+to get the two chairs. The floor was made
+comfortable with sofa-pillows, borrowed from
+the whole length of the corridor. Altogether,
+there might have been twenty girls in the
+room, and every girl was, or seemed to be,
+talking as fast as her tongue could move.</p>
+
+<p>Peggy was hailed with a bird-like call from
+one corner.</p>
+
+<p>"My Veezy-vee! come here, Peggy Montfort,
+and sit by me."</p>
+
+<p>It was Viola Vincent. She was curled up
+at the head of one of the beds. She wore the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[117]</a></span>
+prettiest pink tea-gown imaginable, and her
+hair was a wonder of puffs and curls.</p>
+
+<p>"Come here!" she repeated, patting the
+pillows. "Lots of room; miles! Let her
+come here, Fluffy!"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, she shall, in a minute, V.," replied
+Bertha. "But first,&mdash;Toots, here's Peggy
+Montfort!"</p>
+
+<p>The Snowy Owl came swiftly out of the
+closet, where she had been performing some
+mystic rite; she took Peggy's two hands in
+hers, and held them in a warm, firm grasp
+that was the very soul of cordiality.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm so glad!" she said. "How's the poor
+little thing? Better? I'm sure you did her
+a great deal of good."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, no!" stammered Peggy, pleased and
+confused. "I couldn't really do anything;
+but she is feeling better."</p>
+
+<p>Gertrude Merryweather nodded wisely.
+"My dear, you can do a great deal for her!"
+she said. "We'll have a talk sometime; no
+chance now. Only, Bertha has been telling
+me things, and I'm so glad you are in our
+street! There, now V. shall have you."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[118]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Judge of the glow at Peggy's heart, on
+these words from the Junior President, the
+best-loved girl&mdash;or so it was said&mdash;in the
+whole school. Those foolish tears actually
+got half-way up to her eyes,&mdash;only they were
+very different from the last tears; but fortunately
+Viola's high-pitched babble drove them
+back again.</p>
+
+<p>"My <i>dear!</i> How nice you look! perf'ly
+<i>fine!</i> doesn't she, V.? Say, that's a dandy
+pin you've got on, simply <i>dandy!</i> There!
+isn't this too quaint for anything? You
+comfy? so'm I! Room, my dear? gallons of
+room! I haven't seen you for an age; where
+have you kept yourself? I looked into your
+room, though, and it's perf'ly <i>fine!</i> I told
+you it would be, when you had things fixed.
+Your chintz is too perfectly sweet for anything;
+isn't it, V.? We were simply cold
+with envy, weren't we, V.?"</p>
+
+<p>"Do cackle for yourself, if you must cackle,
+V.!" responded Vivia Varnham, who sat on
+the same bed, a little lower down. "I can't
+hear myself think, you make such a noise."</p>
+
+<p>"No, really?" cried Viola. "But that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[119]</a></span>
+must be such an advantage sometimes, V.
+But, say! we came here to hear the Snowy
+talk, didn't we? She hasn't had much chance
+yet, has she? Are you ready to talk, Snowy?
+Oh, you duck! it is too perfectly enchanting
+to have you back again. I haven't lived since
+you went away, have I, V.? I've been simply
+a vegetable, haven't I, V.? Potatoes, my
+dear, are lively compared to me. <i>Are</i> you
+ready to talk, Snowy?"</p>
+
+<p>"If you are ready to have me," replied the
+Snowy Owl, laughing. "First, however&mdash;here!"</p>
+
+<p>She produced a mammoth box of "marshmallows,"
+and handed it around. It was
+received with a shout.</p>
+
+<p>"Toast 'em!" cried one. "Hat-pins!"
+cried another. There was a movement toward
+the gas-jet; but Bertha Haughton checked it
+decidedly. "You have come here to hear the
+Snowy tell!" she said. "It's a long tell, and
+if you begin toasting now, there won't be
+time. Tell first, toast afterward! that's what
+I say!"</p>
+
+<p>"Hark to the Fluffy! she speaks well!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[120]</a></span>
+cried the girls. There was silence; and
+Gertrude Merryweather, sitting on the floor,
+with her hands clasped around her knees,
+began her "tell."</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;">
+<img src="images/gs04.png" width="500" height="336" alt="THE GRAND TELL IN THE OWL&#39;S NEST." title="THE GRAND TELL IN THE OWL&#39;S NEST." />
+<span class="caption">THE GRAND TELL IN THE OWL&#39;S NEST.</span>
+</div>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[121]</a></span></p>
+<h2>CHAPTER VII.</h2>
+
+<h3>WEDDING BELLS.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"To begin with, girls, this is Fluffy's idea,
+not mine! Of course none of you ever saw
+our Hildegarde, so I didn't suppose you would
+care particularly; but when I was telling the
+Fluffy last night, she said it was selfish and
+all kinds of things to keep it to ourselves,
+and that you must all hear about it; so if you
+don't find it interesting, pull out the Fluffy's
+feathers, not mine.</p>
+
+<p>"Hildegarde Grahame&mdash;she is Hildegarde
+Merryweather now, but I cannot realise it yet&mdash;has
+been a very dear friend of ours for
+several years. We think there is no one like
+her in the world; I'll show you a picture of
+her by and by. Well, a year ago she became
+engaged to my uncle."</p>
+
+<p>"Your uncle!" cried the girls. "Why, I
+thought she was a girl!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[122]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"So she is a girl, but Roger&mdash;well, he is
+my uncle, but he isn't so very much older
+than I am. That is&mdash;he is twenty-five, and
+Hildegarde is twenty; so you see it is just
+exactly right. There isn't anybody like him,
+either. He is as near an angel as a man can
+come and be alive; and he is tremendously
+clever, really eminent already in his profession,
+and we all love him to distraction."</p>
+
+<p>"Is he handsome?" asked Viola Vincent.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know; yes, I think he is. Not a
+barber-shop beauty, though. He is tall, and
+very strong, broad-shouldered, with the kindest
+eyes in the world, and a smile that makes
+you crinkle all over with pleasure. Well,
+and so they were engaged, and now they are
+married; the wedding was on Wednesday,
+and this is Friday, and here I am. Now I'll
+begin at the very beginning of the day. Of
+course we woke up early, and looked out of
+the window; and it was all gray and cloudy.
+I thought it was going to rain, and I was in
+the depths, but Bell&mdash;you know Bell, my
+sister, at college&mdash;was sure it would clear
+before seven, and so it did. The sun came<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[123]</a></span>
+out bright and clear, and soon we saw that it
+was going to be the most beautiful day that
+ever was. We had been out in the fields all
+day before, getting flowers, and we had them
+all ready in tubs and bowls and pitchers; so
+after breakfast we could go right to work on
+the decorations. We did the church first.
+It is a pretty stone church, with a good
+deep chancel. We filled in the back of the
+chancel with great ferns&mdash;mostly evergreen
+ferns, so that they would not wilt&mdash;and
+palms and things; and then we made banks
+and banks of asters and goldenrod,&mdash;oh, it
+was lovely! Most of them came from the
+camp-pasture, Bertha; you remember how
+lovely it is in September."</p>
+
+<p>Bertha nodded. "I should think I did!"
+she said. "Most beautiful place I ever saw,
+except the rest of it all."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I never saw it look more beautiful
+than that day before the wedding, when Bell
+and the boys and I rode out on our wheels,
+and came back by moonlight, with great
+bundles of purple and gold tied on our backs
+and nodding over our heads. But all the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[124]</a></span>
+ferns and the asters and chrysanthemums
+and roses came mostly from Hildegarde's own
+garden at Braeside, and from Roseholme, Colonel
+Ferrers's place. We might have carpeted
+the church entirely with asters, if we had
+wanted to; as it was, we had great garlands
+of them twined over the chancel rail and
+swinging among the ferns and goldenrod;
+really, I never saw so many flowers at one
+time in my life. When that was all done we
+went to the house, Braeside, the Grahames'
+house, to see if we could help there; but Mrs.
+Flower, a friend of Hildegarde's, of whom we
+used to be the least little bit jealous before
+we knew her, was there, and another friend,
+Miss Desmond,&mdash;she was one of the bridesmaids,&mdash;and
+they had everything so beautifully
+arranged that there was nothing for us
+to do but stand and admire it with all our
+eyes. People in New York had sent down all
+kinds of splendid flowers, boxes and boxes of
+them, so that the house was a perfect bower,
+and smelt like the Vale of Cashmere; but we
+knew very well that Hilda would like our
+flowers best. Then&mdash;well, a lot more presents<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[125]</a></span>
+had come since the night before, so as
+there was time enough before dressing, we
+went in to see them. I don't suppose you
+care about the presents, girls!"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh! oh! we do!" cried the girls, in chorus.
+"We want to hear about every single one,
+Snowy."</p>
+
+<p>"My dears! it would take me all night,
+and then I couldn't remember them all. But
+I'll try and tell you some of them. Let me
+see! Colonel Ferrers gave her a set of sapphires;
+the most beautiful things you ever
+saw. Necklace and pendant and pin, most
+wonderful dark blue stones, set in star-shape.
+And Jack Ferrers and his father gave her
+some wonderful Roman gold-work&mdash;I don't
+know how to describe it, I never saw anything
+like it&mdash;that Jack picked up in Europe.
+Then there was silver, heaps and heaps of it,
+from relatives in New York and I don't know
+where; some of it very handsome indeed, but
+I don't care so much about silver, do you?
+I remember there were ten salt-cellars, no two
+alike. But the things we cared for were the
+small presents that came from people we knew;<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[126]</a></span>
+people who loved Hildegarde, not just because
+she was their grandniece or something,
+but because she was herself. Oh, some of
+them were funny, girls! There were two
+dear old people who had come a long way to
+the wedding, a Mr. and Mrs. Hartley, with
+whom Hilda spent a summer when she was
+about fifteen, and whom she has been fond of
+ever since. I should think she would be; the
+old lady has a face like Raphael's grandmother&mdash;I
+can't think of any other way of
+describing it; and Mr. Hartley is simply a
+duck, the dearest funny old man you ever
+saw. Well, they brought Hilda the most
+beautiful toilet-set I ever saw or dreamed
+of,&mdash;something wonderful, all blue dragons
+and gilding. Papa said it was very rare;
+and Hilda cried when she saw it, and scolded
+them dreadfully for bringing it away from its
+own room; but still she was delighted to have
+it, and says she will never use any other.
+Then there was young Doctor Chirk,&mdash;funny
+name, isn't it?&mdash;Mrs. Flower's brother. Such
+a nice, bright, jolly fellow! Well, he was part
+of that same summer, it seems, and he carved<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[127]</a></span>
+a beautiful frame out of wood that grew in
+Hartley's Glen; and Mrs. Flower, who paints
+very well, had made a picture of the glen
+itself&mdash;lovely place!&mdash;for the frame, or I
+suppose the frame was made to fit the picture,
+no matter which; and <i>that</i> filled her
+with joy.</p>
+
+<p>"Then there were the people from Bywood.
+My dear, Miss Wealthy Bond is the most
+beautiful creature I have ever seen, except
+two. She is just like live Dresden china,
+smiling and dimpling; and the dear quaint
+maid who came with her, Martha, had made
+Hildegarde's whole winter provision of jellies
+and jams, because 'it wasn't likely Hildegarde
+would have time herself this first season,
+and it wasn't a thing you could trust to
+hired help in general.' Miss Bond herself
+had brought china&mdash;my dear! did you ever
+see tortoise-shell crockery? Well, it is a most
+beautiful thing, and the art was lost a hundred
+years ago, and each piece is worth I don't
+know how much; but this dear old lady had
+a dozen plates, all hexagonal, too, and not a
+single point broken or chipped, and two pitchers,&mdash;well,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[128]</a></span>
+I haven't the heart even to think
+of those pitchers, I wanted them so,&mdash;and
+they were all for Hilda, because Hilda had
+brought the sunshine back into her life, she
+told me.</p>
+
+<p>"Girls, it was the same story everywhere.
+Mrs. Grahame being so delicate, and Hilda so
+busy, Bell and I were there a great deal the
+few days before the wedding, and we took the
+guests to walk and drive and so on. Everywhere
+it was the same story, the joy and
+brightness and love that this one girl had
+carried with her wherever she went. I never
+shall forget it&mdash;never.</p>
+
+<p>"Then&mdash;let me see&mdash;what next? Oh! I
+had nearly forgotten the dear little boy, Benny,
+Miss Bond's adopted son. He considers Hilda
+his own private property, and he was furiously
+jealous of Roger and everybody else. When
+he first came it was quite sad, really, the child
+was so unhappy, and there was no consoling
+him. He wanted Hilda to sing to him and
+play with him just as she did when she was
+staying there at Bywood; and naturally she
+couldn't, poor dear, though it was wonderful<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[129]</a></span>
+how she managed to be with them all a little
+every day, and to see to almost everything, so
+that her mother should have no care or worry.
+Well, where was I? oh! the little boys.
+Hugh Allen, our Hugh,&mdash;I can't stop to
+tell you about Hugh now, but he is the dearest,
+queerest little fellow,&mdash;Hugh watched
+all this for awhile, and then he took Benny
+away with him, down into the garden, and
+they were gone a long time. And when they
+came back Benny marched straight up to
+Roger, and said, 'You are nice! you can have
+my girl,' and then marched off again, and
+went and cried, poor lamb, till Hugh comforted
+him.</p>
+
+<p>"But I am not getting on with the presents,
+am I? We all gave her linen, because she
+had to have that, and we wanted to do something
+ourselves; so we, my mother and Bell
+and Kitty and I, hemmed every one of the
+table-cloths and napkins, and embroidered the
+marks on all the towels, and had a beautiful
+time over it. Mammy read to us part of the
+time while we sewed, all the interesting weddings
+that she could find in history or fiction,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[130]</a></span>
+and that was great fun; then she wrote some
+funny verses to go with them, and they really
+were lovely patterns, so it was a nice present,
+though strictly necessary, you see. Oh, I
+haven't told you about the diamonds! Helena
+Desmond was so funny about them! 'Hilda,'
+she said, 'it was clear from the beginning that
+I must be offered up on the altar of diamonds.
+I detest diamonds. They are absolutely uninteresting;
+they are almost vulgar. Never
+mind, you have to have some, and nobody
+else will be stupid and commonplace enough
+to give them to you. I had hopes of your
+Aunt Emily, but she has expended herself in
+lace, and was so happy over it that I hadn't
+the heart to whisper "diamonds!" in her ear,
+as I had meant to do. Here they are, my
+child; the customary horrors!'</p>
+
+<p>"Well, they were very beautiful, though I
+confess I should have liked pearls better for
+Hilda. A diamond crescent and star, really
+splendid. She is very rich, you know."</p>
+
+<p>"Is that the great beauty?" asked a girl.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, she is superb, certainly. Next to
+Hilda, perhaps&mdash;but I'll come to that presently.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[131]</a></span>
+Well, now perhaps I have told you
+half the things, or rather more than half; but
+they are the things I cared most about, you
+see. I can't go into a list of forks and spoons.
+So now I come to the wedding itself."</p>
+
+<p>The girls drew a long breath and leaned
+forward; presents were very well, but weddings
+were better.</p>
+
+<p>"It was at noon, of course. There were
+only two bridesmaids, Helena Desmond and
+I. Hilda said she wanted only her nearest
+and dearest, so she would not ask her cousins,
+though I fancy they had hoped to be asked.
+She wanted Bell, but Bell said it was positively
+necessary that she should play the organ,
+and so it was. We wore perfectly plain white
+muslin gowns, but, oh, they were so pretty!
+with soft pale green sashes, and little wreaths
+of ivy in our hair. Hildegarde wanted everything
+as simple as possible, so we didn't go
+into hats, or any of that kind of nonsense.
+Jerry&mdash;my brother Gerald&mdash;was best man,
+and the ushers were Phil and Willy, my other
+brothers, and Jack Ferrers and Doctor Chirk
+and Hugh Allen. Well, so the hour came.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[132]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Helena and I were ready and waiting at
+Braeside when Hilda came down-stairs. Girls,
+you never saw anything so lovely in your
+lives as she was. Her dress was very simple,
+too, white embroidered muslin, exquisitely
+fine. Colonel Ferrers brought it from India,
+years and years ago, for a lovely young girl
+who died while he was on his way home. It
+had been made in the house, and it looked
+just like her, as her dresses always do. She
+wore a little gold pin that Roger made for her
+himself,&mdash;mined the gold and all,&mdash;no other
+ornament, and a wreath of white roses, roses
+that the Roseholme gardener had been nursing
+all summer to make them blossom just at
+the right time. That was his present; everybody
+wanted to do something, you see."</p>
+
+<p>"What does she look like?" asked a girl.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, you have to see her to know what
+she really looks like, for half of it is the expression
+and the look in her eyes. Gray eyes,
+so clear and true,&mdash;you know she couldn't
+say or do anything unkind or false to save
+her life,&mdash;and a colour just like a wild rose,
+and a nose,&mdash;well, it's just her own nose,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[133]</a></span>
+tilted up a little, but perfectly delightful; and
+when she smiles, you think she has the most
+beautiful mouth in the world, though I don't
+suppose she really has. Here, this gives you
+a little idea of her; just a very little, for it
+doesn't begin to think of doing her justice."</p>
+
+<p>The girls clustered eagerly to see the photograph,
+which was passed on from hand to
+hand. It was a lovely face, indeed, at which
+they looked; yet, as Gertrude said, the actual
+beauty was the least part of its charm. Truth
+and kindness shone from it; not the lightest
+and most foolish girl there but felt grave for
+a moment, meeting that steady look of cheer
+and constancy.</p>
+
+<p>"And yet she looks awfully jolly, too!"
+said one, breaking the silence, and voicing
+the thought of all.</p>
+
+<p>"My dear, she is more fun&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Than a goat?" asked a new voice; and
+Grace Wolfe slipped in quietly at the window,
+and, nodding to the company, took her seat
+on the floor.</p>
+
+<p>"I have heard all!" she said. "Go on,
+Snowy! I see now where you got your virtues;<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[134]</a></span>
+this young woman has much to answer
+for."</p>
+
+<p>Gertrude looked at her kindly, but said
+nothing; in a moment the story went on.</p>
+
+<p>"We walked over to the church&mdash;it is
+only a few steps&mdash;just as we were, without
+any formal arrangement. Hilda held her
+mother's hand fast all the time; they were
+both very quiet. The dear old black cook
+walked with them, crying all the way. Hugh
+had Hilda's other hand. I&mdash;I can't tell about
+this part."</p>
+
+<p>Gertrude's voice faltered for a moment;
+then she went on more steadily.</p>
+
+<p>"Colonel Ferrers was waiting at the church
+door, with his brother, Mr. Raymond Ferrers.
+All the ushers were there, too, and we could
+see that the church was full. And, oh! just
+a little way from the door was a band of little
+girls, Hilda's sewing-class, and they all had
+baskets of flowers, and scattered them in front
+of her as she walked. I forgot to put that in
+where it belonged, but it was very pretty, and
+if you had seen the way they looked at her!</p>
+
+<p>"Well, then it all seemed to happen in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[135]</a></span>
+a moment. Mr. Raymond Ferrers took Mrs.
+Grahame up the aisle; and then the organ
+broke out with the wedding march. I have
+heard my sister Bell play pretty well, but
+never as she did then. It seemed to fill the
+whole world, and yet it was not too loud,
+either. Then the ushers went up, and then
+Helena and I, and then came our dear bride
+on Colonel Ferrers' arm. Roger was waiting
+at the altar steps with Gerald. He came
+forward to meet her, and took both her
+hands,&mdash;oh, with such a beautiful look in
+his face! and then drew her arm through his,
+so proud and quiet and happy, and then the
+service went on. They both spoke so clearly,
+everybody could hear them, and the ring was
+ready, and there was not a mistake anywhere;
+only both Jerry and the colonel were on the
+point of breaking down, both of them, and
+every time the colonel blew his nose I could
+see Jerry start and wince. And so they were
+married, and the music broke out again, and
+Roger put back the veil and kissed his wife;
+and&mdash;and then they came back down the
+aisle, and&mdash;and&mdash;and that is all!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[136]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Gertrude had struggled hard for composure.
+She had nearly outgrown the childish proneness
+to tears, which in early days had earned
+her the home sobriquet of "Chelsea Waterworks;"
+but this recital touched her too
+nearly, and she had overcalculated her power
+of self-restraint. Her voice broke altogether,
+and she could only nod and smile through
+her tears on Bertha, who was regarding her
+remorsefully.</p>
+
+<p>"I ought not to have made you, Toots!"
+said Bertha. "I did want them to hear it,
+it has been so beautiful. Don't cry, dear!"
+But Grace Wolfe came and laid her hand on
+Gertrude's shoulder, and spoke in a tone one
+hardly ever heard in that voice.</p>
+
+<p>"Don't stop her!" she said, gravely. "Let
+her cry! It's good for her&mdash;and for all of
+us! Snowy, your friend is a blessed creature,
+and you are another."</p>
+
+<p>No one spoke for a few moments. Peggy
+was crying quietly in her corner, and feeling
+that she had been at the wedding herself, and
+wondering what she should possibly do if
+Margaret should ever get married.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[137]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>But now the Snowy Owl wiped away her
+tears in good earnest, and spoke in her own
+cheerful tones.</p>
+
+<p>"Come, this will never do. Girls, we
+have extra time to-night, Miss Russell was
+so kind when I told her what I wanted to
+do; but even that time will be up if we
+don't mind. Volunteers to toast marshmallows!"</p>
+
+<p>Instantly there was a rush and a cry. A
+dozen hands were stretched out. Hat-pins
+appeared, as if by magic, brandished on every
+side. In another moment a dozen marshmallows
+were frizzling over the gas-jets, while
+the student lamp did duty for several more.
+As soon as one was done, it was popped, hissing
+hot, into an open mouth, and the hat-pin,
+charged with another freight, returned to the
+charge. Cries of mingled joy and anguish
+rose on every side.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I am burnt entirely! The skin is all
+off my lips."</p>
+
+<p>"Here, for me one!"</p>
+
+<p>"No, she has had two already! Fluffy, my
+turn next!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[138]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>It was a merry Babel. The fun rose higher
+and higher. Peggy dried her eyes, and looked
+on wondering. How could they hear each
+other? They were all talking at once, each
+one faster than the other.</p>
+
+<p>"My dear! Perf'ly fine, wasn't it? Oh,
+I do love to hear a tell&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"When my cousin was married, she had
+eight bridesmaids, and they wore just mob
+caps, not another thing&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Orange-blossoms are too sweet for anything,
+but they make some people&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Simply pea-green, my dear, with fright,
+and she had blue woollen socks on over her
+white slippers&mdash;'something blue,' you know,&mdash;and
+forgot to take them off&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Her head, and you never saw anything
+like it in your life. It measured three yards
+around, if it did&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"A sunburst, you know, diamonds and
+pearls. I adore diamonds, for my part.
+Why, to be married without diamonds would
+be&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Simply fierce! I should die, I know I
+should, before I got half-way up the aisle.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[139]</a></span>
+But to see one, and the music and flowers
+and all, is&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Dandy! perf'ly dandy! I wouldn't miss
+it for all the&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Flounces, my dear, up to the waist, as
+true as I sit here! and she said 'No!' She
+said: 'Before I'll be flounced to the waist,
+I'll&mdash;'"</p>
+
+<p>"Marry a tin peddler! said there was
+nothing in the world she'd like better, because
+then she could&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Sit still the whole morning without moving
+a muscle, for fear of breaking her&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Heart, with forty pearls and sixty diamonds.
+Fact, I assure you, my dear! I had
+it from&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"A perfect brute, not fit for any one to&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>Here, Destiny knocked on the door; the
+round, rosy face of Miss Carey, the housekeeper,
+looked in.</p>
+
+<p>"Girls, you really must go to bed. Miss
+Russell sent me to say so. Do you know
+what time it is?"</p>
+
+<p>Grace Wolfe slipped like a shadow out of
+the window and was gone unseen; the assembly<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[140]</a></span>
+broke up with laughter and cheers for
+the Snowy and the Fluffy, and snatches of
+talk bubbling all the way along the corridor.
+When Peggy reached her room, she found the
+Scapegoat already there, sitting on the floor
+and chanting solemnly:</p>
+
+<div class='poem'>
+"I have nailed my Puggy's slippers<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">Down upon her closet floor.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">She may pray with both her flippers,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">But she'll never use them more!"</span><br />
+</div>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[141]</a></span></p>
+<h2>CHAPTER VIII.</h2>
+
+<h3>BY MOONLIGHT.</h3>
+
+
+<p>The time went quickly enough at Miss
+Russell's. Once the routine established, lesson
+followed lesson and day followed day
+with amazing rapidity. Before Peggy could
+realise that she was fairly settled, a month
+had passed. It was not so bad now; in fact,
+a good deal of it was very pleasant, she was
+obliged to admit. Her geometry was a constantly
+progressing joy; so was her anatomy,
+and she had the happy consciousness that she
+was doing well in both studies. This enabled
+her to bear up against the bitterness of rhetoric
+and of Miss Pugsley. As for the history,
+once equally dreaded, its terrors had nearly
+vanished. Miss Cortlandt had a way of making
+things so clear that one could not help
+remembering them once they were explained.
+Furthermore, she managed to invest the lay-figures<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[142]</a></span>
+of dead and gone kings and conquerors
+with life and motion. Alexander the Great
+was no longer a tiresome person in a book,
+who cried in an absurd way when there was
+nothing left to conquer. That had always
+exasperated Peggy, "because if he had had
+any sense, he would have gone on, and found
+out for himself what a lot more there was,
+that his old books and seers and things had
+never found out." But now, she found
+Alexander in the first place a boy who
+knew about horses, which in itself was a
+great thing, and in the second place a man
+who knew about a great many other things,
+and who acted on his knowledge in a variety
+of swift and surprising ways. As with this
+hero, so with others, till Peggy came to look
+forward, actually, to the history hour; which
+shows what a teacher can do when she understands
+her girls, and knows enough to call
+Plutarch and his peers (if any!) to aid her in
+her task.</p>
+
+<p>But when all was said and done, Peggy
+was not cut out for a student; and her happiest
+hours were not those of even the pleasantest<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[143]</a></span>
+class-room. Basket-ball claimed her
+for its own, and she proved an apt and ready
+learner in this branch of study. Less swift
+than Grace Wolfe, who seemed a thing compact
+of steel and gossamer, she was far
+stronger to meet an attack, and many a
+rush came and passed, and left the stalwart
+freshman standing steady and undaunted in
+her place.</p>
+
+<p>The hours of sport brought the two girls
+nearer and nearer together; and Peggy found
+herself yielding more and more&mdash;often against
+her own judgment&mdash;to the fascination of the
+lawless girl, who on her part seemed curiously
+drawn to the simple, downright, law-abiding
+freshman.</p>
+
+<p>It was about this time that Peggy found
+out why her room had been called Broadway.
+The nights were still fine and warm, though
+it was now October. Apples were ripe in the
+neighbouring orchards; and though it was
+perfectly practicable and allowable to buy all
+the apples one wanted in the daytime, that
+method did not approve itself to the wilder
+spirits at Miss Russell's school.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[144]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>To slide down the fire-escape, slip across
+the lawn, keeping well under the trees by the
+edge, and so out into the road and down to
+the nearest orchard, only a few rods off,&mdash;this
+was the true way to get apples, and a very
+thrilling way it was. Peggy had been a good
+deal startled when the first merry party, with
+noiseless steps and stifled giggles, came stealing
+into her room, and, nodding to her, made
+their way out of the window and down the
+fire-escape. It never occurred to her to make
+any effort to stop them; they were sophomores,
+and she only a freshman. She supposed
+it was against the rules, but of course
+they would not really do any harm; and oh,
+what a good time they would have!</p>
+
+<p>She looked after them with a sigh, and
+wished them luck in her heart, a successful
+raid, and a safe return. Indeed, it was not
+long before they were back, rosy and breathless,
+with baskets and pockets stuffed with
+apples. The Fresh Freshman, as Peggy was
+called, did not fail to receive her share; and
+she ate it with a little thrill of vicarious
+guilt which was certainly not unpleasant.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[145]</a></span>
+The two Owls never came with these parties;
+and somehow Peggy did not mention
+the matter to them, though she saw them
+constantly, and loved them always more and
+more. Sometimes the expeditions were headed
+by Grace Wolfe, in her wildest mood; sometimes
+it was Viola Vincent, who came tripping
+in with a band of her chosen intimates. Viola
+had several times asked Peggy to be of the
+party, but Peggy had not gone,&mdash;she could
+hardly have said why. Why was it that
+Grace had never asked her? If she had,
+perhaps&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>The night came when Grace did ask her.</p>
+
+<p>Peggy had been studying as usual, and the
+signal for "lights out" came while she was
+still at her task. Out went the light, for
+Peggy was, as we have said, a law-abiding citizen.
+She was groping about, not yet used to
+the half-light of the growing moon, when the
+door opened, and Grace glided in with her
+usual noiseless tread. She laid her hand over
+Peggy's mouth without a word, and stood
+motionless, seeming to listen. Then she said
+aloud and deliberately:<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[146]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I must go this minute. I had no
+idea it was so late. Suppose Miss Pugsley
+should catch us! You know she goes around
+and listens at the doors every now and then,
+and looks through the keyholes to see what
+is going on."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Grace!" said Peggy.</p>
+
+<p>"Fact, I assure you. I sometimes wonder
+what Miss Russell would say if she knew it.
+That isn't her own style, you see. The fun
+of it is, the other never realises that the
+wheeze gives her away every time."</p>
+
+<p>Grace Wolfe had the ears of a fox; but, in
+the pause that followed, even Peggy heard, or
+fancied she heard, a breathing outside the
+door. It was only for an instant, if, indeed,
+it had been at all; yet in another moment
+a board creaked somewhere along the
+corridor, and again in a moment came the
+slight but unmistakable sound of a closing
+door.</p>
+
+<p>Grace laughed, and pirouetted merrily on
+one foot, looking in the moonlight like a
+glimmering sprite.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Grace!" repeated Peggy, aghast.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[147]</a></span>
+"Was she&mdash;could she have been there, do
+you think?"</p>
+
+<p>"She could very easily have been there.
+Innocent," replied the Scapegoat. "Indeed,
+she was. I saw the glitter of her eye, and a
+sweet thing it was."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, but how could you? how dared you?
+Surely, you will get into dreadful trouble,
+Grace."</p>
+
+<p>"Not I!" said Grace. "She can't report
+me, you observe, without saying that she was
+listening at the door. And even if she did,
+Miss Russell would ask her what I said, and
+she would be sad and sorry to relate that.
+No! this time I am safe enough, my Prairie
+Flower. But come, now that I am here, shall
+we be merry?</p>
+
+<div class='poem'>
+"The owl is abroad, the bat, and the toad,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">And so is the catamountain.</span><br />
+</div>
+
+<p>"Shall the Goat be lacking on such a night
+as this, or the Wolf either? One has one's
+responsibilities toward one's names. Come,
+Innocent, we'll go abroad and celebrate my
+victory over my Puggy!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[148]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Grace's tone was as quiet as ever, but she
+was more excited than Peggy had ever seen
+her. Her eyes shone; her hair, which was
+very beautiful, was unbraided for some reason&mdash;one
+never knew what whim would seize
+the whimsical one&mdash;and hung like a mantle
+about her shoulders. Standing thus, with her
+hand on the window, she looked, as I have
+said, like a creature from another world.</p>
+
+<p>"Come!" she repeated; and Peggy had
+never heard sweeter music than her voice.</p>
+
+<p>"Do you&mdash;do you think I ought to?"
+stammered the freshman, moving toward the
+window.</p>
+
+<p>"One owes it to the catamountain!" cried
+Grace. "As for the owls,&mdash;well, they will
+be abroad!" she added, with a low laugh.
+"They would be far enough abroad if they
+knew. Come, Innocent!"</p>
+
+<p>She glided out of the window, and Peggy
+followed, her heart beating to suffocation, her
+cheeks glowing with excitement. To be chosen
+by the Lone Wolf (for this was another of the
+wild girl's nicknames, the third being Ishmael)
+as the companion of one of her solitary rambles<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[149]</a></span>
+was perhaps the most thrilling thing that
+had ever come into Peggy's simple life. Probably
+she would have had courage to resist an
+invitation from any of the frolicsome parties
+that came and went through her room; she
+had no power to resist this. Silently she followed
+the Scapegoat down the iron ladder of
+the fire-escape, across the lawn, out into the
+open road.</p>
+
+<p>Grace turned to her with one of her sudden
+movements, and took both her hands.</p>
+
+<p>"The world's before us, where to choose!"
+she cried. "What shall it be, Innocent?
+Shall we climb up into the tower and ring
+the fire-bell? or go for apples? This is your
+first expedition, you shall choose."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, no, Grace; please! I don't know.
+I cannot. I'll go wherever you go, that's
+all!"</p>
+
+<p>The Scapegoat meditated. "On the whole,"
+she announced, "soda seems to be the thing.
+We'll go and have some soda, Innocent."</p>
+
+<p>"Go down-town?" gasped Peggy.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; why not? Only to Mrs. Button's.
+You know she is the college grandmother;<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[150]</a></span>
+why shouldn't she be ours? Many's the
+time Granny Button has sheltered me from
+the wrath to come. Besides, I have had no
+marshmallows for a week. A vow, a vow!
+I have a vow in heaven to have marshmallows
+once a week, merely for the honour
+of the school."</p>
+
+<p>Granny Button, as she was called, kept
+a neat little shop at the corner of the High
+Street. Here she dispensed soda-water, candy,
+and cakes to the students of school and college.
+She was a little old woman, with a face
+like a dry but still sound winter apple, and
+she shook her head reprovingly as the two
+girls entered.</p>
+
+<p>"Now, Miss Wolfe!" she said. "You
+hadn't ought to come here at this time,
+now you hadn't, my dear. What do you
+want? I declare, I've most of a mind not
+to give it to you, for a wild slip as you are.
+What would Miss Russell say if she should
+come in this blessed minute, Miss Grace?"</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, but she won't, granny!" said Grace,
+coolly. "She's gone to a lecture, you see, so
+it is all right, truly it is.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[151]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class='poem'>
+"I saw her go; one horse was blind,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">The tails of both hung down behind,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Their shoes were on their feet.</span><br />
+</div>
+
+<p>"I got so exhausted studying, I feared the
+vital spark might become extinguished, might
+pop out, granny, if I didn't have some soda.
+Two pineapple creams, please, and be quick
+about it. I'll be getting the marshmallows
+while you pour it."</p>
+
+<p>The old woman filled the long glasses,
+shaking her head all the time, and muttering
+about naughty girls and dark closets.</p>
+
+<p>Peggy drank the soda, but it did not taste
+very good, and her hand trembled as she held
+the glass. Her eyes were fixed on the door,
+and every moment she expected to see it open,
+and Miss Russell or one of the teachers enter.
+But no one came. Grace found the marshmallows,
+and in high spirits brought them to
+Mrs. Button to count and tie up for her.</p>
+
+<p>"Granny, you look lovely to-night!" she
+said. "Don't try to look cross, Granny Button,
+for you don't know how. Smile on me,
+lovely one, for we must kiss and part."</p>
+
+<p>"Indeed, then, we'd better, Miss Grace,"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[152]</a></span>
+cried the good woman; "and don't let me see
+you here again this long while, save and except
+at proper hours. I know well enough
+I ought to tell that good lady of all the times
+you've been here out of hours. Yes, dear, I
+know it well enough, and sometimes it makes
+me uneasy in my bed. But you have the
+beguiling of the serpent himself, Grace Wolfe,
+and you know it, and that's the worst."</p>
+
+<p>"Isn't it?" said Grace, pensively; and her
+large eyes were full of tender gravity, as she
+fixed them on the old woman.</p>
+
+<p>"I'll add serpent to my menagerie, and
+thank you, granny! Nobody ever called you
+serpent, did they, dear? Wait till you come
+to my time in life, and you'll know what it is
+to suffer.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, Innocent, shall we come? After
+all, it is hard to stay where one isn't wanted,
+and the only trouble with Granny Button is
+that she has no heart."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, go, dear!" said the old woman to
+Peggy, eagerly. "Go right along home now,
+and don't let Miss Grace bring ye out again,
+as she's a naughty girl, and so I always tell<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[153]</a></span>
+her, though I never can say no to her, and
+that's the truth. But you are different, dear,
+and a freshman, I'll be bound; and don't let
+me see ye here again without leave or license,
+let alone the hour as is getting on for 'lights
+out.'"</p>
+
+<p>"Fare thee well, my first and fairest!" said
+Grace, kissing her hand at the door. "Till
+our next meeting!"</p>
+
+<p>It was only a few steps back from the turn
+into the High Street. Peggy's pulse began to
+beat more naturally; in a moment, now, they
+would be back, safe back, and she would
+never do it again, no matter what Grace
+thought of her. Fun was fun, but it was
+not worth this; and what would Margaret
+say?</p>
+
+<p>Coming up from the High Street, they
+skirted a field that lay like waving silver
+in the moonlight. Nothing would do but
+that Grace must have a run through this
+field; she declared that it was her favourite
+spot in the world.</p>
+
+<p>"After all, soda and marshmallows are
+carnal!" she insisted. "Our bodies are fed,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[154]</a></span>
+Innocent, our souls starve for want of poetry.
+There is poetry in all that silver waving. I
+must! I must prance, or I shall not rest in
+my bed. Come along!"</p>
+
+<p>And she went flitting about through the
+long grass, hither and thither like a will-o'-the-wisp,
+her long hair floating around her,
+her arms waving in gestures sometimes fantastic,
+but always graceful. Peggy could think
+of nothing but her cousin Rita, as she used to
+dance in the old days at Fernley. What
+a pair she and Grace would make! What a
+mercy they had never come together. Moreover,
+her heart, the heart of a farmer's
+daughter, smote her at the treading down of
+the grass. She stood at the edge of the field,
+now and then calling to her companion and
+urging her to come home, but for the most
+part simply watching her in mingled terror
+and admiration.</p>
+
+<p>At length the wild spirit was satisfied, and
+Grace came flying back, radiant and breathless.</p>
+
+<p>"That was glorious!" she said. "Poor
+little Innocent, you haven't much soul, have<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[155]</a></span>
+you? Still, I love you. Come, we will go
+back to the shades."</p>
+
+<p>They neared the gate; as they did so, they
+heard voices and the sound of approaching
+footsteps. Grace paused for a moment; then
+held up her hand with a warning gesture.
+Peggy felt her heart turn cold; it was coming!
+one of the voices was that of Miss Russell.
+It was impossible for them to escape
+being seen. The broad stretch of the lawn
+lay between them and safety, and the relentless
+moonlight lay full upon the hedge which
+had lain in shadow when they came out.
+Peggy braced herself to meet the shock; but
+Grace laid a hand on her arm, and then made
+a gesture. A great tree stood just by the
+gate of Pentland School; a chestnut-tree,
+with low-jutting, wide-spreading branches.
+With the swift movement of some woodland
+creature, Grace Wolfe swung herself up to
+the lowest branch, and motioned Peggy to
+follow; Peggy was a good climber, too; more
+slowly, but with equal agility, she gained the
+branch; then softly, slowly, both girls crept
+along, inward and upward, till a thick<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[156]</a></span>
+screen of leaves hid them completely from
+sight.</p>
+
+<p>Two ladies came around the turn, and
+paused a moment at the gate,&mdash;Miss Russell
+and Miss Cortlandt. They stood directly
+under the chestnut-tree; Peggy could have
+dropped a nut down exactly on the crown of
+Miss Russell's bonnet; she never knew how
+near Grace came to doing so, nor how hard it
+was to refrain for her, Peggy's, sake.</p>
+
+<p>"I hope not!" said Miss Russell. "I do
+most earnestly hope not."</p>
+
+<p>"I am afraid there is little doubt of
+it!" replied Miss Cortlandt. "Miss Pugsley
+seemed quite positive; I know she means to
+bring it up at Faculty Meeting to-morrow
+night."</p>
+
+<p>Miss Russell sighed. "Then it will not be
+done in the wisest manner!" she said. "I
+can say this to you, Emily, for you understand
+her as well as I do. I had hoped," she
+continued, "that the whole business would be
+over when Wilhelmina Lightwood&mdash;well, I
+suppose she will always be 'Billy,' even to
+me&mdash;when Billy went away. I put Peggy<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[157]</a></span>
+Montfort there, because she seemed such an
+honest, steady, sensible kind of girl. I
+thought I could trust Peggy Montfort."</p>
+
+<p>"I think you can!" said Miss Cortlandt.
+"I don't believe Peggy has had any share in
+the flittings. But I do think it might perhaps
+have been better to tell her all about it,
+and put her on her guard. Being a new girl,
+she might not feel at liberty to stop the older
+ones when they came; and she could not tell
+of it. You see, Miss Russell, it is such a
+little time since I was a 'girl' myself, that I
+haven't got away from their point of view yet."</p>
+
+<p>"I hope you never will, my dear!" said
+Miss Russell, warmly. "It is when I get too
+far away from that point of view myself that
+I make mistakes. Yes, I ought to have put
+the child on her guard; I'll do so to-morrow."</p>
+
+<p>She looked over toward the school, and
+sighed again.</p>
+
+<p>"Broad is the way that leadeth to destruction!"
+she said. "It was Grace who gave it
+the name, of course. Poor Grace!"</p>
+
+<p>"Poor Grace!" echoed Miss Cortlandt; and
+then the two passed on.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[158]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>They were two very silent girls who
+crossed the lawn five minutes later. Grace
+Wolfe held her head high, and walked with
+her usual airy grace; her face was grave, but
+perhaps no graver than usual. Still, she did
+not speak; as for Peggy, she was too bowed
+down with shame and wretchedness to think
+even of her companion. She had been
+trusted; and she had betrayed the trust.
+There seemed nothing in the whole world
+but that.</p>
+
+<p>They parted outside Peggy's window.
+Grace was going up a story higher on the
+fire-escape, Peggy did not think nor ask
+where.</p>
+
+<p>No word was spoken; only, Grace laid her
+hand on Peggy's shoulder and looked in her
+face for a moment. Peggy could not speak,
+could only shake her head. A single sob
+broke from her lips; then she hurried in,
+and closed the window behind her.</p>
+
+<p>Then Grace Wolfe did a singular thing.
+Standing on the iron step, she took from her
+pocket the packet of marshmallows, and
+deliberately scattered them over the lawn,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[159]</a></span>
+throwing each one as far as her arm could
+reach.</p>
+
+<p>"For the frogs!" she explained, aloud.
+"With the compliments of the Goat, the
+Wolf, and the Serpent,&mdash;to which is now
+added the Beast which Perishes!"</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[160]</a></span></p>
+<h2>CHAPTER IX.</h2>
+
+<h3>FACULTY MEETING AND BEDLAM.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"Have you proof of this, Miss Pugsley?"</p>
+
+<p>"I am perfectly sure of it, Miss Russell!"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; I am sure you would be, before you
+spoke of it; but have you the proof? Of
+course, before taking any such serious step as
+you propose, I should, in justice to all, be
+obliged to ask for positive proof."</p>
+
+<p>"Proof!" cried Miss Pugsley, in some excitement.
+"Proof enough! Look at my bonnet,
+Miss Russell. Oblige me by smelling of
+it. I can never wear it again, never! I tell
+you, brandy has been poured over it. Here
+are the slippers!" She produced a pair of
+slippers which were certainly in a sad condition.
+"They were nailed&mdash;nailed with tenpenny
+nails, to the floor of my closet; they
+are totally ruined. Look&mdash;I ask you all,
+ladies, to look at my hand-glass!" She held<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[161]</a></span>
+up the glass; and at the sight Emily Cortlandt
+had one of those violent fits of coughing
+that often troubled her; this one was so bad
+that she was obliged to leave the room for a
+moment. The worst of it was that one or
+two of the other teachers seemed to have
+caught the infection, for there was a regular
+outbreak of coughing and choking, which only
+a severe glance from Miss Russell checked.</p>
+
+<p>Somebody had painted a face on the little
+mirror. It covered the whole surface; the
+face of a monkey, with grinning mouth, and
+twinkling, malicious eyes; it had an undoubted
+resemblance to Miss Pugsley. As
+she held it up with a tragic gesture, the effect
+was so absurd that even Miss Russell might
+have wished that she could&mdash;cough!</p>
+
+<p>"It lay on my dressing-table, face downward,"
+Miss Pugsley went on. "I had just
+done my hair for tea,&mdash;I am scrupulous in
+such matters,&mdash;and took up the glass to see
+that my pug was straight behind. I looked&mdash;and
+saw this. Ladies, I could have fainted on
+the floor. My nerves being what they are, it
+is a marvel that I did not."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[162]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"I am very, very sorry, Miss Pugsley," said
+Miss Russell, gravely. "If I knew who had
+done this&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"But I tell you I do know, Miss Russell!"
+cried Miss Pugsley, vindictively. "I tell you
+that there is only one girl in the school who
+is capable of all this, and that girl is Grace
+Wolfe!"</p>
+
+<p>There was a moment's silence.</p>
+
+<p>"Have you found Grace in your room at
+any time, Miss Pugsley?" demanded Miss
+Russell.</p>
+
+<p>No, Miss Pugsley had not, but that made
+no difference. Grace had done the things,
+there was no shadow of a doubt of it.</p>
+
+<p>"Have you been careful to lock your door
+when you left the room?"</p>
+
+<p>"Miss Russell, you know that locks and
+bolts make no possible difference to Grace
+Wolfe. The girl is cut out for a malefactor.
+I prophesy that she will be in
+State's prison before she has been out of
+school a year."</p>
+
+<p>"I must request you not to speak in this
+way of any of my young ladies," said the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[163]</a></span>
+Principal, sternly. "You have been the victim
+of some very malicious practical jokes,
+Miss Pugsley. I shall look into the matter
+thoroughly, and shall do my best to discover
+the offender, and shall punish her&mdash;or them&mdash;as
+I think best." She laid a slight emphasis
+on the last words.</p>
+
+<p>"Then you refuse to expel Grace Wolfe?"
+said Miss Pugsley, quivering with anger.</p>
+
+<p>"On such evidence as you have brought
+forward to-night? certainly," said Miss Russell,
+with some severity. "I have no proof
+whatever that Miss Wolfe played any of these
+pranks, though I admit it is probable that she
+may have done so. You found the bandbox
+outside your door, where Bridget admits she
+left it several days before. You left your
+door unlocked on a rainy half-holiday, when
+sixty or more girls were constantly passing
+and repassing; there are half a dozen girls,
+I am sorry to say, who might have been
+tempted by the open door to play some prank
+of the kind which seems so clever to children,
+and so silly to older people."</p>
+
+<p>Why did Miss Russell look toward the window<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[164]</a></span>
+as she spoke? But now she was looking
+at Miss Pugsley again.</p>
+
+<p>"You and Grace are not friends, I know,
+Miss Pugsley," she went on. "I am sorry for
+it, for I think all the rest of us feel how much
+that is fine and noble might&mdash;may still be
+brought out of that untamed spirit. She has
+never known a mother, remember. The name
+of the Scapegoat, which she has given herself,
+may, I sometimes think, reflect blame on the
+rest of us as well as on her. It is true that,
+whatever mischief is afoot, it is sure to be
+laid at Grace's door. This is mainly her own
+fault, of course&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"I should think so!" snorted Miss Pugsley.</p>
+
+<p>"But not entirely," the Principal went on.
+"There are other mischievous girls in the
+school. I should like to know how Grace
+has been doing this month in her various
+classes," she added, turning to the other
+teachers.</p>
+
+<p>On this point the testimony was unanimous.
+Grace Wolfe led many of the classes; she was
+well up in all, and had passed her examinations
+in a way that did credit both to her intelligence<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[165]</a></span>
+and her industry. Thus testified
+every teacher, except the small brown mouse
+who taught drawing in Pentland School.
+This mouse, Miss Mink by name, had crept
+away silently, and left the room, after one
+glance at the hand-glass; she knew that but
+one hand in the school could have drawn that
+monkey, and though her heart swelled with
+pride, she feared for her darling pupil.</p>
+
+<p>There was a pause after the teachers had
+given their testimony; then Miss Pugsley
+returned to the attack.</p>
+
+<p>"I certainly hope justice will be done, Miss
+Russell," she said, with a smile of sweetened
+vinegar. "It would be a great pity, wouldn't
+it, if the school got the reputation&mdash;he! he!&mdash;of
+injustice and favouritism?"</p>
+
+<p>"It would," said the Principal, gravely.</p>
+
+<p>"But there is another matter that I feel
+bound to speak of before we separate," Miss
+Pugsley went on. "Are you aware that room
+No. 18, in corridor A, the room formerly occupied
+by Miss Lightwood, is again being used
+as a place of exit for parties of students going
+on lawless expeditions?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[166]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The Principal looked at her steadily.</p>
+
+<p>"I fear that is true," said one of the other
+teachers. "I had meant to speak to you
+before about it, Miss Russell, but waited till
+to-night."</p>
+
+<p>"Of course it makes no possible difference
+to me!" cried Miss Pugsley. "It is not my
+corridor, and I have no authority there; but
+as long as one is in the school, of course one
+must consider the honour of it, you know, and
+I am glad some one else is here to bear me
+out in <i>this</i> complaint."</p>
+
+<p>The Principal still looked at Miss Pugsley;
+teachers who had been long in the school were
+glad that she was not looking at them in that
+way.</p>
+
+<p>"I have heard of this matter before," Miss
+Russell said, at last. "I am going to devote
+my own time to investigating it, and think I
+shall need no help; though I thank you," it
+was to Miss Ivors that she spoke, "for bringing
+it to my notice, as it was right for you to
+do. I think I need not detain you longer,
+ladies."</p>
+
+<p>When the teachers were gone, Miss Russell<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[167]</a></span>
+stepped to the window and said, softly,
+"Grace!"</p>
+
+<p>There was no reply. An owl hooted in the
+distance; a bird chirped somewhere near by.
+That was all.</p>
+
+<p>"Grace!" said the Principal again. "If
+you are there, I wish you would come in and
+let me speak to you."</p>
+
+<p>Still no reply. After waiting a moment,
+the Principal closed the window with a sigh.
+On leaving the room she paused a moment to
+look at the photograph of a lovely young
+woman, in the dress of twenty years ago,
+which stood on her desk.</p>
+
+<p>"Dear Edith!" said Miss Russell. "My
+first pupil! I'll keep your girl for you, Edith,
+if I can!"</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>Was Grace Wolfe outside the window when
+the Principal called her? Who can tell? It
+is certain that ten minutes after she was at
+the supper in Bedlam.</p>
+
+<p>The tenant of Bedlam, Miss Cornelia Hatch
+(familiarly known as Colney Hatch, in remembrance
+of the famous English Insane<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[168]</a></span>
+Asylum), was not actually mad, though many
+of the scholars thought her so. She was a
+special student of natural history, botany, and
+zoology; she was absent-minded and forgetful
+to the last degree. When she came into class,
+she often had to be brought there, some good-natured
+classmate dragging her away by main
+force from her private experiments. If she
+did remember to come of her own accord, she
+was apt to have a half-completed articulation
+hanging around her neck, or a dried frog skin
+stuck behind her ear for safe-keeping. Her
+hair was generally untidy, owing to this habit
+of sticking things in it while she worked; you
+never could tell what it would be, vertebr&aelig;,
+or seaweed, or pine-cones, but you could
+safely reckon on finding something extraneous
+in Colney's ruffled black hair. As for
+her clothes, she was usually enveloped in a
+huge brown gingham apron, with many pockets,
+which held snakes, or eggs, or roots, or
+anything else that would not go comfortably
+in her hair. When the apron became too
+dirty (she had had two at the beginning of
+the term, but one had been destroyed in an<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[169]</a></span>
+explosion), Miss Carey took it away and
+washed it, while Colney went around looking
+scared and miserable in a queer flannel gown
+of a pinkish shade. Report said it had once
+been brown, but that the colour had been
+changed by the fumes of something or other,
+no one knew what. Sometimes she had buttons
+on frock and apron, more often not.
+Periodically, Miss Carey or the Owls descended
+upon her, and sewed on her buttons
+and mended her up generally; and she was
+very grateful, and said how nice it was to
+have buttons. But she soon pulled them off
+again, because she never had time to do anything
+but tear her clothes off when she went
+to bed, and drag them on again when she got
+up. When a button flew off, she pinned the
+place over, if a pin was in sight; if not, she
+went without; it made no difference to her,
+and she was not conscious of it in five minutes.
+Miss Russell, and most of the teachers, were
+very tender with Colney. She was poor, and
+meant to work her way through college; even
+now she paid part of her schooling by stuffing
+birds and setting up skeletons for one of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[170]</a></span>
+college professors. If she did not kill herself
+or somebody else before she graduated, Miss
+Russell looked forward to a distinguished
+career for the tenant of Bedlam; so, as I have
+said, she was tender and patient with her;
+and good Miss Carey mended her when she
+could, and saw that she remembered to eat
+her dinner, and Miss Boyle and Miss Mink
+rejoiced over her, and Miss Cortlandt led her
+gently through English literature, giving her
+Walton and Bacon and all the scientific men
+of letters that she could find. Only one teacher
+failed to do her best to smooth poor Colney's
+path through school; that was Miss Pugsley.
+Rhetoric was simply an empty noise to the
+girl. She never by any chance knew a lesson,
+and Miss Pugsley lashed her with so cruel
+a tongue that Peggy used to ache and smart
+for her as well as for herself, and would get
+hold of Colney's hand and hold it and squeeze
+it, growing red the while with pity and anger.
+But Colney never noticed it half as much as
+Peggy did; she used to look at the angry
+teacher for a few minutes in an abstracted
+kind of way, and then retire within herself<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[171]</a></span>
+and make imaginary experiments. This was
+what happened on the dreadful day when
+Miss Pugsley said:</p>
+
+<p>"The subject of this sentence is <i>I</i>. How
+do we go to work to form the predicate, Miss
+Hatch?"</p>
+
+<p>Cornelia started, but replied, instantly:</p>
+
+<p>"By mixing one part hydrogen with three
+parts&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Indeed!" said Miss Pugsley, with ominous
+calm. "And what happens next, pray?"</p>
+
+<p>"It turns green, and explodes with a loud
+report."</p>
+
+<p>And this was exactly what did happen.
+Poor Colney!</p>
+
+<p>Peggy Montfort did not form one of the
+party in Bedlam that night. The room lay
+at the extreme end of the corridor, round a
+corner, so that it was in a manner shut off
+from the rest of the wing. It was an extraordinary
+place. Stretched on the walls, dried
+or drying, were specimens of every possible
+variety,&mdash;bats, frogs, snake skins, bird skins.
+Along the mantelpiece were jars and bottles,
+all containing other specimens preserved in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[172]</a></span>
+spirits. In one corner stood part of a human
+skeleton. It stood on one leg, with a jaunty
+air, having indeed but one leg to stand on;
+both arms were wanting, but the skull, which
+was a very fine one, made up for much. On
+account of this fragmentary skeleton, few of
+the younger girls ever dared to enter Bedlam,
+and some of them would run past the door
+with face averted, and beating heart, fearing
+lest the door should be open and they should
+catch a glimpse of the gruesome thing. But
+this object was the pride of Colney's heart.
+She could not, of course, afford to buy a whole
+skeleton, so she was collecting one, bit by bit;
+even Peggy had been quite uncomfortable one
+day, when Colney had told her, hanging over
+each bone with delight, where and how she
+had come by each one. It was always honestly,
+one could be sure of that.</p>
+
+<p>Everywhere in the room, underfoot and
+overhead, were setting-boards and pill-boxes,
+blowpipes and crucibles. One could not move
+without upsetting something; and yet it was
+here that the Gang came to have its annual
+supper.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[173]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Colney Hatch was dissecting a mouse.
+She was perfectly happy, and oblivious of
+the world, when the door opened, and in
+came fluttering the wild spirits of the junior
+and sophomore classes. Last year the sophomores
+had been freshmen, and must not know
+anything about the Gang, save in wondering
+envious whispers and surmises. Next year
+the juniors would be seniors, and they too
+must forget that such a thing as the Gang
+had been, and think only of dramatics, examinations,
+and graduation. Such had been the
+unwritten law at Miss Russell's, since time was.</p>
+
+<p>Here were Vanity and Vexation of Spirit,
+one smiling and dimpling, the other with her
+usual air of blas&eacute; superiority. Here was
+Blanche Haight, the leader among the sophomores;
+here were six or eight girls, in fact,
+chosen from the two classes for the same
+characteristics, lawlessness and love of fun;
+last but not least, here was Grace Wolfe, the
+acknowledged leader and queen of the Gang,
+when she deigned to be so.</p>
+
+<p>Grace was in her wildest mood to-night.
+She danced solemnly around poor Colney,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[174]</a></span>
+who looked up in dismay from her mouse as
+the silent crowd came pouring in, and assured
+her that her last hour was come.</p>
+
+<p>"We are the Secret Tribunal!" she cried.
+"We have come to make a pile of all your
+rubbish, Colney, and burn it, with you on
+top, like the Ph&#339;nix. I am sure you would
+come up out of the ashes, if we left the mouse
+out for you to finish."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, do be careful, please, Goat!" cried
+Colney Hatch. "Don't sit down on that
+frog, he isn't dry! Dear me! do you&mdash;do
+want anything, girls?"</p>
+
+<p>"We want your room, my love; and your
+company!" replied Grace. "Yet we are merciful.
+Here!"</p>
+
+<p>She twirled Cornelia's chair around, and set
+her with her face to the wall; then moved
+the lamp so that its light fell on the board in
+her lap.</p>
+
+<p>"There!" she said. "Finish him, poor old
+dear, and we'll wake you up when supper's
+ready. Now then! who's brought what?"</p>
+
+<p>Then, from pockets, from surplice folds,
+from shawls and cloaks hung carelessly over<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[175]</a></span>
+the arm, came forth a strange array of articles.
+One had brought a chicken, one a
+cake. Here was a Dutch cheese, a tin of
+crackers, a bottle of coffee, a bottle of olives,
+and a box of sardines. Grace herself told in
+high glee how she had met one of the teachers
+in the corridor, and had stood for five minutes
+talking about the next day's lesson. "And
+with this under me cloak the while!" and
+with a dramatic gesture she produced and
+held out a dish of lobster salad.</p>
+
+<p>"If it had been potato," she declared, "I
+had been lost; the onion had betrayed me.
+Blessings on the bland, the seductive mayonnaise,
+which veiled the ardent lobster and his
+smell. She did smell it, however, and said,
+so cheerfully, poor dear, that Miss Carey was
+evidently going to give us a surprise to-morrow,
+for she smelt lobster. It was Miss Cortlandt,
+too; I did want to say, 'Oh, come
+along, and have some!' She is a rectangular
+fragment of baked clay, used for building
+purposes, Miss Cortlandt is."</p>
+
+<p>"What do you mean, Goat?" asked some
+one.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[176]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"I never use slang, as you know!" replied
+Grace, gravely. "It argues a poverty of intellect,
+as well as a small vocabulary. I
+suppose you would have said she was a brick,
+my child."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Goat, how funny you are!" giggled
+the girls.</p>
+
+<p>"Not at all, I assure you," said Grace,
+unmoved. "But I pray you fall to! Have
+some salad, Vanity? yes, I'll take a wing,
+thank you."</p>
+
+<p>"Isn't this perf'ly fine?" cried Viola Vincent.
+They were all seated by this time,
+some on the floor, others wherever they could
+find a few inches of spare room, and were
+dispensing the viands with reckless liberality.
+"I say! I wish we had these every week,
+instead of only once a year. Why, it's just
+as easy! Oh, what an elegant cream pie!
+Give me some!"</p>
+
+<p>"No!" said Grace Wolfe, with emphasis.</p>
+
+<p>"Why not? What's the matter, Goat?"</p>
+
+<p>"I will <i>not</i> have pies called elegant while
+I am leader of this Gang," said Grace. "Take
+my life, if you will, but spare my feelings!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[177]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"All right," said Viola, cheerily. "Your
+own way, Goat. I'd just as lief call it dandy,
+and it <i>is</i> dandy, you can't deny that."</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps the Goat is thinking of succeeding
+her Puggy in the rhetoric chair!" said
+Blanche Haight, with a sneer.</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps I am thinking of stopping your&mdash;"
+began Grace; but she checked herself,
+and turned away abruptly.</p>
+
+<p>"Look at Colney!" said Vivia Varnham.
+"Isn't she too perfectly killing? She doesn't
+know we are here, I believe. Look at her
+hair, girls! It gets more ratty, not to say
+woozzy, every day. I wonder when she
+brushed it last."</p>
+
+<p>"Possibly when you brushed your manners,"
+said the Scapegoat. "Colney is our
+hostess, I beg to remind you. And nobody
+giving her a bite of supper!"</p>
+
+<p>She rose from the floor, piled a plate with
+good things, and went over to the corner
+where Colney Hatch was bending over her
+mouse, conscious of nothing else.</p>
+
+<p>"Here, Colney; here's your supper."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, thank you, Grace," said Colney, looking<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[178]</a></span>
+up for a moment. "But I can't, you
+know. Both my hands are full, you see."</p>
+
+<p>"Then open your mouth," commanded the
+Scapegoat, in tones of authority.</p>
+
+<p>Colney obeyed meekly, and Grace stood
+over her, feeding her like a baby with the
+choicest morsels, and now and then casting
+a glance over her shoulder at the others.
+Grace's gaiety was fitful to-night, certainly.
+When she first came in she had been the life
+of the party; now, as she stood there in the
+corner, her brow was overcast, her eyes
+gloomy. What ailed the Lone Wolf?</p>
+
+<p>What were they saying over there? They,
+at least, were at the very height of glee,
+breaking into gusts of giggling, into whisperings
+ending in squeaks and smothered screams.</p>
+
+<p>"To-morrow night? Hurrah! Through
+Broadway, of course."</p>
+
+<p>"Freshy? Oh, Freshy won't say anything.
+She wouldn't dare to, in the first place."</p>
+
+<p>"She'd dare fast enough," said Viola.
+"She isn't afraid of anything, Freshy isn't.
+But she's safe, she won't say anything."</p>
+
+<p>"What's all this?" demanded the Scapegoat,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[179]</a></span>
+coming back with the empty plate.
+"Plans? Does one hear them?"</p>
+
+<p>"The apples are all gone," said Kitty
+Green. "We're going for some to-morrow
+night, Goat. You'll go, too, of course?"</p>
+
+<p>"Going out through Broadway," said Viola.
+"We haven't been out for more than a week,
+and the moon will be nearly full to-morrow.
+It'll be perf'ly fine, Goat, won't it?"</p>
+
+<p>"Veto!" said Grace, calmly.</p>
+
+<p>"Veto? Why, what do you mean?"</p>
+
+<p>"What's wrong?"</p>
+
+<p>"What has happened?"</p>
+
+<p>"Nothing has happened. Boots are no
+longer free, that's all."</p>
+
+<p>"Do speak English, Grace Wolfe! What
+do you mean?"</p>
+
+<p>"There&mdash;are&mdash;to&mdash;be&mdash;no more&mdash;free-booting
+expeditions&mdash;through Broadway. Is
+that sufficiently plain, or shall I spell the
+words?"</p>
+
+<p>Blanche Haight rose to her feet, several
+of the other girls following her. "What is
+the matter with you to-night, Goat?" she said.
+"We don't seem to succeed in satisfying you.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[180]</a></span>
+Aren't we good enough company for you, perhaps?"
+And Blanche sneered in her own
+particular manner, of which she was proud.</p>
+
+<p>"I make no remarks," said the Scapegoat,
+in her quietest tones. "I have not been personal.
+I merely say, while I lead this Gang,
+there will be no more expeditions through
+Broadway."</p>
+
+<p>"And how long do you suppose you will
+lead this Gang, if you play the part of Pope
+and emperor?" demanded Blanche.</p>
+
+<p>The other girls began to murmur and protest
+at this. "Listen to the Goat!" said one
+and another. "She must have some reason,
+or she wouldn't act so."</p>
+
+<p>But Grace seized her opportunity.</p>
+
+<p>"How long?" she repeated. "Not an
+hour! not a second! I resign. My last act
+is to break up this meeting. To your tents,
+O Israel!"</p>
+
+<p>Then arose such a confusion of whispering,
+exclaiming, disclaiming, entreating, protesting,
+that no one voice could be heard. The
+owner of the room, fairly roused for a moment
+(but indeed she had finished the mouse),<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[181]</a></span>
+turned round to see what was wrong. For a
+moment she saw the two leaders, Grace and
+Blanche, facing each other, the one pale and
+quiet, the other red with anger, her eyes darting
+spiteful flames. Next moment, Grace
+made a single quick movement, and the room
+was in darkness. She had blown out the
+lamp.</p>
+
+<p>"To your tents!" she repeated, sternly.
+And, hurrying, whispering, stumbling over
+the remains of their feast scattered on the
+floor, the frightened girls obeyed.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[182]</a></span></p>
+<h2>CHAPTER X.</h2>
+
+<h3>TEACHER AND PUPIL.</h3>
+
+
+<p>The day after the escapade was the worst
+one that Peggy Montfort had ever known.
+She was too strong and healthy to lie awake
+all night, though it was much later than usual
+before she ceased to toss in uneasy wretchedness
+and lay peacefully sleeping. When morning
+came, she woke, and for a moment greeted
+the bright day joyfully. Then remembrance
+came like a hand at her throat, and she shivered,
+and all the blue seemed to fade away,
+and leave nothing but cold, miserable gray
+over all the world. What had she done? What
+would Uncle John and Margaret, what would
+Brother Hugh think, if they should know
+this? Slowly and heavily she dressed and
+went down to breakfast. There, it seemed as
+if everybody knew what she had done. Miss
+Russell's eyes rested thoughtfully on her as<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[183]</a></span>
+she bade her good morning; Peggy shrank
+away, and could not meet the gaze. If she
+did not know now, she would soon. "An
+honest, steady, sensible girl!" Well, Miss Russell
+would find she had been mistaken, that
+was all; and of course she would never trust
+again where she had once been deceived. And
+yet Peggy knew in her heart that there was
+no girl in the school who was so little likely
+to do this thing again as herself. She was by
+nature, as I have said, a law-abiding creature,
+with a natural reverence for authority. To
+have set the law at defiance was bad enough;
+to have done it secretly, and betrayed the
+trust that had been placed in her, that was
+worse! That was beyond possibility of pardon.
+Thus argued Peggy in her wretchedness;
+and all through the morning she went
+over it again and again, and yet again, seeing
+no help or comfort anywhere. Bertha Haughton,
+always quick in sympathy, saw the
+trouble in her friend's face, and came over in
+"gym" and begged to know what was the
+matter. Wasn't Peggy well? Had anything
+happened to trouble her? Peggy shook her<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[184]</a></span>
+head; she could not tell even this good friend&mdash;yet.
+There was some one else who must
+be told first. She promised to come to the
+Owls' Nest later in the day, and Bertha was
+forced to be content with this, and left her
+with a vague sense of uneasiness and a feeling
+that somehow little Peggy had grown
+suddenly older and more mature. Yes, there
+is nothing like trouble for that!</p>
+
+<p>It was almost a relief when the summons
+came.</p>
+
+<p>"Miss Montfort, Miss Russell would like to
+see you in the study."</p>
+
+<p>Peggy steadied herself for the encounter,
+and went quietly. If only she could be met
+with a cold look, it would be easier, somehow&mdash;but
+no! the Principal's gray eyes were as
+kind as ever, her smile as gravely sweet, as
+she said, pleasantly, "Good morning, Miss
+Montfort. Good afternoon, I should say; I
+forgot how late it was. Sit down for a moment,
+will you? I want to ask you about
+something."</p>
+
+<p>Peggy did not want to sit down. She
+wanted to stand still and go through with it,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[185]</a></span>
+and then get away to her own room. But
+there was no disregarding the request, so she
+sat down on the edge of a chair and set her
+teeth.</p>
+
+<p>"I hardly know where to begin!" said Miss
+Russell. "I am going to take you into my
+confidence&mdash;Peggy."</p>
+
+<p>Peggy shivered a little, but said nothing,
+only set her teeth harder.</p>
+
+<p>"There has been a good deal of trouble,"
+Miss Russell went on, "a good deal of trouble
+in former years with the room which you now
+occupy. The girl who occupied it was&mdash;was
+wild and undisciplined, and took pleasure in
+breaking bounds, and in inducing others to do
+so. She&mdash;there were a number of girls who
+used to go out without leave, by way of the
+fire-escape outside the window."</p>
+
+<p>She paused a moment, and looked at Peggy,
+but Peggy made no sign.</p>
+
+<p>"That girl&mdash;left the school last year, not
+to return; but there are several still here who
+used to share in those wild pranks (undertaken
+in mere thoughtlessness, I am glad to
+think, and not with any evil intent), and I<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[186]</a></span>
+have been afraid&mdash;in fact, it has come to my
+ears, that the room was again being used for
+the same purpose."</p>
+
+<p>She paused again; but still Peggy was
+silent. What could she say? Besides, no
+question had been asked her&mdash;yet!</p>
+
+<p>The question came. "You are silent, Peggy.
+Do you know anything about this matter?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, Miss Russell!" said Peggy, faintly.</p>
+
+<p>"I feel," said the Principal, in a tone of
+regret, "that I have been to blame in not
+warning you of this beforehand, and putting
+you on your guard. I had hoped that when
+Bil&mdash;when the young lady of whom I spoke
+was gone, the whole thing would die out; it is
+a distressing thing to warn a pupil against her
+schoolmates. Still, I feel that in this case I
+ought to have done so. I place entire confidence
+in you, Peggy. I am sure that you
+would not yourself break the rules of the
+school; but you may have been put to inconvenience
+and distress by the lawlessness of
+others. I am very sorry if this has been the
+case."</p>
+
+<p>Peggy shut her eyes tight, and said "Margaret!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[187]</a></span>
+twice to herself. Then she looked at
+the Principal.</p>
+
+<p>"Miss Russell," she said,&mdash;she tried to
+steady her voice, but it would come strange
+and shaky,&mdash;"you are mistaken about me.
+I am not the kind of girl you think I am. I&mdash;I
+went out last night without leave, by the
+fire-escape."</p>
+
+<p>There was a silence.</p>
+
+<p>"Who induced you&mdash;that is, with whom
+did you go?" asked Miss Russell, presently.</p>
+
+<p>"I&mdash;I didn't say that any one else went."</p>
+
+<p>"No, my dear, you did not say so. But&mdash;"
+and here Miss Russell rose, and, crossing
+the room, laid her hand on Peggy's shoulder;
+"if I know anything at all of girls, you did
+not go alone, and you did not go of your own
+motion. And&mdash;Peggy, if you were not the
+kind of girl I thought you, you would not be
+feeling as you do now about the whole thing."</p>
+
+<p>This was too much. Peggy could have
+borne, or she thought she could have borne,
+anger or scorn, or the cold indifference that
+is born of contempt; but the kind tone, the
+look of affectionate inquiry, the friendly hand<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[188]</a></span>
+on her shoulder,&mdash;all this she could not bear.
+She covered her face with her hands and burst
+into a passion of tears.</p>
+
+<p>It seemed hours that she wept, and sobbed,
+and wept again. It did not seem as if she
+could ever stop, the tears came rushing so
+fast and so violently; but however long it
+was, Miss Russell did not try to stop or check
+her, only stood by with her hand on the girl's
+shoulder, patting it now and then, or putting
+back with the other hand&mdash;such a soft, firm,
+motherly hand it was!&mdash;the stray locks
+which kept falling over Peggy's face as the
+sobs shook her from head to foot.</p>
+
+<p>At last, however, the storm abated a little;
+and then, while Peggy was trying to dry her
+tears, and the choking sobs were subsiding
+into long, deep breathings, Miss Russell spoke
+again.</p>
+
+<p>"Peggy, we teachers have to go a good
+deal by instinct, do you know it? It is not
+possible for me, for example, to know every
+one of seventy-odd girls as I ought to know
+her, by actual contact and communion. But
+I have acquired a sort of sense,&mdash;I hardly<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[189]</a></span>
+know what to call it,&mdash;an insight by means
+of which I can tell pretty well what a girl's
+standard of life is, and how I can best help
+her. I know that now I can best help you
+and myself by saying&mdash;and meaning&mdash;just
+what I said before. I place entire confidence
+in you, Peggy Montfort."</p>
+
+<p>Peggy looked up in amazement; could she
+believe what she heard?</p>
+
+<p>"To some girls," the Principal went on,
+"the taste of stolen fruit is sweet, and having
+once tasted it, they hanker for more. To
+you, it is bitter."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh!" said Peggy; and the gasping exclamation
+was enough.</p>
+
+<p>"Very bitter!" said the Principal. "I
+speak not from impulse, but from experience,
+when I tell you that there is no girl in the
+school to-day whom I could sooner trust not
+to commit this offence than you, who committed
+it last night."</p>
+
+<p>Her own thought, almost her own words.
+Peggy raise her head again, and this time her
+eyes were full of a new hope, a new courage.</p>
+
+<p>"I believe that is true, Miss Russell," she<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[190]</a></span>
+said, simply. "I had thought that myself,
+but I didn't suppose&mdash;I didn't think&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"You did not think that I would know
+enough to understand it!" said Miss Russell,
+smiling. "Well, you see I do, though we
+both owe it partly to dear Emily Cortlandt,
+who reminded me of my duty and of your
+position. Now, Peggy, I have a recitation,
+and we must part. I put you in charge of
+'Broadway,' fully and freely. No one must
+come in, and no one must go out, by that
+window. And if you have any trouble," she
+added, with a smile, "if you have any trouble
+and do not think it right to tell me, call for
+the Owls, and they will help you. Good-bye,
+my child!"</p>
+
+<p>She held out her hand, and Peggy took it
+with a wild desire to kiss it, or to fall down
+and kiss the hem of her gown who had shown
+herself thus an angel of sympathy and kindness.
+But the Principal bent down and kissed
+the girl's forehead lightly and tenderly.</p>
+
+<p>"We shall be friends always now," she
+said, simply. "Don't forget, Peggy!"</p>
+
+<p>She was gone, and Peggy took her own<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[191]</a></span>
+way in the opposite direction, hardly knowing
+whither she was going. Her heart was
+so full of joy and love and gratitude, it
+seemed as if she must break out into singing
+or shouting. Was ever any one so kind, so
+noble, so lovely? How could any one not
+try to do her very, very best, to deserve
+the care and friendship of such a teacher as
+this?</p>
+
+<p>Passing as if on wings through the geometry
+room, she saw a figure crouching over a
+desk, and was aware of Rose Barclay, bent
+over her book, and crying bitterly. Nothing
+could hold Peggy back in that moment of
+exaltation. In an instant she was at the
+girl's side. "Let me help you!" she cried.
+"Please let me; I know I can."</p>
+
+<p>Rose Barclay looked up fiercely. "I asked
+you to help me, once!" she said. "I am not
+likely to ask again. Go away, please, and let
+me alone."</p>
+
+<p>"No, I won't!" said stout Peggy. "You
+never would let me explain, but now you are
+going to let me. I couldn't show you my example,
+and I wouldn't, and I never will; but I<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[192]</a></span>
+could make you see how to do your own right,
+and that's what I am going to do now."</p>
+
+<p>Down she sat without more ado; took the
+pencil from the unwilling hand, and set to
+work on an imaginary problem. Rose Barclay
+sat still for a moment with averted
+face, pride and shame doing their best to
+silence the better voices within her. At
+length she stole a glance at Peggy's face, and
+there beheld such a shining expanse of goodwill
+and friendliness that Pride and Co. gave
+up the battle, and retreated into their dens.
+Heaving a long sigh of relief, she bent forward,
+and soon was following with all her
+might Peggy's clear and lucid explanation.</p>
+
+<p>"Why, yes!" said Rose, at last. "Why,
+I do see. Why, I do believe I could do that
+myself."</p>
+
+<p>"Of course you can!" said Peggy. "Here,
+take the pencil, and I'll give you one."</p>
+
+<p>She did so, and, after some screwing of the
+mouth and knitting of the brows, Rose actually
+did do it, and felt like Wellington after
+Waterloo. Then, at Peggy's instigation, she
+tackled the actual lesson, and, steered by Professor<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[193]</a></span>
+Peggy, went through it triumphantly.
+Then she turned on her instructor.</p>
+
+<p>"What made you come and help me, Peggy
+Montfort? I've been perfectly hateful to you,
+you know I have. I wouldn't have helped
+you, if you had acted the way I have."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, yes, you would," said Peggy, good-naturedly.</p>
+
+<p>"Why&mdash;why, you have been crying, too!"
+said Rose, examining her benefactress more
+closely. "Peggy, you have been crying
+awfully, I know you have."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I have," said Peggy; "I have cried
+my eyes out, and I never was so happy in my
+life. Come on, and have a game of ball!"</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[194]</a></span></p>
+<h2>CHAPTER XI.</h2>
+
+<h3>DECORATION&mdash;AND OTHER THINGS.</h3>
+
+
+<p>The Junior Reception was "on." In fact,
+it was to take place this very evening, and an
+air of subdued excitement hung over the
+whole school. All the other classes were
+invited, as well as the Faculty and many
+friends from outside; it was sure to be a
+delightful occasion. Peggy was fortunate
+enough to be one of the auxiliaries called in
+by the Snowy Owl to help in the decorations,
+and she counted it a high privilege, as indeed
+it was. As a general thing, there is more
+sympathy between juniors and freshmen than
+between any other two classes in school or
+college; various reasons may be assigned for
+this, but it remains the fact. Besides this,
+however, Peggy felt a very special bond
+with the "Jews," because her dearest friends<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[195]</a></span>
+were among them. This had come about
+partly from the accident of her coming late to
+school, and so being put into the junior corridor;
+but it was still more due to her making
+instant acquaintance, as we have seen, with
+the Fluffy Owl, and through her with the
+beloved and powerful Snowy. These two
+girls, through their wise and gentle ways,
+were a power for good in the whole school,
+and especially in their own class. They were
+queens of the steady and right-minded majority,
+while Grace Wolfe led the wilder and
+less disciplined spirits. The Owls went their
+quiet way, and troubled themselves little, less
+perhaps than they should have done, about
+the doings of the "Gang." They were busy
+with study, with basket-ball, with a hundred
+things; they could not always know (especially
+when pains were taken that they should
+not know) what tricks the Scapegoat and her
+wild mates were up to.</p>
+
+<p>Both Owls had a real affection for Peggy,
+and though they knew nothing as yet of the
+recent escapade, they felt that it would be
+well to keep her rather under their wing, the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[196]</a></span>
+more so that Grace had undoubtedly taken a
+fancy to the child, too.</p>
+
+<p>"She's too fascinating!" said the Snowy.
+"We shall have the Innocent falling in love
+with her if we don't look out, and that would
+never do!"</p>
+
+<p>"Never!" said the Fluffy, shaking her
+head wisely; but she added, in an undertone,
+"If only the mischief isn't done already!"</p>
+
+<p>So the two asked Peggy to help them in
+the work of preparing the gymnasium for the
+great event, and she consented with delight.
+She was making plenty of friends in her own
+class, oh, yes; especially now that she and
+Rose Barclay had made it up. She was the
+one stay and comfort of poor little Lobelia
+Parkins, and was devotedly kind to that forlorn
+creature, taking her out to walk almost
+by main force, and presenting to all comers a
+front of such stalwart, not to say pugnacious,
+determination, that no one dared to molest
+the girl when Peggy was with her. Spite of
+all this, however, her heart remained in Corridor
+A, and she would have left the whole
+freshman class in the lurch at one whistle<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[197]</a></span>
+from the Owls&mdash;or, alas! from the Scapegoat.</p>
+
+<p>But all this is by the way, and does not
+help us to get up the Junior Reception.</p>
+
+<p>There had been an early morning expedition
+to the neighbouring woods (not, however,
+through the fire-escape), and Peggy and
+the Owls had returned each with a wheelbarrow-load
+of boughs and ground pine and
+all manner of pleasant woodland things.
+The leaves had turned, and were glowing
+with scarlet and gold and russet. These
+were put in water, lest they should begin to
+curl and wither before night; while the evergreens
+were heaped in a corner and left to
+their fate. Now it was afternoon, and the
+girls, released from their tasks, had flown to
+the scene of action. Already the gymnasium
+began to assume a festive appearance. Several
+garlands were in place, and on the floor
+sat six or eight juniors, busily weaving
+more. Ladders stood here and there. At
+the top of one stood the Snowy Owl, arranging
+a "trophy," as she called it, of brilliant
+leaves, on another, Peggy was valiantly hammering,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[198]</a></span>
+as she arranged in festoons the long
+folds of green and white bunting that the
+Fluffy handed up to her. The Fluffy was a
+curious sight, being swathed in bunting from
+head to foot. When Peggy demanded "more
+slack," she simply turned around a few times
+and unrolled herself, thus presenting the
+appearance of an animated spool.</p>
+
+<p>"It's effective," said Gertrude, surveying
+her from her perch, "but I can't say that it
+looks comfortable. How ever did you get
+yourself into such a snarl, Fluff?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, I was measuring it, don't you
+know?" said Bertha, "and it got all into a
+heap on the floor, and there was so much of
+it I didn't know what to do. So I began to
+roll it round and round myself, and the first
+thing I knew I was the cocoon-thing you see
+before you. I feel as if I ought to come out
+a butterfly, somehow."</p>
+
+<p>"They are lovely colours!" said Peggy.
+"There's nothing so pretty as green and
+white. How do you choose your colours?
+We haven't chosen ours yet, but I suppose we
+shall soon."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[199]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"The Snowy chose them," said Bertha.
+"They were Sir Somebody-or-other's colours at
+the Siege of Acre. I wanted scarlet, because
+that was Launcelot's&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Fluffy! it was nothing of the kind!"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, you know what I mean, Snowy;
+don't make a cannibal meal of me. Scarlet
+was Elaine's colour, and Launcelot wore it;
+that was what I meant."</p>
+
+<p>"I thought&mdash;" said Peggy, timidly, "I
+thought she was the Lily Maid; I thought
+she wore white."</p>
+
+<p>"Did, herself," said the Snowy, with her
+mouth full of tacks. "But she gave him a
+scarlet sleeve embroidered with pearls, and he
+wore it on his helmet, and that was what
+made Guinevere throw the diamonds into the
+river."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh!" said Peggy, meekly. She had
+tried to read the "Idyls of the King," but
+could not make out much except the fighting
+parts.</p>
+
+<p>"Never understood why they had sleeves so
+often," said Bertha, abstractedly bunching the
+green and white draperies. "Never could see<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[200]</a></span>
+how they got the sleeve on the helmet in any
+kind of shape. What sort of sleeves did they
+have then, anyhow? Why, they were those
+tight ones, weren't they, with a slashed cap at
+the top? Well, now, Snowy, that would look
+perfectly absurd on a helmet, you know it
+would."</p>
+
+<p>The Snowy deigned no reply; or perhaps
+the tacks were in a perilous position at that
+moment. Bertha went on, thoughtfully:</p>
+
+<p>"A balloon sleeve, now, would be more
+sensible; you could slip it over the helmet,
+and it would look like&mdash;like the shade of a
+piano lamp. But somehow, whenever I read
+about it, I see a small, tight, red sleeve, spread
+out like a red flannel bandage, as if the helmet
+had a sore throat&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Fluffy, you are talking absolute nonsense!"
+said Gertrude, regaining utterance.
+"And after all, they had gloves oftener than
+sleeves; not that that makes it much better.
+For my part, I always think of a glove with
+all the five fingers sticking up out of the middle
+of the crown, as if they had tried to be feathers
+and been nipped in the bud."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[201]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Feathers don't bud!" said Bertha, handing
+up more slack.</p>
+
+<p>"But the real thing," Gertrude went on,
+"the beautiful, graceful thing for the knight
+to wear, was the scarf. He could do anything
+he liked with that; tie it around his
+helmet, or across his breast,&mdash;that was the
+proper way of course,&mdash;or around his waist.</p>
+
+<p>"A green scarf, that is what I would have!
+Very soft, so that it would go through a
+finger-ring, and yet wide enough to shake out
+into wonderful folds, you know, so that he could
+wrap himself up in it, and think of me, and&mdash;what's
+the matter, Peggy, why do you sigh?"</p>
+
+<p>"Did I sigh?" said Peggy, looking confused.
+"It was nothing, Snowy. I was only
+thinking&mdash;thinking how stupid I was, and
+how Margaret would like all the things you
+talk about."</p>
+
+<p>"Meaning sleeves?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, oh, no! but about knights, and chivalry,
+and all that kind of thing. Margaret
+loves it so! She used to try to read Froissart
+to me, but it always put me to sleep. I suppose
+you like Froissart, Gertrude?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[202]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>She spoke so wistfully that Gertrude took
+the tacks out of her mouth (she should never
+have put them in; a junior should have
+known better!) that she might reply the
+better.</p>
+
+<p>"Why, Peggy, yes, I do like Froissart, but
+it never troubles me when people don't care
+for my kind of books. You see, there are so
+many kinds, such an endless variety, and
+good in so many different ways. Now you,
+for example, would like the Jungle Books,
+and the 'Cruise of the <i>Cachalot</i>,' and all kinds
+of books of adventure."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know what is adventure if Froissart
+isn't," Bertha put in.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, but it's all too far away, too remote.
+I know how Peggy feels, because I have a
+cousin who is just that way. She used to
+think she should never read anything at all;
+then one day she got hold of Kipling, and the
+worlds opened, and the doors thereof. Just
+you come to me for the Jungle Books some
+day, Innocent, and you'll see. Look here, I
+want lots and lots, and again lots more leaves.
+Where are they all? I don't see any more, but<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[203]</a></span>
+there must be any quantity. I brought in a
+whole copse, myself."</p>
+
+<p>"We put them all into the old swimming-tank,
+don't you remember? Oh, no; you went
+in before we had finished this morning. Well,
+they are there. Stay where you are, Snowy,
+and Peggy and I will get a couple of loads."</p>
+
+<p>The two girls ran down-stairs to the lower
+floor. Part of this was taken up, as we have
+already seen, by dressing-rooms, but it was
+only a small part. The larger space was occupied
+by the great swimming-tank, five feet
+deep, and twenty by thirty feet in area. The
+tank was not used now, but the water was
+still connected, and could be turned on by
+special permission. Now, accordingly, the
+water in the bottom was about two feet deep,
+and the whole surface was a blaze of autumn
+colours, great branches of maple, oak, and ash
+covering it completely.</p>
+
+<p>"Pretty, isn't it?" said Bertha. "Like a
+little sunset sea all alone by itself, without
+any sun to set. The next question is, how
+are we to get at them?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, that's easy enough!" said Peggy. "I<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[204]</a></span>
+can reach them easily from the edge, and I'll
+hand them over to you."</p>
+
+<p>Suiting the action to the word, she climbed
+up on the broad marble slab which formed the
+edge of the great tank.</p>
+
+<p>Then, bending down, she brought up a
+great branch of golden maple, fresh and dripping.
+She shook it, and a diamond shower
+fell back on the dark space left vacant; then
+another branch floated quietly over and filled
+the space again.</p>
+
+<p>"You'll be wet through!" said Bertha. "I
+don't suppose you care?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, indeed! I'd rather be wet than not,
+when I'm doing things."</p>
+
+<p>"I'll remember that," said Bertha, slyly,
+"and come round with a watering-can next
+time you are reciting your rhetoric. Give me
+some red now; oh, that is a beauty! There!
+that's enough for one load; unless you see
+just one more little one that is superlatively
+beautiful."</p>
+
+<p>"That is just what I do see! Hold on a
+minute! this is such a beauty, you must have
+it, if I&mdash;oh!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[205]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Peggy had been leaning as far as she could
+over the broad tank, fishing for the gay
+branch, which floated provokingly just out of
+reach. At last she touched it&mdash;grasped it&mdash;drew
+it toward her; when all in a moment
+she slipped on the marble, now wet and glossy
+with the falling drops, clutched the air&mdash;slipped
+again&mdash;and fell headlong into the
+tank, with a mighty splash.</p>
+
+<p>Bertha shrieked. There was an answering
+shriek from above, and Gertrude, followed by
+all the other girls, came flying down the
+stairs.</p>
+
+<p>"What has happened? What&mdash;where is
+Peggy?"</p>
+
+<p>"In the tank!" cried Bertha. "Oh! dear
+me, what shall we do? Peggy, are you much
+hurt?"</p>
+
+<p>"No; I&mdash;think not!" spluttered Peggy. "I
+came down on my nose, that's all. Feels as
+if it was broken, but I don't know&mdash;no! It
+doesn't crack when I wiggle it. It's bleeding
+a good deal, though. Perhaps I'd better stay
+in till it stops."</p>
+
+<p>Bertha tried to climb up to the perch<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[206]</a></span>
+which Peggy had so suddenly left vacant,
+but in vain; her legs were far too short.
+Gertrude, however, came with a flying leap,
+and scrambled cat-like up the side of the tank.
+Looking down, with the kindest heart in the
+world, and a world of sympathy to fill it, she
+still could not help bursting into a peal of
+laughter. Peggy, sitting in the tank, crowned
+with gold and scarlet leaves, and dripping like
+Undine, was certainly a funny spectacle.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, do forgive me for laughing, Peggy
+dear!" cried Gertrude. "You&mdash;you do look
+funny, but I'm dreadfully sorry."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I'm laughing myself," said Peggy,
+"I don't see why you shouldn't. But did you
+ever hear of a water-nymph with a nosebleed?
+If I could only get at my pocket&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Here, take mine," and Gertrude dropped
+her handkerchief, which Peggy caught adroitly.</p>
+
+<div class="figleft" style="width: 271px;">
+<img src="images/gs05.png" width="271" height="400" alt="&quot;&#39;HERE! TAKE MY HAND AND SCRAMBLE OUT.&#39;&quot;" title="&quot;&#39;HERE! TAKE MY HAND AND SCRAMBLE OUT.&#39;&quot;" />
+<span class="caption">&quot;&#39;HERE! TAKE MY HAND AND SCRAMBLE OUT.&#39;&quot;</span>
+</div>
+
+<p>"My dear," Gertrude went on, "it seems
+so strange to have some one besides me
+falling about and dropping herself. I used
+to be the one, always. They called me
+'Dropsy' at home; and I fell in here last
+year, Peggy, and I know exactly how it<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[207]</a></span>
+feels. Here! take my hand and scramble
+out."</p>
+
+<p>Peggy, still sitting in the water, which
+covered her to the waist, looked about her
+thoughtfully. "It seems a pity, now I <i>am</i>
+here, not to have some good of it," she said,
+philosophically.</p>
+
+<p>"If it were only a foot deeper, or I weren't
+bothered with all these petticoats, I might
+have a good swim. However, I suppose I
+may as well get out&mdash;if I can. Take care,
+Snowy&mdash;oh! take care!"</p>
+
+<p>Alas! for the Snowy Owl! After all, she
+was still Gertrude Merryweather. The marble
+was wet&mdash;she bent down to take Peggy's
+hand&mdash;here was another tremendous splash,
+and two Undines sat in the tank, gazing
+speechless on each other. This was too much
+for the composure of any one. Both Peggy
+and Gertrude sat helpless, shaking with
+laughter, and absolutely unable to move.
+Bertha, outside, fairly went into hysterics,
+and laughed and screamed in one breath;
+while the other girls raised such a clamour of
+mingled mirth and terror that Emily Cortlandt,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[208]</a></span>
+who had just come in to take a look at
+the decorations, came running down-stairs,
+dreading she knew not what.</p>
+
+<p>One look over the edge of the tank, and
+Miss Cortlandt was not so very much better
+than the rest of them; but she recovered herself
+sooner. Wiping her eyes, she proceeded
+at once to the business of rescuing the two
+involuntary divers. It proved impossible for
+them to climb up, the sides being too slippery,
+and the flying leap being out of the question
+in two feet of water. She brought a short
+ladder, and in another moment first one
+nymph and then the other came up from
+their fountain, and dripped little rivers on the
+floor.</p>
+
+<p>"Is either of you hurt?" asked Miss
+Cortlandt.</p>
+
+<p>"Not I!" said Gertrude, ruefully. "I fell
+on top of poor Peggy, and she makes a perfect
+cushion. How are you, Peggy? Did I
+half kill you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not a bit! I think perhaps I've sprained
+my wrist a little, but that was when I went
+in myself. No, I'm all right; truly I am,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[209]</a></span>
+Miss Cortlandt. I'll just go and change my
+clothes, and then come back and finish."</p>
+
+<p>Emily Cortlandt did not come of amphibious
+stock. "You will do nothing of the kind!"
+she said. "You <i>ought</i> to go to bed, Peggy,
+and Gertrude, too; but I suppose you would
+think that a terrible piece of injustice."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, Miss Cortlandt, we should!" replied
+both girls, in a breath.</p>
+
+<p>"And I know that you have both been
+brought up more or less like whales; so I'll
+let you off with camphor pills and peppermint
+drops. Those you <i>must</i> have. Run along
+and change everything&mdash;everything, mind!&mdash;and
+I'll come around in five minutes and dose
+you. Run, now; make it a race, and I'll add
+hot lemonade to the stakes,&mdash;first prize and
+booby prize!"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, Miss Cortlandt," cried the two Undines;
+and off they set in a shower of spray,
+with the other girls at their heels.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[210]</a></span></p>
+<h2>CHAPTER XII.</h2>
+
+<h3>AN ADVENTURE.</h3>
+
+
+<p>It all came from Peggy's forgetting her
+handkerchief. That was nothing remarkable.
+Rapidly though our heroine was developing,
+there was still plenty of the old Peggy left;
+and when she looked up at Miss Russell with
+a certain imploring gaze, the Principal was
+apt to say, without waiting for anything
+further: "Yes, Peggy, you may; but do try
+to remember it next time!"</p>
+
+<p>But this time it was well that Peggy had
+not remembered it. She stumbled across the
+long dining-room quite in her own way, stubbing
+her toe against a sophomore's chair, and
+sending the sophomore's spoon clattering to
+the ground. Stooping, in confusion, to pick
+it up, with muttered apologies, she encountered
+the sophomore's head bent down for the same<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[211]</a></span>
+purpose, and some mutual star-gazing ensued.
+Finally she did manage to get out of the room,
+after cannoning against the door and taking
+most of the skin off her nose, and made her
+way up-stairs ruefully, rubbing the places that
+hurt most, and wondering where in her anatomy
+lay the "clumsy bone" that her father
+always talked about. "And it isn't there all
+the time!" said poor Peggy. "Sometimes I
+don't fall into anything for days, and then, all
+at once, it's like this!"</p>
+
+<p>Shaking her head dolefully, she reached her
+own room, got the handkerchief, remembered
+with a great effort to shut the drawer, and
+came out into the corridor again&mdash;to come
+face to face with a man emerging from the
+opposite room.</p>
+
+<p>The opposite room was Vanity Fair; and the
+man's hands were full of trinkets and knickknacks,
+and his pockets bulged in a suspicious
+way. He cast a wild glance over Peggy's
+shoulder at the open door of her room and the
+fire-escape beyond; evidently he had entered
+by that way, and counted on the dinner-hour's
+keeping every one below stairs till he got safe<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[212]</a></span>
+away. Now, however, baffled in this, he
+turned down the corridor with some degree of
+composure.</p>
+
+<p>"Stop!" said Peggy. "Who are you, and
+what are you doing here?"</p>
+
+<p>"I'm the plumber, miss," said the man,
+still walking away.</p>
+
+<p>"Put down those things!" cried Peggy.
+"Do you hear? or I'll call the police!"</p>
+
+<p>Apparently the man did not hear, or else
+did not fancy the idea suggested to him, for
+he began to run down the long corridor as fast
+as he could go.</p>
+
+<p>So it came to pass that the school, waiting
+peacefully for its pudding, heard a sound of
+hasty feet scurrying down the stairs. Then,
+all in a rush, came past the door the flying
+figure of a man, with Peggy Montfort in hot
+pursuit.</p>
+
+<p>"Stop thief!" Peggy shouted it once, and
+then prudently saved her breath. The man
+fumbled for an instant at the front door,
+gave it up, darted into Miss Russell's study.
+Crash went a window; he was out, with
+Peggy at his heels, and away across the lawn.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[213]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Stop thief!" the cry rang through the
+school; and, lo! in the twinkling of an eye
+there was no school there. The long dining-room
+was emptied as if by magic; the front
+door flew open, and out streamed the seventy
+maidens, all crying "Stop thief!" all running
+their very best to come up with the
+flying pair.</p>
+
+<p>There were some good runners at Pentland
+School; but after the first few minutes of
+running together, jostling and pushing, two
+girls drew rapidly away from the rest, and
+soon left them far behind. Gertrude Merryweather
+and Grace Wolfe had long been
+friendly rivals in what they called the royal
+sport of running. Perhaps neither of them
+was sorry of this opportunity for a "good
+spurt." Certainly it was a pretty sight, the
+two tall, graceful creatures, lithe and long-limbed
+as young greyhounds, speeding over
+the ground, their arms held close at their
+sides, their eyes flashing, youth and strength
+seeming to radiate from them as they ran.
+Now one drew ahead a little, now the other;
+but for the most part they kept side by side,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[214]</a></span>
+for both were running their best, not only for
+the joy and honour of the thing, but because
+it was necessary to arrive, to help Peggy and
+catch the thief.</p>
+
+<p>The thief was evidently not a trained athlete,
+but he was doing his best. He had cut
+himself a good deal in smashing the window,
+and had thrown away part of his booty, hoping
+that his relentless pursuer might be content,
+and might stop to pick up the brooches
+and belt-buckles that lay at her feet; but
+Peggy never looked at them, and held on
+straight after him, gaining, undoubtedly gaining.
+The man doubled back across the lawn,
+hoping to reach the gate and safety; but Peggy
+headed him off as quietly and coolly as if he
+were an unruly steer in the home stock-yard.
+Again he doubled, and again the girl was
+running in a diagonal to cut off his approach
+to the wished-for retreat. But now he caught
+sight of the two tall avengers bearing down
+upon him, and the school in full cry behind.
+He made a desperate spurt and reached the
+gate; it was half open, and as he rushed
+through he slammed it behind him with a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[215]</a></span>
+hoarse shout of defiance. But much Peggy
+cared for gates! She was over in an instant,
+and at his heels again. And realising this,
+the rascal suddenly changed his tactics. He
+stopped short, and, turning on Peggy a villainous
+face, bade her with an oath, "Come on,
+and see what she would get for it!"</p>
+
+<p>The words had not left his lips, when a
+ludicrous change came over the man's face.
+He uttered a wild yell, and fell headlong,
+almost at Peggy's feet. When Peggy saw this,
+she knew what to do; and when Grace and
+Gertrude came flying up a moment after, they
+found her sitting quietly on the rascal's head,
+and telling Colney Hatch to go for the police.</p>
+
+<p>Colney had been watching the evolutions
+of a new and extremely interesting spider.
+The spider had made her web in the hedge
+beside the road; and Colney, as soon as morning
+recitations were over, had hastened thither,
+and sat down under the hedge to watch,
+undisturbed by thoughts of dinner or of any
+other known thing. So watching, it came to
+pass that she heard the sound of rushing feet
+so close that it actually did disturb her; and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[216]</a></span>
+looked up to see an extremely ill-looking fellow
+in full flight, hotly pursued by Peggy
+Montfort. When he turned to bay, it was
+within a foot of the spot where Colney sat
+under the hedge; and without more ado
+Colney stretched out her long, lean hand, and,
+grabbing the fellow by the ankles, "tripped
+up his heels, and he fell on his nose."</p>
+
+<p>Presently up came the school, panting and
+breathless; with them Miss Cortlandt, who
+had been saying to herself that if she ever let
+herself get out of practice in running again
+she would know the reason why. Finally,
+up came William the chore-man from one
+direction (for Miss Russell had gone straight
+to the kitchen and given the alarm there),
+and the next-door neighbour from the other;
+whereupon Constable Peggy got up from her
+uneasy seat, and handed over her prize to the
+tender mercies of his own sex.</p>
+
+<p>"Git up, ye varmint!" said William, stirring
+the prostrate figure with his foot. "Git
+up, and say what ye've got to say for yerself."</p>
+
+<p>The man got up, bewildered, and shaking
+his head as if he expected it to come off.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[217]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"She 'most killed me!" he spluttered. "I
+ain't got no breath left in my body."</p>
+
+<p>"Small loss if ye hain't!" retorted William.
+"What's he ben doin', gals?" William never
+<i>would</i> say "young ladies," which distressed
+Miss Russell; but he was <i>so</i> valuable, as she
+said.</p>
+
+<p>"Stealing!" said Peggy, briefly. "I met
+him coming out of one of the rooms."</p>
+
+<p>"I snum!" said William. "You're a nice
+kind o' harmonium, ben't ye? Tu'n out yer
+pockets!"</p>
+
+<p>"She sot down on my head!" muttered
+the man. "Somethin' come up out o' the
+ground at me and knocked me down, and
+then she sot down on my head. I'm 'most
+killed, I tell ye!"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, who cares if ye be?" replied
+William, with some irritation. "It's a pity
+she didn't finish the job, that's all I've got to
+say. Tu'n out yer pockets, will ye?"</p>
+
+<p>The man obeyed unwillingly, still muttering;
+and out came a mass of lockets, pins, and chains,
+enough, in spite of those he had thrown away,
+to furnish half the girls in the school.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[218]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>After searching to see the surrender was
+complete, William adjured the next-door
+neighbour, a stout and silent person named
+Simpson, who had been standing by, to
+"take t'other arm, and we'll walk him
+down to the lock-up jest as easy!" The
+thief begged and prayed, and, finding that
+useless, took to cursing and swearing; whereupon
+William and Mr. Simpson marched
+him off in short order, and all three disappeared
+around the turn leading to the High
+Street.</p>
+
+<p>The school was left standing in the road,
+still panting with haste and excitement.
+They had been silent during William's colloquy
+with the man, but now the strings of
+their tongues were loosened, and the flood
+of speech broke loose.</p>
+
+<p>"My dear!"</p>
+
+<p>"My <i>dear!</i> I never was so excited in my
+life, were you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Where did he come from?"</p>
+
+<p>"Who saw him first?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, Peggy Montfort, of course! Didn't
+you see her?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[219]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"No; I just ran, because every one else
+was&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Perfectly distracted! I never heard of
+such a thing."</p>
+
+<p>"He was in the closet&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"No; he was on the stairs&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Just getting out of the window&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"With just her bare hands, I tell you. Just
+took a&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Pair of earrings, nothing else in the
+world."</p>
+
+<p>"But who was he&mdash;where did he come
+from? What does Peggy say about it?"</p>
+
+<p>"Girls! <i>girls!</i>" cried Miss Cortlandt. "Will
+you please be silent for a moment? Peggy
+has not had a chance to say a word yet,
+and I for one want to hear her story.
+Have you got your breath yet, Peggy?
+because we all want to hear, very much
+indeed."</p>
+
+<p>"There isn't much to tell," said Peggy,
+blushing. "I went up to get my handkerchief,&mdash;I
+had forgotten it,&mdash;and as I was
+coming out of my room, this fellow was just
+coming out of the other room."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[220]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"What other room? Whose was it?" cried
+a dozen voices.</p>
+
+<p>"Why, Van&mdash;I mean No. 17, Miss Vincent
+and Miss Varnham's room."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh! oh!" a shrill scream was heard;
+and Viola Vincent pushed her way through
+the crowd of girls, and threw herself upon
+Peggy.</p>
+
+<p>"My Veezy-vee!" she cried. "It was my
+room! V., do you hear? It was our room
+that horrid wretch was robbing. My dear, if
+we had been there we should have been murdered
+in our beds, I know we should. Peggy
+Montfort has saved our lives. Isn't it perfectly
+awful?"</p>
+
+<p>"That she should have saved your lives?"
+asked the Snowy Owl, laughing. "Come to
+your senses, Vanity, and don't strangle Peggy.
+She's black in the face, and I shall have to
+set about saving her life if you don't let her
+go."</p>
+
+<p>Released from Viola's embrace, Peggy
+gasped, and shook herself like a Newfoundland
+puppy.</p>
+
+<p>"Don't be ridiculous, Vanity!" she said,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[221]</a></span>
+looking at once pleased and shamefaced. "It
+wasn't anything, of course; it was just what
+any one else would have done. But do look
+out for your things! They are scattered all
+about the lawn; he threw away a lot of them
+when he first came out, and we shall be stepping
+on them if we don't take care. Oh! oh,
+please don't say anything more about it. It
+was just the merest chance I happened to go
+up." This was to Vivia Varnham, who,
+trying to overcome her ungraciousness, was
+expressing her gratitude for what Peggy had
+done. It was evidently an effort and was not
+pleasant for either girl.</p>
+
+<p>The girls scattered over the lawn, picking
+up here a hairpin, there a brooch or
+buckle. It really seemed as if Vanity Fair
+was stocked like a jeweller's shop. Gertrude
+Merryweather, standing by Peggy, uttered an
+exclamation. "My dear! Peggy! Why, you
+are all over blood! You are bleeding now.
+What&mdash;where&mdash;oh! oh, Fluffy, <i>look</i> here!"
+Bertha came running, as Gertrude lifted Peggy's
+arm, which was indeed dripping blood.
+Both girls exclaimed in horror, and Bertha<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[222]</a></span>
+turned quite white; but Peggy looked at it
+coolly.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh!" she said. "That must be where I
+went through the window after him."</p>
+
+<p>"The window?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, didn't you hear the crash? He
+smashed the window in Miss Russell's study
+and got out, and I followed him, of course.
+It isn't anything. Why, I didn't feel it till
+you spoke."</p>
+
+<p>"That is excitement!" said the Snowy
+Owl. "You must come in and be bandaged
+this minute, Peggy! Come right along to
+the Nest; I have bandages and lint all
+ready."</p>
+
+<p>The Snowy Owl was all on fire with ardour
+and sympathy. Peggy looked at her in surprise,
+but the Fluffy Owl laughed. "You
+have struck the Snowy's hobby," she said.
+"She is going to study medicine, you know.
+Go along; she will be happy all the rest of
+the day, bandaging and cosseting you."</p>
+
+<p>"But it doesn't hurt!" said Peggy, still
+wondering.</p>
+
+<p>"Never mind!" said the Snowy Owl. "It<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[223]</a></span>
+ought to hurt, Peggy Montfort, and it will
+hurt in a little while. Come along and be
+bandaged!" and, meekly wondering, Peggy
+went.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[224]</a></span></p>
+<h2>CHAPTER XIII.</h2>
+
+<h3>PEGGY VICTRIX!</h3>
+
+
+<p>"Well, it certainly was a great success!"
+said the Scapegoat. It was the day after the
+reception, and she had drifted into the Owls'
+Nest toward twilight, and now stood by the
+mantelpiece, swaying backward and forward
+in the light, wind-blown way she had.</p>
+
+<p>"A great success!" she repeated, thoughtfully.
+"Why, it was actually pleasant!
+How did you manage it?"</p>
+
+<p>"We didn't manage it," said honest Bertha.
+"It just came so. Everybody was ready to
+have a good time, and had it; that was all."</p>
+
+<p>"More than that!" said Grace, absent-mindedly.
+"There has to be a knack, or
+something, and you have it. I haven't. I
+couldn't do it, even if I wanted to, and I don't
+think I do."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[225]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Do what?" said the Snowy.</p>
+
+<p>"Be an Owl!" said Grace. Suddenly she
+left her hold of the shelf, and turned upon
+them almost fiercely.</p>
+
+<p>"Why should I?" she exclaimed. "Tell
+me that, will you? It is all natural to you.
+Your blood flows quietly, and you like quiet,
+orderly ways, and never want to throw things
+about, or smash a window. I tell you I have
+to, sometimes. Look here!"</p>
+
+<p>She caught up a vase from the shelf, and
+seemed on the point of flinging it through the
+closed window, but Gertrude laid her hand
+on her arm firmly. "You may have a right
+to throw your own things, my dear," she said,
+good-naturedly. "You have no possible right
+to throw mine, and 'with all respect, I do
+object!'"</p>
+
+<p>Grace gave a short laugh, and set the vase
+down again; but she still looked frowningly
+at the two girls, and presently she went on.</p>
+
+<p>"It's all very well for you, I tell you.
+You have a home, and a&mdash;my mother died
+when I was five years old. My father&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Grace, dear," said Gertrude; "come and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[226]</a></span>
+sit down here by me, and tell me about your
+mother. I have seen her picture; she must
+have been lovely."</p>
+
+<p>But Grace shook her head fiercely.</p>
+
+<p>"My father is an actor, and I want to be
+one, too, but he promised my mother before
+she died&mdash;she didn't want me to be one.
+What do I care about all this stuff we are
+learning here? I tell you I want to take a
+tambourine and go on the road with a hand-organ
+man. That would be life! I would,
+too, if I only had the luck to have hair and
+eyes like yours, Fluffy."</p>
+
+<p>"You could wear a wig, of course," said
+Bertha, soberly. "The eyes would be a difficulty,
+though, I'm afraid."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I am here now! and I'm supposed
+to stay another year, and then go to college.
+Four&mdash;five years more of bondage, and tasks,
+and lectures on good behaviour! Am I likely
+to stand it, I ask you?"</p>
+
+<p>"I hope so!" said Gertrude, steadily. "It
+would be a thousand pities if you didn't,
+Grace, and you know it as well as I do."</p>
+
+<p>"And if I do, it must be in my own way!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[227]</a></span>
+cried the wild girl, swinging round again on
+her heel. "And if I can make things more
+endurable here&mdash;if I can get rid of&mdash;it must
+be in my own way, I tell you. Snowy, you
+are like your name, I suppose. You are
+white and gold and calm,&mdash;I don't know
+what you are, except that we are not of the
+same flesh. I tell you, I turn to fire inside!
+I must break out, I must go off when the fit
+comes on me. I do no harm! It doesn't hurt
+anybody for me to go down the wall and cool
+myself with a run in the fields. Why can't I
+be let alone? I am not a child! I tell you it
+is the way I am made!"</p>
+
+<p>The Snowy Owl rose, and, going to the fireplace,
+laid her arm around Grace's shoulder.</p>
+
+<p>"You are making yourself!" she said.
+"It's your own life, Wolf; are you making it
+worse or better?"</p>
+
+<p>"I'm not doing either. I am taking it as
+it comes, as it was meant to come."</p>
+
+<p>Gertrude shook her head quietly.</p>
+
+<p>"That can't be!" she said. "That is impossible,
+Wolf. We have to be growing one
+way or the other; we can't stay as we are,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[228]</a></span>
+for a year or a day. And there's another
+thing: you don't seem to think about the
+others, about the effect on the school. If you
+are to break the laws, why should not every
+one do the same?"</p>
+
+<p>"Because they are different!" said Grace,
+sullenly.</p>
+
+<p>"You don't know that! They may have the
+same temptations, and be stronger than you
+to resist them. You ought to be a strong
+girl, Grace, and, instead of that, you are weak&mdash;as
+weak as water."</p>
+
+<p>"Weak? I!" cried Grace, her eyes blazing.
+"If any one else had said that to me, Gertrude
+Merryweather, I would&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"But no one else would say it to you!"
+said Gertrude. "Because no one else&mdash;except
+Miss Russell&mdash;cares as much as I do&mdash;Fluffy
+and I. We love you too much, Grace,
+to flatter you and follow you, as most of them
+do. I tell you, and you may take it as simple
+truth, for it is nothing else, that which you
+think strength is simply weakness,&mdash;lamentable
+weakness. And as for your influence on
+the other girls&mdash;just listen a moment!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[229]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Taking up a little book from the table, she
+opened it&mdash;indeed it seemed to open of its
+own accord at the place&mdash;and read:</p>
+
+<div class='poem'>
+"'Little thinks, in the field, yon red-cloaked clown<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Of thee from the hill-top looking down;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">The heifer that lows in the upland farm,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Far-heard, lows not thine ear to charm;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">The sexton, tolling his bell at noon,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Deems not that great Napoleon</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Stops his horse, and lists with delight,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Whilst his files sweep round yon Alpine height;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Nor knowest thou what argument</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Thy life to thy neighbour's creed hath lent.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">All are needed by each one;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Nothing is fair or good alone.'"</span><br />
+</div>
+
+<p>There was silence when she finished reading.
+Then&mdash;"What is that?" asked Grace,
+stretching out her hand. "Give it to me!"</p>
+
+<p>"Emerson. Take him home with you,
+and let him talk to you; he speaks well."</p>
+
+<p>Grace took the book, looked it over, and
+dropped it into her pocket. For a moment
+she leaned her head against Gertrude's arm,
+and a sigh broke from her involuntarily.
+Then, all in a moment, a change came. Her<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[230]</a></span>
+face lightened in an indescribable way, and
+her eyebrows lifted with a look that both
+girls knew well.</p>
+
+<p>"And have you heard the news?" she said.
+"There is a rumour that my Puggy leaves me
+at the end of the term. How to exist, I ask
+you, without her? Othello's occupation would
+be gone indeed."</p>
+
+<p>"No! is it true? Why is she going? What
+does it mean?"</p>
+
+<p>Grace shrugged her shoulders with an elfish
+gesture.</p>
+
+<p>"How should I know? It appears she sees
+ghosts. A ghost must be hard up, one would
+think, to visit my Puggy; there ought to be
+an asylum for impoverished spectres. Would
+you subscribe for it, Owls? Good-bye! I must
+go. You mean well, and I don't bear malice.
+Oh! by the by,&mdash;" she came back for an
+instant, and stood balancing herself on one
+foot and looking round the edge of the door,
+and she certainly looked hardly human,&mdash;"I
+forgot the thing I came for. Stand by the
+Innocent this evening, will you, if she should
+get into trouble? I am sent for to the study,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[231]</a></span>
+and shall be in for a good hour's lecture, and
+then bed."</p>
+
+<p>"What do you mean, Goat? What is it?"
+asked both girls, anxiously. But the Goat
+was gone.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>Peggy was enjoying herself extremely. She
+had learned all her lessons, for a wonder, and
+now she had curled herself up in a corner
+with the "Jungle Book," and the rest of the
+world was forgotten. There was nobody,
+there never had been anybody, but Mowgli
+and the Wolves. She had hunted with them,
+she had slain Shere-Khan, she had talked
+with Baloo and Bagheera. Her outdoor nature
+had responded in every fibre to the call
+of the Master of Magic, and he filled her with
+joy and wonder. As the Snowy had said, the
+worlds were opening, and the doors thereof.</p>
+
+<p>Things being thus with her, she hardly
+heard her own door open softly. Before she
+had torn her eyes from the enchanted page,
+the room was filled with silent, flitting figures&mdash;as
+it had been often filled before. The
+girls nodded to her with silent laughter and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[232]</a></span>
+friendly gestures. In another moment they
+would have been at the window; but Peggy
+was not dreaming now. In an instant she had
+sprung from her corner among the cushions,
+and stood before the window, with arms outspread.
+"No!" she said.</p>
+
+<p>The girls recoiled, paused, in amazement.
+There were six of them: the two V's, Blanche
+Haight, and three other sophomores. Peggy
+saw with a throb of joy that Grace Wolfe was
+not among them. That would have made it
+harder.</p>
+
+<p>"What does this mean?" asked Vivia
+Varnham, with her cold smile. "You have
+never made any trouble before, Peggy; isn't
+it rather late in the day?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, she's only in fun!" cried Viola Vincent.
+"Aren't you, Veezy-vee? Why, she's
+acting, girls, and she does it elegantly. It's
+perf'ly fine, Veezy-vee. I didn't know you
+had it in you."</p>
+
+<p>"No, I am not acting," said Peggy, quietly.
+"I am sorry, girls, but you can't go out.
+You never can go out again, so long as I am
+here."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[233]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Upon my word!" cried Blanche Haight,
+who had not spoken yet. "This seems to be
+a pretty state of things. Perhaps you are not
+aware, Miss Montfort, that this exit was used,
+long before you came to adorn the school with
+your presence. We acknowledge no right
+of yours to forbid us the use of it. Stand
+out of the way, please."</p>
+
+<p>For <ins title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'all'">a</ins> reply, Peggy backed against the
+window; her face assumed an expression with
+which her family was acquainted.</p>
+
+<p>"When Peggy looks dour," Jean used to
+say, "look out for rising winds and a falling
+barometer!"</p>
+
+<p>Then Viola came forward, and began to
+plead, in her pretty, wheedling way.</p>
+
+<p>"Let us go, just this once; that's a dear,
+good Veezy. I know what has happened;
+Miss Russell has found out, hasn't she?"</p>
+
+<p>Peggy nodded.</p>
+
+<p>"And she has spoken to you, and of course
+I know just how you feel. But you see,
+Peggy, we have an appointment this time,
+truly we have, with some college girls, and
+you wouldn't make us break it, would you,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[234]</a></span>
+Veezy? Of course you don't want us to go,
+and we won't again,&mdash;at least most probably
+we won't, if it is going to get you into trouble.
+But we really <i>have</i> to go this time, Peggy,
+dear, so do be nice and sweet, and let us
+pass."</p>
+
+<p>"No," said Peggy. "I'm sorry, Viola, but
+it's no use. Nothing you can say will make
+any difference."</p>
+
+<p>"Possibly not!" said Blanche Haight; she
+pushed Viola aside without ceremony, and
+came close to Peggy.</p>
+
+<p>"Possibly nothing we can say will make a
+difference, Miss Montfort, but something we
+can <i>do</i> may make a good deal. I ask you,
+fair and square, will you come away from
+that window? We are six to one, and I give
+you the chance of settling this in a quiet and
+friendly way. Will you come away from that
+window?"</p>
+
+<p>"No," said Peggy, "I will not. Is that
+square enough?"</p>
+
+<p>"Then, girls," said Blanche, turning to her
+followers, "we must help ourselves. We
+shall see whether one freshman is going to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[235]</a></span>
+block the way of the Gang! You take one
+arm, Viola, and I'll take the other."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, don't hurt her!" cried Viola. "Don't
+hurt her, Blanche. I'm awfully fond of
+Peggy. I know she only means to do what
+she thinks she ought to. Peggy, do give up!
+You are all alone, and there are six of us.
+Do give up, Peggy; for my sake, Peggy!
+I&mdash;I'll give you my gold bangle, the one with
+the locket, if you'll only give up, Peggy!"</p>
+
+<p>Peggy smiled, and said nothing. She could
+not be angry with the little butterfly, but
+there was no use in wasting breath; she
+might need all she had.</p>
+
+<p>Blanche Haight seized one arm, Vivia Varnham
+the other, and tried to drag her away
+from the window by main force. With her
+favourite Newfoundland-dog motion, Peggy
+shook them off, planted a quick blow here, another
+there, and her assailants staggered back
+for a moment. In another instant, however,
+they returned to the attack, and this time the
+other sophomores joined, and all five threw
+themselves on Peggy. Once more she shook
+them off, but they closed in again, and a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[236]</a></span>
+struggle began, all the more fierce that no word
+was spoken, no cry uttered. No cry, that is,
+by the combatants. When the five set upon
+Peggy, Viola ran in and made an effort to
+pull them off, with piteous entreaties. But
+no one paid the smallest heed to her, and the
+poor little butterfly, frightened and distressed,
+burst into tears, and ran away.</p>
+
+<p>At the same moment, any one who had
+been listening in quiet might have heard a
+singular sound that seemed to come from
+above, from outside&mdash;no one could tell from
+where; the cry of an owl, followed by a long,
+low howl. Three times this was repeated;
+and many a junior, studying under her
+lamp, looked up and said, "What is up
+now, I wonder?" for the sound recalled
+freshman days, before the Lone Wolf and
+the two Owls had come to the parting of the
+ways.</p>
+
+<p>Three minutes later, two figures, speeding
+silently along Corridor A, were met at a turn
+by a third, which flung itself sobbing upon
+them.</p>
+
+
+<p>"Oh, Snowy, oh, Fluffy, they are killing<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[237]</a></span>
+Peggy Montfort! I was coming to call you&mdash;oh,
+be quick! be quick!"</p>
+
+<p>Without stopping, somehow the Snowy
+Owl managed to open a door and thrust
+Viola in. It was to be noticed that neither
+girl looked at her. They ran on, swift and
+silent.</p>
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;">
+<img src="images/gs06.png" width="500" height="337" alt="&quot;WITH ONE OF HER SUDDEN MOVEMENTS SHE HAD THROWN OFF HER ASSAILANTS.&quot;" title="&quot;WITH ONE OF HER SUDDEN MOVEMENTS SHE HAD THROWN OFF HER ASSAILANTS.&quot;" />
+<span class="caption">&quot;WITH ONE OF HER SUDDEN MOVEMENTS SHE HAD THROWN OFF HER ASSAILANTS.&quot;</span>
+</div>
+
+<p>Indeed, it was time! Peggy's lip was bleeding,
+where Vivia Varnham's head had struck
+against it as she fell, tripped by a pretty trick
+that was learned on the Western farm. Her
+hair was dragged down and hung in her eyes,
+her dress was torn in a dozen places.
+With one of her sudden movements she had
+thrown off her assailants, and stood for an
+instant alone, looking the very Spirit of Battle,
+with blazing eyes and scarlet cheeks.
+Blanche Haight rushed at her again, and this
+time Peggy seized her around the waist in a
+deadly grip. The others closed in once more,
+furious, determined this time to finish with
+the insolent freshman. It was like to go
+hard with Peggy Montfort this time.</p>
+
+<p>What happened? A flash, the glance of an
+eye, and all was changed. The assailants fell<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[238]</a></span>
+back, staggering across the room, gasping and
+staring; and the Snowy and the Fluffy Owl
+were standing shoulder to shoulder with
+Peggy, one on either side, with stern and
+angry looks.</p>
+
+<p>For a moment there was dead silence, save
+for the hard breathing as Blanche Haight
+tried to wriggle out of the iron grasp that
+held her&mdash;in vain! Then Gertrude Merryweather
+spoke.</p>
+
+<p>"Miss Varnham, Miss Floyd, Miss Johnson,
+Miss White, Miss&mdash;who is this?&mdash;Miss
+Haight. Found out of bounds and out of
+hours, making a disturbance in the rooms.
+To be reported to the Principal. Go to your
+rooms, if you please!"</p>
+
+<p>Was this the Snowy Owl, gentle and
+friendly, beloved of all? No! it was the
+Junior President and the Monitor of Corridor
+A. She might have been an avenging angel
+as she stood there, tall and white and severe.</p>
+
+<p>Her face softened as she bent over Peggy.
+"You can let her go now!" she said. "We
+are here, Peggy, Bertha and I. It is all
+right! Let her go, child!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[239]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Slowly and reluctantly Peggy loosed her
+hold, and Blanche, half-fainting, dropped
+upon the bed. She looked with feeble venom
+at the two rescuers.</p>
+
+<p>"Spying, eh?" she whispered. "Very
+dignified, I'm sure, for a president. That little
+sneak Viola Vincent was here too, mind!
+Put her down in your precious report."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't see Miss Vincent here!" said
+Gertrude, coldly. "Go to your rooms, if you
+please! I think I understand the case thoroughly,
+Blanche, thank you. Will you go, or
+shall we help you?"</p>
+
+<p>But Blanche preferred to go unaided.
+Silent as they had come, they slunk away,
+flitting like shadows along the corridor. And
+when they were gone, the two Owls sat down
+on the bed and took Peggy between them,
+and rocked, and petted, and soothed her; for
+lo! the Goddess of Battle was crying like a
+three years' child.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[240]</a></span></p>
+<h2>CHAPTER XIV.</h2>
+
+<h3>ON SPY HILL.</h3>
+
+
+<p>Things were quietly managed at Pentland
+School; there was never any outcry, any open
+flurry of excitement and gossip. Many of the
+scholars never knew why five girls left school
+in the middle of the term. The seniors who
+did know shrugged their shoulders, and said
+it was a pity to have such things take the
+girls' minds off their parts&mdash;looking at
+everything from the point of view of Senior
+Dramatics. The juniors looked pretty sober
+for a week, even the sophomore spirits were
+dashed for the time. But nothing was said
+openly, and after awhile the scared whisperings
+died away, and work and play went
+on as usual. Poor little Viola Vincent
+mourned deeply the loss of her mate. She
+herself had escaped with a severe reprimand,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[241]</a></span>
+having gone to Miss Russell to plead Vivia's
+cause, and confessing frankly her own share
+in the escapade. Vivia was anything but an
+agreeable girl; but she and Viola had grown
+up together, next-door neighbours and companions
+from their cradles, and Viola was lost
+without her. She threw herself upon Peggy
+for consolation, and Peggy found herself in
+the curious position of protecting and comforting
+a junior, and a girl two years older
+than herself. Viola would come in, and, curling
+herself up in the corner of Peggy's divan,
+declare that she had come for a good cry.
+A few sniffs would follow, and then perhaps
+actual tears, but more likely a river of speech.</p>
+
+<p>"It's no use, Peggy! I cannot live! I
+simply can <i>not</i> live on in this way. I know
+V. was horrid to you&mdash;yes, she was! Oh, I
+am not blind, you know, if I am a goose! She
+was horrid to most of the girls, I know she
+was, but she was good to me, generally, and
+it didn't matter much if she wasn't. I was
+used to her little ways, and I didn't mind.
+And I have always had her, you see, all my
+life, and I don't&mdash;see&mdash;how I <i>can</i> get along<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[242]</a></span>
+without her. I wanted to be expelled, too!
+Yes, I did! that was why I told Miss Russell
+about my being there and all; I thought she
+would be sure to send me away, too. I think
+it was very unjust of her not to, I'm sure."</p>
+
+<p>"Viola, don't talk so! You had nothing
+to do with the&mdash;the attack, or any violence.
+You would have gone away quietly when I
+said you could not use the window; you
+know you would."</p>
+
+<p>"How do you know I would have? I might
+have torn you limb from limb, Peggy, for all
+you can say. What are you laughing at?"</p>
+
+<p>For this statement, coming from a small
+person with a grasp about as powerful as that
+of a week-old kitten, was too much for the
+stalwart Peggy's composure.</p>
+
+<p>"You don't know what I am when I am
+roused!" Viola went on. "I'm awful, simply
+awful!" And she opened her blue eyes wide,
+and looked like a tragic baby.</p>
+
+<p>"But&mdash;my! Peggy, how you did look that
+night! I wonder this whole room didn't turn
+blue with fright. I was frightened almost to
+death; I wonder I'm alive to-day. Well,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">[243]</a></span>
+wasn't it too perf'ly awful for anything, the
+whole thing?"</p>
+
+<p>"It was pretty bad!" Peggy assented.
+"But it's all over now, Viola; I would try
+not to dwell on it too much, if I were you.
+Of course I know how you must miss Vivia,
+and I'm dreadfully sorry about it all. But
+just think how dear the Owls have been to
+both of us."</p>
+
+<p>"Haven't they?" cried Viola, drying her
+tears, her eyes brightening. "Aren't they
+too perfectly lovely for anything, the Owls?
+I think the Snowy is just the sweetest thing
+that ever lived in this world, don't you?"</p>
+
+<p>"I think she's one of them," said honest
+Peggy. "But I'm just as fond of Bertha.
+She was my first friend here, my very first."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, how funny you were that first day,
+Peggy!" cried Viola, laughing now, her sorrows
+forgotten for the time. "You were
+too killing! I thought I should have died,
+when you went tumbling all over yourself.
+You <i>were</i> killing, weren't you, now?"</p>
+
+<p>"You seem to have survived!" said
+Peggy, good-naturedly. It was not pleasant<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[244]</a></span>
+to be laughed at, but no one ever minded
+Viola.</p>
+
+<p>"Where are you going?" demanded Viola,
+as Peggy got out her "Tam" and pinned it
+on with a resolute air. "Peggy, you are not
+going out, just when I have come to see you?
+I was so lonely, and I wanted some one to
+talk to; and now the minute I come, you get
+up and go away. I must say I don't think
+you are very polite." And Viola pouted and
+looked like a child of six instead of a girl of
+sixteen.</p>
+
+<p>"Viola!" said Peggy. "You have been
+here an hour and a half, do you know it? and
+I must have a walk; I haven't been outside
+the door this afternoon. Put on your Tam
+and come along with me! You'd feel ever so
+much better if you would take more exercise."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, no, I shouldn't! and I cannot see
+what you want to be walk, walking, all the
+everlasting time for, Peggy Montfort. What's
+the use of it?"</p>
+
+<p>"The use?" cried Peggy, with sparkling
+eyes. "Why, there's all the use in the world.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">[245]</a></span>
+In the first place, it makes you strong and
+healthy, and keeps you well."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh! but gym does that! We have to do
+gym, and I don't mind that; in fact it's rather
+fun, only it spoils your figure dreadfully."</p>
+
+<p>"But gym isn't enough, if you don't take
+any other exercise," said Peggy. "And besides,
+V., just think of the <i>joy</i> of walking and
+running. Why, you see all the things growing,
+and breathe the air, and&mdash;and&mdash;hear the
+birds, and the water, and&mdash;well, I shouldn't
+want to live if I couldn't walk, that's all.
+Come along, and you'll see!"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I can't, I'm too tired."</p>
+
+<p>"You are tired, because you have been
+sitting in the house all day. And you are
+pale, and&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"No! am I?" cried Viola, running to the
+glass. "I'm so glad! I just love to be pale,
+it's so interesting. It makes my eyes look
+larger, too, doesn't it, Peggy? They do look
+very large to-day, don't they, Peggy?"</p>
+
+<p>Peggy sighed. "You do discourage me,
+Viola!" she said. "Well, good-bye. I must
+go. The others are waiting for me."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">[246]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"What others? Who else is going? What
+are you going to do?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, I told you! We are going to walk."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, but what <i>for?</i> Are you going to the
+shops, or going to see somebody? I can't see
+<i>any</i> sense in just stupid walking, without any
+object. And you didn't tell me who was
+going."</p>
+
+<p>"You didn't give me a chance. Well,
+Rose Barclay is going, and two other freshmen
+whom I don't think you know, Clara
+Fair and Ethel Bird&mdash;and Lobelia Parkins."</p>
+
+<p>"Peggy Montfort! why <i>do</i> you go with
+that little animal? I've told you before that
+I could not, for the honour of the corridor,
+have you seen with a creature that looks like
+that. Let her go with Colney Hatch if she
+wants company; they'd be two of a kind."</p>
+
+<p>"Colney Hatch is one of the brightest girls
+in school, Miss Cortlandt says so!"</p>
+
+<p>"Very likely; but that doesn't make her a
+fit associate for you, my Veezy-vee. You
+never seem to understand about different sets.
+I want you to belong to the smart set, and
+you won't."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">[247]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Do the Owls belong to it?" demanded
+Peggy, turning red.</p>
+
+<p>"Peggy, how dense you are! The Owls
+don't belong to any set because they won't.
+Of course they could belong to any set they
+pleased."</p>
+
+<p>"Does Grace Wolfe belong to it?"</p>
+
+<p>"The Goat? Why, she used to; but she's so
+awfully queer, you know; the Goat has grown
+too awfully queer for anything. She stays by
+herself mostly, ever since she cut loose from
+the Gang. And Vivia is gone," she wailed,
+"and Blanche Haight,&mdash;Blanchey was not
+very nice, but her gowns fitted like a seraph's,
+and the style to her hats was too
+perfectly killing for anything, you know it
+was. And now there isn't any one, not a
+single soul, that I care to talk to about
+clothes. I've had my pink waist done over,
+and it's simply dandy&mdash;the sweetest thing
+you ever saw in your life; and nobody cares.
+I am so unhappy!"</p>
+
+<p>"I haven't seen that new hat you told me
+about!" said Peggy, with a happy stroke of
+diplomacy. If any one had told Margaret<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">[248]</a></span>
+Montfort that her Peggy would ever develop
+a talent for diplomacy she would have opened
+her eyes wide indeed; but one learns many
+things at boarding-school.</p>
+
+<p>Viola brightened at once.</p>
+
+<p>"No! didn't I?" she cried, her whole manner
+changing. "Would you like to see it,
+Peggy? It is really too cute for anything, it
+just <i>is!</i> What makes you shut up your
+mouth that way?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, nothing! Well, yes, it is something.
+You won't mind if I tell you? Well, I used to
+say 'cute,' and Margaret showed me what
+bad English it was, and how silly it sounded.
+So I made up my mind to stop it, and every
+time I wanted to say it I screwed up my mouth
+and counted ten. Just the same with 'elegant.'
+I've broken myself of that, too, but it
+was hard work."</p>
+
+<p>"Elegant! simply elegant!" repeated Viola,
+thoughtfully. "The Goat won't let you
+say that, either, or the Owls. What's the use
+of being so fussy? besides, elegant is a real
+word, they can't say it isn't, so now!"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh! of course it is, and it has its real<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">[249]</a></span>
+use. You can speak of an elegant dress, or an
+elegant carriage, and then it's all right; but
+I used to say I had had an elegant time, don't
+you know? and talk about elegant cake, and
+all that kind of thing. And when once you
+have learned better, it does sound awfully
+silly."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, they make just as much fuss about
+'awful,' and there you are saying that, and
+you say it all the time."</p>
+
+<p>"I know!" said poor Peggy, hanging her
+head. "I know I do, though I try awfully
+hard not to. There! that's the way it is. It
+does seem as if I couldn't get over that, but
+I'm going on trying. And if you don't get
+your hat this minute, V., I shall go without
+you. I can't wait any longer. It's awfully&mdash;it's
+<i>very</i> late."</p>
+
+<p>"Why, I'm coming, as fast as I can; how
+impatient you are, Peggy! You aren't half
+as fond of me as I am of you, or you would
+not be in such a hurry to get away to that
+little fright. There, here it is! Now isn't
+that dandy, simply dandy? I do think it is
+too perf'ly sweet for anything!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">[250]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>It was a pretty hat, and Viola certainly
+looked charming in it. She was so pleased
+with her appearance that she could not resist
+the temptation of "showing off" to the other
+girls; so she followed Peggy down to the
+lawn, where a little group was already gathered.
+At sight of a junior, even so unformidable
+a junior as Viola Vincent, poor little
+Lobelia Parkins shrank into a small knotted
+heap of misery. Through Peggy's intercession,
+Rose Barclay and the two other freshmen
+had been kind to her, and had agreed to
+let her share their walks, which they took
+now semi-weekly under Peggy's leadership.
+None of them cared for her, or felt much
+interest in her, but they did care for Peggy
+Montfort, partly because she was the strongest
+girl in the class, partly because of the fame
+that had accrued to her since her exploit in
+resisting and breaking up the famous Gang;
+but mostly, perhaps, because everybody felt
+and said that Peggy Montfort was "all right,"
+which in schoolgirl parlance meant that she
+was a cheerful, kindly, and right-minded girl.
+So, though her chief friends were still among<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">[251]</a></span>
+the juniors, she was well known and well
+liked in her own class.</p>
+
+<p>Peggy took Lobelia's hand, and drew it
+resolutely through her arm.</p>
+
+<p>"We'll lead the way!" she cried. "Rose
+and Viola, you two come next, and Clara and
+Ethel bring up the rear. How's that?"</p>
+
+<p>All agreed to the arrangement; and the six
+started off in high spirits.</p>
+
+<p>"Where are we going to-day?" asked Rose
+Barclay. "Don't kill us, Peggy! I haven't
+got over being stiff yet, from the last tramp.
+It was jolly, though."</p>
+
+<p>"It was splendid!" chimed in Ethel Bird.
+"Why, I had no idea what pretty places there
+were about here. Shall we go to the woods
+again?"</p>
+
+<p>"I thought of going up Spy Hill!" said
+Peggy. "It isn't very high, and there's a
+lovely view from the top."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I never can get as far as that!" cried
+Viola, aghast. "You said a little walk, Peggy,
+and that is miles and miles, I know it is. Oh,
+I think I'll go back."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, don't!" cried Rose, in a tone of heartfelt<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">[252]</a></span>
+interest that won Viola's susceptible heart.
+"It isn't very far, truly it isn't; and I want
+to ask you where you got that hat. It is too
+perfectly lovely for anything! I've got to
+have a new hat, and I do wish&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"My dear!" cried Viola, dimpling all over
+with pleasure, "I'll tell you all about it. You
+see&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>There was no more trouble with Viola.
+Peggy chuckled, and started off at a round
+pace, the others following.</p>
+
+<p>The two Owls, standing at their window
+with arms intertwined, just thinking of taking
+a little flutter in the cool of the afternoon,
+looked after them with friendly eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"What's the matter with Peggy Montfort?"
+said the Fluffy to the Snowy.</p>
+
+<p>"<i>She's</i> all right!" said the Snowy to the
+Fluffy. And then they looked at each other
+sternly, and shook their heads in grave rebuke.
+"My dear," they said both together,
+"we are surprised!"</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">[253]</a></span></p>
+<h2>CHAPTER XV.</h2>
+
+<h3>WHAT WAS THE MATTER WITH LOBELIA
+PARKINS?</h3>
+
+
+<p>"Lobelia, I insist upon knowing!"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Peggy, please don't ask me!"</p>
+
+<p>"But I will ask you. I do ask you. What
+is it that you are afraid of? I shall find out
+sooner or later, so you might as well give up
+at once and tell me."</p>
+
+<p>Lobelia looked around her uneasily. She
+and Peggy were sitting in a cosy little hollow
+under the lee of a great brown rock, waiting
+for the others to come up.</p>
+
+<p>"Come!" said Peggy. "There's nobody
+behind that rock. What is the matter with
+you, Lobelia Parkins, and why don't you
+sleep? Out with it!"</p>
+
+<p>Lobelia sighed, and twisted her buttons.
+"I&mdash;I never am a very good sleeper," she
+said at last. "I&mdash;I'm nervous, Peggy. And
+then&mdash;"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">[254]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"And then, what?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, dear me! I can't tell you. You
+won't believe me if I tell you. Things come
+into my room and frighten me."</p>
+
+<p>"Things? What do you mean, Lobelia?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know what I mean!" cried the
+poor girl, looking about her again, as if in
+dread of some unseen terror. "I don't know
+who it is, or what it is. Something&mdash;or
+somebody&mdash;comes through my room at night
+and goes out of the window."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah!" said Peggy. "Well, go on. How
+long has this been going on?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, ever so long! At first&mdash;Peggy, you
+will feel badly if I tell you this."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, then, I've got to feel badly," said
+Peggy, stoutly. "Though I can't see what I
+have to do with it&mdash;so far. I'll have plenty
+to do with it from now on!" she added, significantly.
+"Go on, Lobelia."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, you know that time you were so
+good to me, Peggy; when Blanche Haight and
+those others were teasing me, and you came
+in like a lioness and drove them off. I never
+shall forget it as long as I live, Peggy, never!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255">[255]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Nonsense!" said Peggy. "It wasn't anything
+at all. Don't be absurd, Lobelia. Well,
+what since then?"</p>
+
+<p>"It began after that. She&mdash;I know that
+it used to be Blanche Haight then&mdash;she used
+to come in after I was in bed, and frighten
+me. She had a sheet on, and at first I
+thought it was a ghost, and I fainted the first
+time, I think; and then she used&mdash;she used
+to make faces and pinch me, and one time I
+saw her ring, and so I knew who it was."</p>
+
+<p>"The cowardly brute!" muttered Peggy.
+"It's well for her that she's out of this school.
+Now, Lobelia Parkins, why, in the name of
+all that is feeble-minded and ridiculous, didn't
+you tell me this before?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I couldn't!" said Lobelia. "I had
+given you enough trouble, Peggy. And
+besides&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Well! besides what?"</p>
+
+<p>"I was afraid! I was afraid she would
+kill me if I told."</p>
+
+<p>"My goodness gracious <i>me!</i>" cried Peggy,
+bouncing on her mossy seat, till Lobelia shrank
+away scared and trembling. "Do you think<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256">[256]</a></span>
+we live in the Middle Ages, Lobelia Parkins?
+This is what comes of reading history; it
+puts all those old-fangled notions into your
+head, till you have no sense left. I know!
+You had all that stuff about Florence and
+Rome, and poisoning, and all that. I had it
+too; awful stuff, and probably two-thirds lies.
+History is the father of lies, you know;
+somebody says so somewhere."</p>
+
+<p>"I&mdash;I thought it was Herodotus who was
+called that," Lobelia ventured, timidly.</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps it was; it's all the same."</p>
+
+<p>"No, I am wrong. Herodotus was called
+the father of history, and then some other
+people said he was the father of lies; but now
+it has all come true, so he isn't any more!"</p>
+
+<p>Lobelia, who was stupid and painstaking,
+proffered this lucid explanation painfully, and
+then gasped; it seemed a liberty for her to
+explain anything to anybody.</p>
+
+<p>"Who cares?" said Peggy. "He's dead,
+anyhow. Oh, how it used to provoke my
+dearest Margaret when I said that. I only
+mean, I never see how it can matter so much
+as people think. But you are not dead,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257">[257]</a></span>
+Lobelia; and the idea of your being killed,
+here in this school, in the nineteenth century!
+Why, it is absurd, don't you see? It
+is funny! You must laugh about it, my
+dear!"</p>
+
+<p>Lobelia, with an effort, produced a watery
+smile; seeing which, Peggy's mood changed,
+and she laid her hand instantly on the skinny,
+shrinking arm.</p>
+
+<p>"My dear, don't think I was laughing at
+<i>you</i>," she cried, warmly. "No; I am going
+to be furious in a minute, when I get round to
+that part again. Well, but Lobelia, Blanche
+Haight is gone now, and a good riddance, and
+yet you say you are still afraid. What are
+you afraid of?"</p>
+
+<p>"I&mdash;I don't know who it is now!" said
+Lobelia. "But some one comes through, just
+the same."</p>
+
+<p>"How do you mean, just the same? some
+one pinches you?"</p>
+
+<p>"No! oh, no! this person never speaks to
+me or looks at me. It&mdash;she&mdash;only wants
+to go through the window. It has something
+light gray over its head and shoulders. It<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258">[258]</a></span>
+goes down the fire-escape and stays about
+half an hour, and then comes back. I&mdash;I
+don't mind it so very much, now. I dare
+say it's all right, only&mdash;I can't sleep very
+well, you know."</p>
+
+<p>"I see!" said Peggy. "Well, I think we
+can settle that matter, Lobelia. Hush! here
+come the others. We won't say anything
+more about it now. Well, girls, how did it
+go? Isn't it a lovely little scramble?"</p>
+
+<p>Rose Barclay and Viola appeared, with the
+other two just behind. Viola was panting,
+and her delicate colour was deepened by
+exertion till she was almost as rosy as her
+companion.</p>
+
+<p>"My dear!" she cried. "You are responsible
+for my life! I am killed; simply killed,
+Peggy Montfort. I shall never recover from
+this awful fatigue, I know I shall not."</p>
+
+<p>"Nonsense!" said Peggy, briefly. "Here!
+sit down here, V., and get your breath; you'll
+be all right in a minute. It wasn't bad, was
+it, Rose?"</p>
+
+<p>"It was a bit stiff in one place!" Rose
+admitted. "I rather think we took the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259">[259]</a></span>
+wrong turn, Peggy. Did you say left, after
+the big pine?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, right; you didn't come up that
+bank? Poor little V.! no wonder she thinks
+she is killed. Let me take your hat off, V.,
+and get you some water or something."</p>
+
+<p>But Viola refused to part with her hat.
+She sat panting and crimson, and seemed
+really exhausted. Peggy eyed her with remorse.
+"I couldn't know that you would
+take the wrong turn, could I?" she said.
+"I'm awfully sorry!"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, but it was fine!" said Ethel Bird.
+"How do you find out all these places,
+Peggy? This is just lovely, isn't it?"</p>
+
+<p>"By looking," said Peggy. "I like to
+poke about, and I came on this the other day.
+See, here's a little baby spring, trickling
+right out of the rock here. Isn't it pretty?
+and the water is clear and cold as ice. Shall
+I make you a leaf-cup, Viola? The best way,
+though, is to put your mouth down and drink,
+this way."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I never would do that!" cried Clara
+Fair. "Why, a snake might go right down<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260">[260]</a></span>
+your throat, Peggy Montfort; truly it might.
+There was a man&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, don't talk about a man!" cried Rose
+Barclay. "How could you, Clara? You
+remind me of my German lesson."</p>
+
+<p>"I never said a word about your German
+lesson," said Clara, who was literal and
+matter-of-fact.</p>
+
+<p>"No, but you reminded me," said Rose,
+who was imaginative and poetic. "All the
+morning I was saying to myself:</p>
+
+<div class='poem'>
+"'Der dickere Mann,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Des dickeren Mannes,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Dem dickeren Manne,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Den dickeren Mann.'"</span><br />
+</div>
+
+<p>"You seem to have learned it, anyhow,"
+said Peggy, laughing.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, but that isn't all!" said Rose.
+"There is more horror. It goes on, you
+know:</p>
+
+<div class='poem'>
+"'Die dickeren M&auml;nner,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Der dickeren M&auml;nner,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Den dickeren M&auml;nnern,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Die dickeren M&auml;nner.'"</span><br /></div>
+
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261">[261]</a></span>"I think foreign languages are the silliest
+things in the world!" declared Peggy.
+"Well, I do! Such perfect foolishness as they
+talk! I have no patience with them."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, but Peggy, they aren't foreign
+when they are at home!" protested Ethel.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, then, I wish they would stay at
+home. I don't know whether German is so
+bad, though that sounds awful, all that you
+said just now, Rose; but I have French; and
+I have to try to mince and simper, and twist
+my mouth up into all kinds of shapes, just
+saying things that are too silly to <i>be</i> said.
+I wish there was a law that no one in this
+country should ever speak anything but
+English. It would be ever so much more
+sensible."</p>
+
+<p>"So it would!" assented Rose. "I say!
+what a pity we didn't think to bring something
+to eat! I'm awfully hungry, walking
+all this way."</p>
+
+<p>"All this way, Rose!" said Peggy. "Why,
+how far do you think it is?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, four or five miles, I'm sure!"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, it isn't two. Look here, girls,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_262" id="Page_262">[262]</a></span>
+what is the reason none of you seem to know
+how to walk?"</p>
+
+<p>"What do you mean? We have walked,
+haven't we? Here we are."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, you call this a walk! that's just it, I
+tell you. You walk a mile, or two at the
+very most, and you think you have done
+something wonderful; and poor Viola is all
+tired out, and says she will never come again.
+Well, but this isn't what <i>I</i> call walking, you
+know. Why, I went with the Owls the other
+day, and we walked fifteen miles if we did a
+step, and it was perfectly glorious. <i>That's</i>
+what <i>I</i> call walking, and I do wonder how it
+is that none of you ever learned. You are
+all strong and well, aren't you?"</p>
+
+<p>Yes, they were all strong and well; except
+Viola, who still declared she had got her
+death, and should never recover.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, but what's the use?" asked Rose.
+"I think this is great fun, to come to a pretty
+place like this, and sit and talk and look at
+the view; but just to go on walking and
+stalking along the way you and the Owls do,&mdash;what's
+the use of it? We are not ostriches,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_263" id="Page_263">[263]</a></span>
+and why should we pretend we are? Besides,
+it takes such a lot of time."</p>
+
+<p>"And what would you be doing with your
+time?" asked Peggy, hotly. "Reading
+stories, or just sitting, sitting, and talking,
+talking. My goodness gracious <i>me!</i> the
+way some of the girls just sit around all
+their spare time, doing nothing, makes me
+tired. Why, if I hadn't stalked, as you call
+it, how would you have come here to-day,
+and seen the prettiest place you ever saw
+since you came here&mdash;for it is, and you can't
+deny it, girls. I do hate to see people doing
+nothing. I don't much care what they do,
+so long as it is <i>something!</i>"</p>
+
+<p>"Peggy, you're getting very ferocious, do
+you know it?" said Clara Fair. "And, after
+all, we did come, and now we are doing just
+as much as you are, and why are you shouting
+at us?"</p>
+
+<p>"I won't shout any more," said Peggy,
+laughing. "I suppose we all have our hobbies,
+haven't we? Walking is one of mine;
+and you are going to like it just as much as I
+do, girls, before we get through the term.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_264" id="Page_264">[264]</a></span>
+Why, there are about twenty of the loveliest
+walks, and none of them&mdash;hallo!"</p>
+
+<p>Peggy stopped abruptly, and seemed to
+listen.</p>
+
+<p>"What's the matter?" asked Rose. "I
+didn't hear anything."</p>
+
+<p>"I thought I did," said Peggy, quietly.
+"Be still a minute, will you?"</p>
+
+<p>She bent her head. There was a moment
+of perfect silence; then, somewhere close at
+hand, a singular dry, rattling sound.</p>
+
+<p>"What a queer noise!" said Ethel. "What
+is it?"</p>
+
+<p>"It's time to go home, girls!" said Peggy.
+"You'd better start along, and I'll come behind
+you. Come, Viola, give me your hand&mdash;so!
+Now take her, Rose, and hurry along!
+Lobelia, go with them, will you?"</p>
+
+<p>"What upon earth is the matter, Peggy
+Montfort?" asked Rose, eyeing her curiously.
+"What do you want to get us out of the way
+for? I believe you have found something,
+and want to keep it to yourself."</p>
+
+<p>"Rose, <i>please</i> go!" said Peggy, earnestly.
+"I am coming, I tell you. No, not there!<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_265" id="Page_265">[265]</a></span>
+that way&mdash;along by the big pine. Keep
+away from the rock&mdash;so! Now hurry, and
+I'm coming right along."</p>
+
+<p>The girls hardly knew why they obeyed;
+but there was such a singular earnestness in
+Peggy's look and gesture that they did not
+stay to question her, but one and all&mdash;or so
+it seemed&mdash;turned and hastened down the
+side of the hill.</p>
+
+<p>No sooner were their backs turned than
+Peggy, whose keen eyes had been fixed all
+this time on one spot, moved swiftly behind
+a great rock that stood close by. There,
+stooping, she sought with eager hands and
+eyes; sought and found a stout stick. She
+tried its strength&mdash;it was strong and tough.
+Then warily she came back, and looked once
+more at the pile of withered leaves that had
+riveted her attention before. The pile seemed
+to move&mdash;to undulate; and from it came
+once more the dry, rattling sound. Something
+reared itself, brown and slender; at the
+same instant a shriek rang through the wood.
+It did not come from Peggy's lips. Like a
+flash, the girl had sprung forward, and caught<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_266" id="Page_266">[266]</a></span>
+the snake's neck under her crotched stick, just
+as he was raising himself to strike. Pinned
+firmly to the earth, the creature could only
+twist and wriggle in impotent rage. Looking
+around coolly, Peggy saw Lobelia's face peering
+around the trunk of a tree, pale with
+horror.</p>
+
+<p>"Well!" said Peggy. "You are a nice
+obedient child, aren't you? Since you are
+there, you might get me a good stone; he's
+all right; he can't get his head round."</p>
+
+<p>Gasping and trembling, Lobelia found and
+brought a stone, which she held out at arm's
+length.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Peggy!" she whispered. "Is it&mdash;is
+it a rattlesnake?"</p>
+
+<p>"That's what!" said Peggy, relapsing into
+slang in the absorption of the moment. "He
+won't be a rattlesnake much longer, though.
+There! now you can look, Lobelia; he's dead.
+I tell you he's dead, as dead as Julius C&aelig;sar.
+What are you crying for, child?"</p>
+
+<p>Lobelia came forward, trembling and cringing.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Peggy, I knew it was. I didn't say<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_267" id="Page_267">[267]</a></span>
+anything, because I thought you wouldn't
+want me to&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Quite right," said Peggy. "Sensible
+rabbit!"</p>
+
+<p>"And&mdash;and I am terribly afraid of snakes&mdash;oh,
+I was sure you would be killed,
+Peggy!"</p>
+
+<p>"And so you came back to be killed with
+me? Lobelia, what a foolish girl you are.
+There, there, don't cry. Why, the snake isn't
+crying, and he really has been killed."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Peggy, if you had been killed, I
+should have died. I shouldn't have needed
+any snake to kill me."</p>
+
+<p>"Nonsense!" said Peggy, gruffly. "Lobelia,
+do stop crying. My goodness gracious
+<i>me</i>, come along, or we shall have them all
+back again after us. I'm going to bring him
+too, and get Colney to dry him for me. He's
+a beauty! look at him, Lobelia! Not look
+at him? Why, I tell you he's dead, as dead
+as&mdash;who was he?&mdash;the Father of Lies!
+Come along, now."</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_268" id="Page_268">[268]</a></span></p>
+<h2>CHAPTER XVI.</h2>
+
+<h3>THE TERROR BY NIGHT.</h3>
+
+
+<p>All was quiet in No. 18, Corridor C. It
+was the room directly above Peggy; and was
+tenanted, as we have seen, by Lobelia Parkins.
+Lobelia was in bed at this moment,
+though it was before the usual bedtime. She
+had felt ill and dizzy-brained for several days,
+and Peggy had begged her to go to bed early
+and get a good long sleep. Peggy herself lay
+on a mattress on the floor. It was against
+the rule, but for once the law-abiding Peggy
+was wilfully breaking the rule. She felt strong
+in Miss Russell's confidence in her; and she
+meant to find out who and what it was that
+was "frightening Lobelia silly," as she expressed
+it. Accordingly, here she was, in her
+wrapper, with a blanket rolled around her.
+The night was warm, and the window was
+thrown wide open, Peggy having been brought<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_269" id="Page_269">[269]</a></span>
+up to love fresh air. Lobelia shivered, but
+would rather have frozen stiff than say a
+word, if Peggy preferred to have the room
+cold. Each girl hoped the other was asleep.
+Lobelia hardly dared to breathe; she lay still
+as a mouse, feeling a delightful sense of comfort
+and security, such as she had not felt since
+she came to this nightmare of a place. Not
+to be alone any more, with the night and the
+terrible things it brought; to have this
+friend, so strong, so kind, so helpful, lying
+close beside the bed, ready to help, to comfort,&mdash;Lobelia's
+poor shrinking spirit took
+courage, and she held her breath now and
+then, for the pure pleasure of hearing Peggy's
+calm, regular breathing. Surely she must be
+asleep! She could not breathe like that unless
+she were sleeping quietly. Oh, might nothing
+happen to break her friend's rest!</p>
+
+<p>Peggy was very nearly asleep, it was true.
+She had meant to stay awake as long as there
+was any possibility of any one's coming into
+the room. She was valiantly wide awake at
+first, and lay blinking at the moon, which
+Was shining in the most obliging manner full<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_270" id="Page_270">[270]</a></span>
+upon the spot where she lay. Peggy wondered
+what those mountains were like which
+made the strange figures on the broad, silver
+disk. They must be tremendous! Think of
+them, miles high, with deep, awful valleys
+between, and all dead and white and dry like
+bone. And all they seemed to be good for
+now was for us to make faces and things out
+of, and stories&mdash;to please&mdash;the&mdash;children.
+Peggy was getting very sleepy. She opened
+her eyes wider, and stared harder at the
+moon. It seemed to be staring back. They
+were certainly eyes, not&mdash;mountains&mdash;and
+one of them was winking at her; and now
+she seemed to hear a sound, a voice, coming
+from far, far&mdash;ages away, and saying,
+whispering&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>Then, all in a moment, sleep, and the moon
+and its mountains were as if they had never
+been.</p>
+
+<p>The door opened, swiftly and noiselessly,
+and some one darted in,&mdash;a tall, slender figure,
+with gray drapery over the head and
+shoulders. It turned and halted, facing the
+door. Peggy sprang up in bull-dog silence,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_271" id="Page_271">[271]</a></span>
+and was about to fling herself bodily on the
+intruder; but an arm thrown out, a familiar
+gesture, a whispered word, checked her, and
+she stood motionless, hardly drawing breath.
+Next moment footsteps were heard in the
+corridor, as of some one hastening, and making
+every effort to be silent. The door was
+pushed hastily open, and Miss Pugsley stood
+on the threshold. She was panting, and her
+dress was disarranged.</p>
+
+<p>"Ah!" she cried, in a spiteful whisper.
+"I have caught you at last, have I? I know
+you, miss! No need to hide your face! I
+know you well enough, and this is the end
+of your fine doings. Lift up that veil, I
+command you!"</p>
+
+<p>The gray figure advanced toward her one
+step, and lifted the veil; and even Peggy's
+stout heart turned to water within her. Miss
+Pugsley recoiled with a wild shriek from the
+waxen countenance, the hollow burning eyes,
+the fleshless, grinning lips; recoiled, staggered,
+and fled back moaning along the
+corridor. The gray figure dropped its veil
+and darted in pursuit. Peggy, running to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_272" id="Page_272">[272]</a></span>
+the door, saw them vanish around the corner;
+then she returned, to find Lobelia fallen into
+a dead faint, her head hanging over the side
+of the bed.</p>
+
+<p>As she bent over her anxiously, rubbing
+her hands and trying to rouse her, a single
+board creaked in the corridor; next moment
+the gray figure entered again, this time
+quietly and without hurry. The veil was
+thrown back, revealing a well-known face.
+The hideous death's head was now carried in
+the hand.</p>
+
+<p>"Sorry if I alarmed you, Innocent!" said
+Grace Wolfe. "What in the name of unreason
+are you doing here?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Grace, she has fainted!" cried Peggy.
+"Help me! Bring some water, do!"</p>
+
+<p>Grace vanished again, and was back in two
+minutes with water and smelling-salts. As
+they bent over the unconscious girl, bathing
+her temples and holding the salts to her nose,
+a few hurried sentences were exchanged.</p>
+
+<p>"What was it? What have you there,
+Grace?"</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 404px;">
+<img src="images/gs07.png" width="404" height="300" alt="&quot;&#39;OH, GRACE, SHE HAS FAINTED!&#39;&quot;" title="&quot;&#39;OH, GRACE, SHE HAS FAINTED!&#39;&quot;" />
+<span class="caption">&quot;&#39;OH, GRACE, SHE HAS FAINTED!&#39;&quot;</span>
+</div>
+
+<p>"Oh, nothing; merely Colney's skull; not<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_273" id="Page_273">[273]</a></span>
+her own, you understand, but that of her
+charmer."</p>
+
+<p>"But&mdash;but the eyes glared! I saw them
+glare, like fire."</p>
+
+<p>"Phosphorus, my sweet babe! Hast no
+chemistry to thy name? 'Twere well to
+mend thy ways."</p>
+
+<p>"And why&mdash;what were you doing, Grace?
+Oh, see what you have done! Look at this
+poor child, and tell me why you came to play
+such pranks in her room."</p>
+
+<p>Peggy's voice was stern enough. She forgot
+her love and admiration for Grace; she
+only saw what seemed like wanton cruelty
+toward a forlorn and helpless creature, and
+her blood was up.</p>
+
+<p>Grace shrugged her shoulders.</p>
+
+<p>"I am sorry," she said. "I am even very
+sorry, Innocent. What more would you
+have? I didn't mean to come in; indeed, I
+had no thought of the little creature at all.
+I had a vow that the next time that woman
+looked through my keyhole she should repent
+it. I think she did. If she does it again, I'll
+shoot her; I've just told her so."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_274" id="Page_274">[274]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Why&mdash;how did you know? What did
+she do?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, child, I can't always tell you how I
+know things. I feel them in my bones. This
+is full moon, and it was borne in upon me that
+she thought I would be up to something to-night,
+and would be upon the watch; so I
+went on the watch, too. I arranged a pretty
+scene of confusion in my room, open window,
+things all thrown about,&mdash;just as it would
+look if I had been having a lark; left the
+light burning, went and borrowed this soulful
+smiler, and treated it a little,&mdash;no, Colney
+knows nothing about it; no use in getting her
+into trouble; then I took my mosquito-netting
+mantle, and hid in the broom-closet near my
+door. Sure enough, I hadn't been there long
+when along comes my Puggy, in felt slippers,
+and looks in at my keyhole. I waited, to
+make sure, then I came gliding past, without
+observing her, you see, corridor being pretty
+dark. She observed me, however, and pursued.
+I led her quite a pretty dance, till I
+thought her breath would be getting short,
+and then I turned in here, partly because it<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_275" id="Page_275">[275]</a></span>
+was handy, partly because&mdash;well, I have
+been in the habit of passing through here,
+when the kid was asleep. See! she's opening
+her eyes. Speak to her, you! She's more
+used to you."</p>
+
+<p>Peggy lifted Lobelia's head into her lap.
+"How are you now, dear?" she asked, stroking
+the thin hair affectionately. "Lobelia,
+it's Peggy! You are all right; there's no
+one here, no one to hurt you. That&mdash;that
+was only a trick, Lobelia."</p>
+
+<p>Lobelia moaned, but made no reply. Grace
+leaned forward. "Peggy is right," she said,
+softly. "It was a trick, Lobelia, and not
+meant for you at all. I&mdash;I never thought
+about you, I'm afraid. Do you feel better
+now? I'm truly sorry, my dear."</p>
+
+<p>There was no answering look of intelligence
+in Lobelia's face. She lay shivering, with
+wide, frightened eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Grace, I'm afraid she's ill!" said
+Peggy. "See! she doesn't seem to know us.
+What shall we do? Lobelia! Do look at me!
+Do speak to me! Oh, Grace, what shall we
+do? Where are you going?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_276" id="Page_276">[276]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"I am going to call Miss Russell," said
+Grace.</p>
+
+<p>Miss Russell came presently, and looked
+very grave when she saw Lobelia's face, which
+was now flushed with fever, her eyes still
+staring wide, as if they saw some dreadful
+vision.</p>
+
+<p>"What has happened?" she said, briefly.
+"I must have the truth!"</p>
+
+<p>Grace told her the truth, every word, not
+keeping back anything: merely adding that
+Peggy had nothing to do with it all.</p>
+
+<p>"And what were you doing here, Peggy?"
+asked Miss Russell.</p>
+
+<p>Peggy explained. "I meant to tell whatever
+I found out, to-morrow, Miss Russell,"
+she added. "I thought you would want me
+to discover what&mdash;what had been going on."</p>
+
+<p>Miss Russell nodded. "Go to your rooms
+now, girls," was all she said. "Or&mdash;no;
+Peggy, ask Miss Cortlandt to send at once for
+Doctor Hendon. Grace, you will remain in
+your room till I come to you."</p>
+
+<p>Grace tried to rise in obedience; but the
+sick girl grasped her dress, and held it tight.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_277" id="Page_277">[277]</a></span>
+"Don't leave me," she said, in a hardly audible
+whisper.</p>
+
+<p>"You don't want me, you poor thing!"
+said Grace; and though she spoke low, her
+tone was very bitter. "Let me go, and you
+shall never see me again. Don't trouble
+about me, Miss Russell. I'll pack my trunk,
+and be off in the morning before any one is
+awake."</p>
+
+<p>"You will do as I tell you," said Miss Russell,
+quietly. "Peggy, go quickly! Now,
+my poor child, let me take your hand. Move
+softly, Grace, and I think you can slip away."</p>
+
+<p>Grace tried once more to loosen the hold of
+the cramped, skinny hand, but Lobelia only
+clutched the tighter; and now, in her delirium,
+she caught Grace's hand with her
+other one, and held it tight, tight. "Don't
+leave me!" she muttered. "Peggy, Peggy,
+don't leave me!"</p>
+
+<p>Upon this, Grace looked up at Miss Russell;
+the hard, defiant look was gone, the wild blue
+eyes were swimming in tears. "Let me stay,"
+she murmured. "Miss Russell, let me stay
+with her. I'll go away after she gets well.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_278" id="Page_278">[278]</a></span>
+She thinks I am Peggy, and you know I am a
+good nurse. Let me stay and take care of
+her, and I will bless you all my life, even if I
+never see you again."</p>
+
+<p>"You shall stay," said Miss Russell. "My
+poor Grace, this may be the hardest and heaviest
+punishment I could give you. You shall
+stay, and see what your cruel and wilful carelessness
+has brought to pass. God help us
+and you!"</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_279" id="Page_279">[279]</a></span></p>
+<h2>CHAPTER XVII.</h2>
+
+<h3>WAITING.</h3>
+
+
+<p>In the dreadful days that followed, Grace
+Wolfe hardly left the sick girl's side. The
+doctor came, and pronounced the trouble a
+brain fever, brought on by fear and worry.
+A trained nurse came and took charge.
+Lobelia submitted to her care, but her one
+conscious instinct was that of clinging to
+Grace. Whether, as seemed most probable,
+she took her for Peggy, or whether she simply
+felt and craved the magnetism of the
+wild girl's touch and presence, they could not
+tell; but she was never quiet save when
+Grace's hand was resting on her. Her aunt
+came, her sole living relative; and seeing
+her, poor Lobelia was explained. Prim,
+fussy, and forbidding, her rich dress showing
+the same utter tastelessness that marked that
+of her niece, Miss Parkins was not the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_280" id="Page_280">[280]</a></span>
+woman one would have chosen to be the
+mother of a girl like Lobelia. She looked at
+the sick girl, and said it was very unfortunate;
+she was always having illnesses, and
+had given them no end of anxiety.</p>
+
+<p>"She has had everything that money could
+buy!" she said, over and over. "It has
+never seemed to make any difference; her
+mother was the same sort of person, unreasonable,
+always wanting what she couldn't
+have. My brother had a great deal of trouble
+with her, and Lobelia is like her. I have
+tried to do my duty by her. Do you think
+she will get well, doctor?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I do think she will get well!"
+replied Doctor Hendon, glaring at her in a
+way that made Miss Russell feel alarm for her
+safety. "I think she will get well if she
+stays here, and has care and tenderness and
+sympathetic treatment. You are her sister?"
+He turned upon Grace, who sat beside the bed,
+passing her light hand over the sick girl's
+forehead with smooth, regular strokes.</p>
+
+<p>"No," said Miss Russell. "This is one
+of the pupils, Miss Wolfe. She&mdash;was in the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_281" id="Page_281">[281]</a></span>
+room when this attack came on, and Lobelia
+has clung to her from the first in a singular
+manner. I did not dare to remove
+her, and so, as you see, she has simply
+stayed here, helping the nurse."</p>
+
+<p>"I see!" said the doctor. "I suppose
+she was&mdash;hum! stay close by her!" this
+was to Grace. "You have a touch, I see.
+Probably you have been kind to her,&mdash;poor,
+forlorn, miserable little creature as ever I saw
+in my life!" The last words were hurried out
+as if they were one, in a gruff, not to say
+savage whisper.</p>
+
+<p>Grace looked up at him. "I am the cause
+of her illness," she said, quietly. "I have
+never been kind to her, or taken any notice
+of her. I have come through her room,
+using it for a passage when I was breaking
+bounds, and have frightened her&mdash;to death."</p>
+
+<p>The doctor looked at her under his bushy
+eyebrows. "That may all be so!" he said.
+"All the same, you may now have the chance
+of saving her life. Stay by her, that's all I
+have to say to you."</p>
+
+<p>"And what have you to say to me, doctor?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_282" id="Page_282">[282]</a></span>
+asked Miss Parkins. "I have a great
+responsibility. Lobelia will inherit a large
+fortune if she lives. She has had everything
+that money&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"You can go home!" said Doctor Hendon,
+with a sudden movement suggestive of biting.
+"Go home, and stay there&mdash;I&mdash;mean, have
+things ready for her when she is ready for a
+change. Good morning! Ya-ouw!" this last
+was a manner of snarl with which he favoured
+Miss Parkins as he trotted out of the
+room. The lady stared after him. "Is he a
+little touched?" she asked. "He doesn't
+seem quite sane."</p>
+
+<p>Miss Russell assured her that Doctor Hendon
+was eminently sane, and got her out of
+the room as soon as possible.</p>
+
+<p>Grace remained, and hour by hour kept
+her watch at the sick girl's pillow, laying her
+magic touch on the burning brow, singing the
+soft songs that seemed more than anything
+else to soothe the sufferer. So sitting, hour
+by hour, day after day, the old life seemed to
+slip away from Grace Wolfe. She felt it
+going, felt the change coming on spirit and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_283" id="Page_283">[283]</a></span>
+thought, but made no effort to hinder the
+change. All the restlessness, the wild longing
+for freedom, the beating her head against
+the friendly bars,&mdash;where was it now? She
+was content to sit here, watching with the
+nurse the changes that came over the face of
+their patient. They talked together in low
+voices which soothed rather than disturbed;
+one asking, the other relating, the woman
+of experience and the eager girl exchanged
+thoughts and confidences. Many times in
+the day the girls came to the door, Peggy
+and the Owls, and now and then an anxious,
+frightened freshman. Peggy had longed to
+assist in the nursing, but she had too heavy
+a hand, and hers was not the gift. Gertrude
+Merryweather had it, and she sometimes
+took Grace's place, and sent her down
+for a breath of fresh air and a run with
+Bertha or Peggy on the lawn. Grace went
+obediently, for she knew she must keep up
+her strength; but she was always back again
+at the first possible instant, and her thoughts
+never seemed to go with her, but stayed at
+her post.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_284" id="Page_284">[284]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"My dear," said Miss Russell once, "I
+cannot let you wear yourself out. Let Gertrude
+watch to-night while Miss Carter rests!"
+But Grace only said, "I'd give my life if I
+could, Miss Russell. She's going to get well
+if my life can do it!" and Miss Russell, looking
+into the blue eyes and meeting the spirit
+of resolution that shone there, could only kiss
+the girl's cheek and pass on.</p>
+
+<p>Lobelia was very ill, and a shadow hung
+over the whole school. Lessons went on as
+usual, but the girls spoke low in their recitations,
+and there was an unconscious hurry in
+both teachers and pupils, all anxious to get
+through, to ask and hear the last tidings from
+the sickroom. In those days, too, teachers
+and pupils learned to know each other as
+never before. The grave women who cared so
+much&mdash;so strangely much, it often seemed&mdash;whether
+a lesson were well or ill learned, who
+made such a fuss about trifles, and set such
+hard tasks, and made such unreasonable
+rules, behold! they were just as anxious and
+troubled as if Lobelia had been one of their
+own number, instead of the most insignificant<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_285" id="Page_285">[285]</a></span>
+freshman in the whole school. Miss Boyle
+was not simply a mathematical machine, Rose
+Barclay found out. She really cared about
+them, cared enough to call them into her
+room, and want to hear all about that last
+walk, when Peggy had killed the rattlesnake,&mdash;oh,
+how brave Peggy had been,&mdash;and how
+poor Lobelia had seen it, too, and with her
+inborn terror of snakes had perhaps got the
+first panic that, after brooding and brooding,
+and being added to the terror by nights, had
+ended in this.</p>
+
+<p>Miss Pugsley was gone. Her departure
+had hardly been noticed, was well-nigh forgotten
+by this time; but Colney Hatch found
+Miss Mink sniffing mouse-like sniffs in a
+corner, and wept with her, and offered her a
+live bat that she had just caught, by way of
+consolation. But their tears were for Grace,
+for they hardly knew Lobelia save by sight.</p>
+
+<p>As for Miss Russell and Emily Cortlandt,
+they were the life and stay of the school in
+these days. Steadfast and cheerful, always
+hopeful, bringing forward every favourable
+symptom and sharing it with the whole<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_286" id="Page_286">[286]</a></span>
+school; not a girl of all the seventy-odd who
+did not feel their sympathy and friendship
+like strong hands ready to take theirs and
+uphold them.</p>
+
+<p>One day, when things were at the worst,
+Peggy found Viola in her room, crying on the
+divan.</p>
+
+<p>"What is the matter?" she asked, rather
+briefly. Viola's troubles seemed microscopic
+in this time of heart-wringing anxiety.</p>
+
+<p>Viola raised her head, and her eyes were
+red with weeping.</p>
+
+<p>"They say she's going to die, Peggy!"
+she said.</p>
+
+<p>"Nonsense!" said Peggy, gruffly. "Who
+says so?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, all the girls. They say Doctor Hendon
+shook his head when he went out this morning;
+you know that's a very bad sign. Oh,
+Peggy, I wish I had been good to the poor
+little thing. You have always been good to
+her. I don't believe you suffered as much
+as I did from her clothes, but I wish I had
+been good to her all the same. Peggy, if
+she gets well, I'm going to do over her hats<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_287" id="Page_287">[287]</a></span>
+for her, and try to make her look different.
+Peggy, where are you going? Don't leave
+me! Lobelia is going to die, and I feel so
+frightened."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't believe she is going to die," said
+Peggy. "I am going to the study to see
+Miss Russell; come with me if you like,
+V."</p>
+
+<p>Viola crept along beside her, cowering in
+Peggy's shadow as they passed the door of
+the sick-room. Peggy paused to listen.
+From within came the sound of soft singing,
+and the faint rustle of a wood fire. What
+was Grace singing? one of the quaint French
+songs that she loved,&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class='poem'>
+"Trois anges sont venus ce soir,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">M'apportaient de bien belles choses;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">L'un d'eux avaient un encensoir,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Le deuxi&egrave;me un chapelet de roses.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Et le troisi&egrave;me avait en main</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Une robe toute fleurie,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">De perles, d'or et de jasmin,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Comme en a Madame Marie.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 4.5em;">No&euml;l! No&euml;l!</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Nous venons du ciel,</span><br />
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_288" id="Page_288">[288]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">T'apporter ce que tu desires;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Car le bon Dieu,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Au fond du ciel bleu,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">A chagrin lorsque tu soupires!"</span><br />
+</div>
+
+<p>The two girls crept softly past, Viola
+wiping the tears from her eyes. They went
+down to the study, and, knocking gently,
+were bidden to enter. Miss Russell and Miss
+Cortlandt were sitting together, and at their
+feet sat the Snowy and the Fluffy Owls,
+curled up on two hassocks. Peggy looked in
+timidly.</p>
+
+<p>"Come in, Peggy!" said Miss Russell's
+cheerful voice. "Who is that with you? Oh,
+Viola? come in, my dear! Do you want anything?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, Miss Russell," said Peggy. "I&mdash;I
+just wanted to come in, that was all."</p>
+
+<p>"So did we!" said the Fluffy. "We just
+came, and we feel so much better. Sit down
+here, Peggy."</p>
+
+<p>She patted the floor beside her, and Peggy
+and Viola sat down. Peggy heaved a sigh of
+relief. "I thought you would let us come,"
+she said. "It's so dreadful not to be able to
+do anything, isn't it, Miss Russell? If we<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_289" id="Page_289">[289]</a></span>
+could help in any way, or feel that we were
+doing anything at all, it wouldn't be so bad.
+I came by the door just now, and Grace was
+singing, and it all sounded so quiet and peaceful.
+You think it is all going well, don't you,
+Miss Russell? You don't think she is worse
+to-day, do you, Miss Russell?"</p>
+
+<p>Miss Russell put back Peggy's hair, which
+had fallen into her eyes as she looked up
+eagerly. "Dear," she said, "I was just telling
+Gertrude and Bertha how it is. Doctor
+Hendon thinks there will be a change to-day;
+he thinks the crisis is coming. It is a time
+of great danger, but he has good hope, and
+we must have it, too. And, girls, you are all
+longing to help; now, you can help us to-day.
+You can help very much indeed. The house
+must be kept absolutely quiet this afternoon.
+The girls are in their rooms now; but if you
+could get them off for a walk, some of them,
+and send the rest to the gymnasium, you
+would be doing us all a service. Miss Cortlandt
+is going to the gymnasium, and she
+will give them a drill, or let them dance, if
+they like&mdash;you don't think they feel like<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_290" id="Page_290">[290]</a></span>
+dancing? No more do I! I shall not leave
+Lobelia's room myself till the change comes;
+I am going back there now, as soon as the
+doctor comes. Ah! there he is now! Remember,
+dear girls, quiet; and for the rest,
+hope and patience&mdash;and trust!"</p>
+
+<p>She kissed them each in turn, quietly and
+gravely, and was gone. Turning to Emily
+Cortlandt, they saw that her eyes were full
+of tears; yet she spoke cheerfully. "Miss
+Russell is so wise, girls!" she said. "I am
+sure you will do all you can&mdash;it is an anxious
+time. One thing she forgot to say,&mdash;I
+wouldn't let the other girls know, if you can
+help it, how grave the danger is. Some of
+them are nervous, and might have hysterics,
+or even be ill. Viola, my child, you look
+very pale. Don't you feel well?"</p>
+
+<p>Viola was trembling all over. She came
+close to Miss Cortlandt and nestled up to
+her like a little child. "I'm afraid!" she
+said, simply. "I never was near where anybody
+died. I'm dreadfully afraid, Miss Cortlandt."</p>
+
+<p>Very gently Emily Cortlandt spoke then<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_291" id="Page_291">[291]</a></span>
+to the frightened child, and to the other three
+girls, whose strong, sensible faces were grave
+enough, but who were able to possess themselves
+in courage and quiet. She told them
+some of her thoughts, the thoughts of a
+gentle Christian woman; of the hope and
+love and promise that made death seem to her
+only the white door that led into life, a life
+toward which we must all look, and for
+which we must shape ourselves as we pass
+through this world of joy and sorrow. She
+told them of young lives which had seemed
+cruelly cut off here; and of how it was her
+thought that death had been to them not the
+end, but the beginning; and of the lovely
+light they had shed behind them, of gentleness
+and hope and love. Then she spoke
+more brightly, and told them how strong,
+after all, life was in the young, and how one
+could always hope, while even a spark remained.
+Doctor Hendon had good hope, she
+repeated, and they must have it, too.</p>
+
+<p>"And now," she said, "I must go, and you
+must go, too. Find the girls quietly, and
+bring them to me, or take them out for one<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_292" id="Page_292">[292]</a></span>
+of your good walks; and let us, whatever we
+do, do it cheerfully!"</p>
+
+<p>Faithfully the Owls and Peggy laboured,
+that November afternoon. First they soothed
+and comforted Viola, finishing the good work
+that Miss Cortlandt had begun; and they
+induced her to go to the gymnasium and take
+a party with her. Then they went about
+softly from door to door through the corridors,
+not spreading any alarm, merely saying
+that Miss Russell thought they would
+all better go out, as the afternoon was so
+fine, and that they were to go quietly, as
+Lobelia might be asleep. Before long, without
+noise or confusion, the whole school was
+out, either in the gymnasium or on the road.
+The walkers divided into three parties,
+Peggy leading the freshmen, Gertrude the
+juniors, while Bertha marshalled the sophomores,
+who came like lambs, half proud, half
+shy, at being under the leadership of the renowned
+Fluffy. The seniors, of course, could
+be trusted to take care of themselves. They
+were a small class, and somehow&mdash;as happens
+in every school with one class and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_293" id="Page_293">[293]</a></span>
+another&mdash;had never made themselves a
+power; they had gone now with the rest
+to the gymnasium.</p>
+
+<p>Peggy, as she walked at the head of her
+troop, tried to feel her cousin Margaret's
+hand in hers. Always humble, and distrustful
+of her own powers, she tried hard to think
+what Margaret would do in her place. She
+would tell stories, probably, wonderful stories
+of heroes and great deeds. Ah! but Peggy
+did not know the stories in the books; they
+never stayed by her. Well, then, she must
+tell what she did know! She found herself
+talking about her home life, the home on the
+great Western ranch; of her father and
+brothers, and the many feats in their strong,
+active life. Here, if she had only known it,
+were stories better than any in Margaret's
+books. How Brother Jim hunted the white
+wolf for three days in the mountains; how
+Hugh set the trap for the young grizzly, and
+more wonderful, how he tamed him and made
+him his friend and servant; how Father
+Montfort saved the three men who were
+snowed up in Desolation Gulch, and brought<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_294" id="Page_294">[294]</a></span>
+them out one by one on his shoulders, just as
+their last biscuit was gone and they had sat
+down to die,&mdash;on and on went the tale, for it
+was a story without an end. On and on
+went the girls, too, unconscious of their
+going, forgetting to think they were tired,
+forgetting everything save the joy of listening.
+The shadows were lengthening fast
+when Peggy, still relating, turned her face
+homeward, wondering with thankfulness, as
+she noted the position of the sun, how she
+had been able to take them so far without
+once hearing a groan or a sigh of weariness.
+She looked around, and saw only sparkling
+eyes and rosy cheeks. "A month ago," she
+thought, "they would have said I had almost
+killed them. They really are hardening, and
+I'm so glad!"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, go on, Peggy!" cried Rose Barclay.
+"You are never going to stop there! What
+became of the one with the wooden leg?
+We must know!"</p>
+
+<p>On went the story, and on went the girls;
+the sun sank lower and lower, the shadows
+crept longer and longer, the air grew cool and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_295" id="Page_295">[295]</a></span>
+thin with the coming night. The man with
+the wooden leg had chopped it up for fuel,
+and Father Montfort had brought him and all
+the others in triumph to the ranch, and set
+them down by the fire, when&mdash; "Oh, dear
+me!" cried Ethel Fair. "What a shame,
+girls! Here we are at the gate. I say! let's
+go on a little farther, Peggy."</p>
+
+<p>But Peggy was wise, and knew when to
+stop; besides, now that she was near the
+house again, the anxiety and distress that had
+been lulled by the walk and the story-telling,
+came back like a flood, and filled her heart.
+They were crossing the lawn; what tidings
+would greet them at the door? Some one was
+standing there now; Miss Cortlandt, was it?
+no, Miss Russell herself. She was waiting for
+them with the news; would it be good or
+bad? Peggy hung back for an instant; then
+she walked steadily forward. "Quiet, girls!"
+was all she said. "I think Miss Russell has
+something to tell us."</p>
+
+<p>They were at the foot of the steps now;
+and Miss Russell was coming down to meet
+them, running, the grave and stately woman,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_296" id="Page_296">[296]</a></span>
+to meet them, like a girl. Her hands were
+outstretched, her face was all aglow with joy,
+the glad tears ran down her cheeks.</p>
+
+<p>"It is over!" she whispered. "Softly, my
+dear children. Come softly in. The crisis is
+over, and the child will live! Come with me,
+and let us thank God together!"</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_297" id="Page_297">[297]</a></span></p>
+<h2>CHAPTER XVIII.</h2>
+
+<h3>THE END AND THE BEGINNING.</h3>
+
+
+<p>It was a month later. The first snow had
+fallen, and the lawn was white with it, and
+all the trees and bushes powdered with frost.
+Coming out of the class-room one day, her
+heart singing of sines and cosines and tangents,
+Peggy found the Snowy and the Fluffy
+waiting for her at the door, with radiant
+faces.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, what?" cried Peggy. "A letter?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said Gertrude. "It has just come,
+though the postmark is two or three days ago.
+Where shall we go to read it? Your room,
+Peggy? So we will; it's nearer than the
+Nest, and I know you can't wait."</p>
+
+<p>Grace's letters were indeed things to wait
+for in those days. She had gone to Lobelia's<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_298" id="Page_298">[298]</a></span>
+home with her; for, on coming to herself, the
+invalid had still clung to her new friend, with
+a persistency strange in one so timid and fearful.
+Convalescence came, with its unwilling
+fretfulness, its fits of unreason. Still Lobelia
+clung to Grace, and no one else could make
+her listen and obey. The nurse laughed, and
+said she might as well go, and leave her diploma
+with Miss Wolfe; yet stayed, for the
+two worked together in pleasant harmony and
+friendship. At last, Doctor Hendon ordered
+a change of scene, and now, too, Grace must
+go with her. The Parkins mansion was
+within driving distance of Pentland; the
+whole school had turned out to see the departure,
+the sick girl lying on cushions, her
+thin face already showing the signs of returning
+health, and really transfigured by the
+light of love and gratitude that beamed from
+it, as she looked from Grace to Peggy, and
+back again to Grace. She beckoned to Peggy,
+who pressed to her side and bent over her.
+"What is it, dear?" she whispered.</p>
+
+<p>"Peggy!"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, Lobelia."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_299" id="Page_299">[299]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Peggy, you don't mind?"</p>
+
+<p>"Mind what? I don't mind anything, now
+that you are getting well."</p>
+
+<p>"You&mdash;you were my first friend, the only
+friend I had. You don't mind&mdash;that I love
+her? I couldn't help it, Peggy. She kept
+me alive, you see. Often and often, when I
+was drifting away, and ready to die, she held
+me, and would not let me go. You are sure
+you don't mind, Peggy?"</p>
+
+<p>Peggy kissed her heartily, and told her not
+to talk nonsense. "If you didn't love her,"
+she said, "I'd have nothing to do with you,
+Lobelia Parkins. Do you hear that? Nothing!
+I wouldn't speak to you in the street,
+if I met you."</p>
+
+<p>Lobelia smiled, and leaned back on the
+cushions with closed eyes and a look of absolute
+content. "You are so funny, Peggy!"
+she murmured. "She is funny, too. I like
+people who are funny. Good-bye, and thank
+everybody. Everybody is so kind!"</p>
+
+<p>The carriage drove away, and the last thing
+the girls saw was Grace's face, looking down
+at her charge; grave as ever,&mdash;Grace rarely<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_300" id="Page_300">[300]</a></span>
+smiled, and they hardly knew the sound of
+her laugh,&mdash;but bright as Lobelia's own with
+love and purpose and gladness. So they
+passed out of sight.</p>
+
+<p>And since then had come letters every week,
+telling of the child's progress; one to Miss
+Russell always, and one to the Owls or to
+Peggy. It was one of these that Gertrude
+took from her pocket now and opened, as they
+sat together on Peggy's divan.</p>
+
+<p>"You see, it is dated three days ago; probably
+been carried in a pocket, from the look
+of it."</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"<span class="smcap">Dear Snowy, also Fluffy</span>:&mdash;Tu whit! She
+has been gaining so fast this week, we shall soon forget
+she has been ill at all. She can eat anything she
+likes, and she likes a great deal. Miss P. keeps exclaiming
+at her appetite. Apparently the child never
+ate anything before she went to school. The rule of
+the house is, or was, one shredded wheat Abomination
+for breakfast, one chop for dinner, one smoked herring
+for supper. All this served on huge and hideous
+silver dishes. This order is changed. Miss Parkins
+almost fainted when I ordered the first meal. She
+weeps every day over the butcher's book, but the
+child fattens apace, and all is well. I had to frighten<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_301" id="Page_301">[301]</a></span>
+her&mdash;the aunt&mdash;a little, though, before things went
+smoothly.</p>
+
+<p>"Yesterday we explored the house, the Babe and
+I. The amazing thing is that she lived at all after
+she got her eyes open. Apparently every article cost
+a thousand dollars; most awful old mausoleum you
+can imagine; you never saw such a place, for there
+couldn't be two. The bed I sleep in has all-round
+curtains of apple-green plush, with bead fringe three
+inches deep. The mantelpiece and table-top and so
+on are gray marble, and the ornaments are two
+deformed gilt cherubs holding a slop-jar with a
+clock-face in the middle of it. Also two unspeakable
+alabaster jugs, three feet high, and two Parian
+busts under glass cases. They are supposed to be
+Luther and Melanchthon; I think they are Lucifer
+and Mammon. Well, the poor little thing is used to
+it, and <ins title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'does't'">doesn't</ins> know what is the matter. Wait till
+Monday week,&mdash;I mean till some future day,&mdash;and
+she shall know, but not now. She doesn't think it
+a homelike house, she says!</p>
+
+<p>"I shall be coming back almost any time now, as
+soon as I can get away. It's dreadful to leave her,&mdash;'I'm
+wae to think upo' yon den, e'en for her sake,'&mdash;but
+I must get back before exams, and she is really
+all right, only not of course wholly strong yet. She
+will come back next term; and meanwhile she is to
+travel with an old servant who was her nurse, and
+who has some spark of humanity in her composition.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_302" id="Page_302">[302]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"I'm coming back, I tell you; at least, something
+is coming back. I don't say whether it will be the
+Goat or the Wolf, or what; I'm pretty sure that&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class='poem'>
+"'Lawk a mercy on me,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: .5em;">This is none of I!'</span><br />
+</div>
+
+<p>"Good-bye, you feathered things! How do feathers
+feel? How do you get about? There are good points
+about the creature, I can see that; you can see in the
+dark&mdash;but so could the Wolf! and it would be nice to
+be able to ruffle up your feathers and put a tongue
+in every wound of Puggy's&mdash;but she is gone, isn't
+she? Alas! and if you don't know Shakespeare when
+I talk him, why, you are an ignorant set, and don't
+deserve your names. This is for the Innocent, too,
+mind! Give her my love, and tell her&mdash;never mind;
+I'll tell her myself.</p>
+
+<p>"So no more at present, Respected Fowls, from
+your most obedient, humble servant,</p>
+
+<div class='sig'>
+"<span class="smcap">The Hybrid</span>."<br />
+</div></div>
+
+<p>The three girls were silent for a moment
+after Gertrude had folded the letter again.
+Then, "Do you suppose she will really be
+changed?" asked Peggy. "I&mdash;I don't think
+I want Grace to be changed, do you, girls?"</p>
+
+<p>"That depends!" said Bertha, with her
+chin on her hands, in her favourite judicial<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_303" id="Page_303">[303]</a></span>
+attitude. "Of course it would be despair if
+we should lose her real, true self. If she could
+only stay Grace Wolfe, and change her point
+of view, why, then&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"That is just what she will do, I feel sure
+of it," said Gertrude, earnestly. "She has
+been through an experience&mdash;oh, we can't
+know what it has been, girls, because we are
+just plain people, you know, and Grace is&mdash;well,
+I think she has genius, or something
+very like it. If only the power and the sweetness
+and brightness are turned into helping,
+you see, instead of hindering&mdash;oh, how
+much she can do! and I believe she's going
+to do it, too. But come, Fluffy, I must go
+home. Won't you come, Peggy? We have
+half an hour before study-time."</p>
+
+<p>Peggy followed only too gladly along the
+corridor; it was always a treat to spend half
+an hour in the Owl's Nest. Gertrude was
+first; she opened the door of her room, and
+paused on the threshold with a low cry.
+Bertha and Peggy hurried forward and looked
+over her shoulder&mdash;to see a strange sight.</p>
+
+<p>Something&mdash;or somebody&mdash;was sitting<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_304" id="Page_304">[304]</a></span>
+on the window-seat. Something gray and
+soft. It had a round feathered head, with
+two feathery horns jutting from it; it had
+round bright eyes, which blinked curiously
+at the astonished girls. Below the head were&mdash;arms,
+were they, or wings? They were
+feathery too, and they drooped over something
+that might be a skirt, though no feet
+were visible. In the gathering twilight the
+figure sat on the window-seat and blinked,
+looking like nothing that was in heaven or
+earth; and the three girls stood and stared,
+holding each other's hands. Presently the
+silence was broken.</p>
+
+<p>"Bubo Virginianus!" said a grave, melodious
+voice from under the feathers. "The
+Great Horned Owl. Description: Large and
+strongly organised; ear-tufts large, erectile;
+bill strong, fully curved; wing rather long;
+third quill usually longest; tail short; legs
+and toes&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Grace!" cried Gertrude Merryweather.</p>
+
+<p>"Tu whit!" replied the figure. "I may
+also in this connection remark, tu whoo!
+This well-known bird is a resident in all the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_305" id="Page_305">[305]</a></span>
+New England schools&mdash;I should say States&mdash;throughout
+the year. It is not so common
+in Massachusetts, Connecticut, and
+Rhode Island as in the other States, where,
+in the vast tracts of forest, it is quite
+abundant. Samuels. Easy there! spare the
+Plumage!"</p>
+
+<p>The three girls had flung themselves upon
+the strange figure, which flapped its arms for
+a moment, as if contemplating flight. Then,
+waving them off with one arm, it lifted the
+feathered head, and gazed at them with
+melancholy blue eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"Tu whit!" repeated the Scapegoat. "I
+may be allowed, <i>in</i> this connection, to repeat,
+tu whoo! Don't kill me, Innocent; I should
+be less useful dead."</p>
+
+<p>It did seem as if they would hug her to
+death. They laughed, they cried, they questioned,
+they talked, all in one breath; no one
+would have recognised the sedate Owls or the
+sensible Peggy. Grace regarded them with
+grave benignity, as she untied the owl's head,
+and loosed the feathered cape from her
+shoulders.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_306" id="Page_306">[306]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Rather neat, I thought?" she said, turning
+the head around on her hand. "The beak
+is a little wobbly, but the general character&mdash;eh?&mdash;is
+pretty good? I couldn't manage the
+toes and claws; there wasn't time, and,
+besides, they would have excited remark,
+even if the weather had been warm enough
+to make them comfortable for travelling.
+Well, my Snowy, my Fluffy, how is it? Is
+there room for another Owl in the forest?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Grace!" cried Bertha.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, my dear!" cried Gertrude; and their
+arms were around her again, while Peggy
+sat down on the floor and fairly burst into
+tears.</p>
+
+<p>Grace was silent for a little, her head resting
+on Gertrude's shoulder. When she spoke,
+her voice had not its usual even flow, but
+hesitated, almost faltered, now and then.</p>
+
+<p>"I am going to try!" she said. "It will
+take a long time, my Owls, and you will have
+to be very patient with me. I shall probably
+never be wholly domesticated, but&mdash;but you
+will help me, and the Innocent here will help
+me; won't you, Innocent?"</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_307" id="Page_307">[307]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Grace, if I only could? but what can
+I do? I don't see how I can ever do
+anything!"</p>
+
+<p>"You began it all!" said Grace. "The
+way you looked&mdash;that night I made you go
+out, little Peggy. You didn't know, but the
+face of an Innocent can be a terrible thing,
+and I saw, and knew&mdash;things I hadn't
+known before. No need of going back to
+that now. But&mdash;Snowy&mdash;Samuels says I
+make an amusing pet in captivity. You'll
+try me?"</p>
+
+<p>"Won't we!" cried the Snowy Owl.
+"Grace, dear, we'll all try together. Oh, we
+all have to keep trying, don't we, all our
+lives long? It wouldn't be worth anything if
+we didn't have to try, to work and fight for
+it. It shall be we three against the world,&mdash;the
+Snowy, the Fluffy, and the Horny. No,
+we four, for what should we do without our
+Peggy? Get up, Peggy, you ridiculous child;
+stop crying, and come and sit here close by
+us."</p>
+<div class="figright" style="width: 320px;">
+<img src="images/gs08.png" width="320" height="300" alt="&quot;&#39;WE FOUR AGAINST THE WORLD!&#39;&quot;" title="&quot;&#39;WE FOUR AGAINST THE WORLD!&#39;&quot;" />
+<span class="caption">&quot;&#39;WE FOUR AGAINST THE WORLD!&#39;&quot;</span>
+</div>
+<p>"Oh!" cried Peggy. "Isn't there some
+kind of Owl that I could be? I am too<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_308" id="Page_308">[308]</a></span>
+stupid, of course, but I might be a screech-owl,
+don't you think so, Snowy?"</p>
+
+<p>Grace held up her hand. "Forbid the
+thought!" she said, gravely. "Who would
+get us our mice? We must have a Human
+Being connected with us. I think of moving
+into Bedlam, as Colney has a fine assortment
+of mice on hand generally. I refuse bats,
+probably on account of the strong musky
+odour, but a mouse dragged across the floor
+of my cage fills me with excitement. Samuels,
+part of it at least. No, we must have a
+Human Being in the Owlery, and that Human
+Being must be the Innocent. We Four
+against the World, then! Hands on it, my
+Owls!"</p>
+
+<p>The four girls stood up, and, joining hands,
+looked in each other's faces. "We Four
+against the World!" they repeated. "The
+Snowy, the Fluffy, the Horny, and the Innocent;
+Hurrah for us!" and the shout they
+raised brought the whole corridor running to
+see what was going on.</p>
+
+
+<h2>THE END.</h2>
+
+<hr style='width: 65%;' />
+<div class='tnote'><h3>Transcriber's Notes:</h3>
+<p>Obvious punctuation errors repaired.</p>
+<p>Page 5, caption was missing from original. Added from the List of
+Illustrations.</p>
+<p>The remaining corrections made are indicated by dotted lines under the corrections. Scroll the mouse over the word and the original text will <ins title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'apprear'">appear</ins>.</p></div>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Peggy, by Laura E. Richards
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Peggy, by Laura E. Richards
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Peggy
+
+Author: Laura E. Richards
+
+Illustrator: Etheldred B. Barry
+
+Release Date: May 12, 2008 [EBook #25448]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PEGGY ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Suzanne Shell, Emmy and the Online Distributed
+Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+PEGGY
+
+
+
+
+_Books by Laura E. Richards._
+
+
+"Mrs. Richards has made for herself a little niche apart in the literary
+world, from her delicate treatment of New England village
+life."--_Boston Post._
+
+
+THE CAPTAIN JANUARY SERIES.
+
+=CAPTAIN JANUARY.= 16mo, cloth, 50 cents.
+
+A charming idyl of New England coast life, whose success has been very
+remarkable. One reads it, is thoroughly charmed by it, tells others, and
+so its fame has been heralded by its readers, until to-day it is selling
+by the thousands, constantly enlarging the circle of its delighted
+admirers.
+
+=SAME.= _Illustrated Holiday Edition._ With thirty half-tone pictures
+from drawings by Frank T. Merrill. 4to, cloth, $1.25.
+
+=MELODY.= The Story of a Child. 16mo, 50 cents.
+
+"Had there never been a 'Captain January,' 'Melody' would easily take
+first place."--_Boston Times._
+
+=SAME.= _Illustrated Holiday Edition._ With thirty half-tone pictures
+from drawings by Frank T. Merrill. 4to, cloth, $1.25.
+
+=MARIE.= 16mo, 50 cents.
+
+"Seldom has Mrs. Richards drawn a more irresistible picture, or framed
+one with more artistic literary adjustment."--_Boston Herald._
+
+"A perfect literary gem."--_Boston Transcript._
+
+=NARCISSA=, and a companion story, =IN VERONA=. 16mo, cloth, 50 cents.
+
+"Each is a simple, touching, sweet little story of rustic New England
+life, full of vivid pictures of interesting character, and refreshing
+for its unaffected genuineness and human feeling."--_Congregationalist._
+
+=JIM OF HELLAS; or, IN DURANCE VILE=, and a companion story, =BETHESDA
+POOL=. 16mo, 50 cents.
+
+=SOME SAY=, and a companion story, =NEIGHBOURS IN CYRUS=. 16mo, 50
+cents.
+
+=ROSIN THE BEAU.= 16mo, 50 cents. A sequel to "Melody."
+
+
+=ISLA HERON.= A charming prose idyl of quaint New England life. Small
+quarto, cloth, 75 cents.
+
+=NAUTILUS.= A very interesting story, with illustrations; uniquely
+bound, small quarto, cloth, 75 cents.
+
+=FIVE MINUTE STORIES.= A charming collection of short stories and clever
+poems for children. Small quarto, cloth, $1.25.
+
+=THREE MARGARETS.= One of the most clever stories for girls that the
+author has written. 16mo, cloth, handsome cover design, $1.25.
+
+=MARGARET MONTFORT.= The second volume in the series of which "Three
+Margarets" was so successful as the initial volume. 16mo, cloth,
+handsome cover design, $1.25.
+
+=PEGGY.= The third volume in the series of which the preceding ones have
+been so successful. 16mo, cloth, handsome cover design, $1.25.
+
+=LOVE AND ROCKS.= A charming story of one of the pleasant islands that
+dot the rugged Maine coast. With etching frontispiece by Mercier. Tall
+16mo, unique cover design on linen, gilt top, $1.00.
+
+_Dana Estes & Company, Publishers, Boston._
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+PEGGY
+
+BY LAURA E. RICHARDS
+
+AUTHOR OF "CAPTAIN JANUARY," "MELODY," "QUEEN HILDEGARDE," ETC.
+
+Illustrated by ETHELDRED B. BARRY
+
+[Illustration]
+
+        BOSTON
+        DANA ESTES & COMPANY
+        PUBLISHERS
+
+
+
+
+        _Copyright, 1899_
+        BY DANA ESTES & COMPANY
+
+
+        Colonial Press:
+        Electrotyped and Printed by C. H. Simonds & Co.
+        Boston, Mass., U. S. A.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS.
+
+
+  CHAPTER                                                           PAGE
+
+      I. A NEW WORLD                                                  11
+
+     II. THE BOX FROM FERNLEY                                         31
+
+    III. IN THE "GYM."                                                51
+
+     IV. ENTER THE SCAPEGOAT                                          72
+
+      V. TO THE RESCUE                                                89
+
+     VI. THE OWL'S NEST                                              102
+
+    VII. WEDDING BELLS                                               121
+
+   VIII. BY MOONLIGHT                                                141
+
+     IX. FACULTY MEETING AND BEDLAM                                  160
+
+      X. TEACHER AND PUPIL                                           182
+
+     XI. DECORATION--AND OTHER THINGS                                194
+
+    XII. AN ADVENTURE                                                210
+
+   XIII. PEGGY VICTRIX                                               224
+
+    XIV. ON SPY HILL                                                 240
+
+     XV. WHAT WAS THE MATTER WITH LOBELIA PARKINS?                   253
+
+    XVI. THE TERROR BY NIGHT                                         268
+
+   XVII. WAITING                                                     279
+
+  XVIII. THE END AND THE BEGINNING                                   297
+
+
+
+
+LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
+
+
+      PAGE
+
+  "'PEACE BE TO THIS DWELLING'" (p. 79)                    _Frontispiece_
+
+  "'BERTHA, LOOK AT THIS, WILL YOU?'"                                 36
+
+  "UP THEY WENT, HAND OVER HAND."                                     69
+
+  THE GRAND TELL IN THE OWL'S NEST                                   120
+
+  "'HERE! TAKE MY HAND AND SCRAMBLE OUT'"                            207
+
+  "WITH ONE OF HER SUDDEN MOVEMENTS SHE HAD THROWN OFF
+     HER ASSAILANTS"                                                 237
+
+  "'OH, GRACE, SHE HAS FAINTED!'"                                    272
+
+  "'WE FOUR AGAINST THE WORLD!'"                                     308
+
+
+
+
+PEGGY.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+A NEW WORLD.
+
+
+"Miss Montfort!" said the Principal.
+
+Peggy looked about her.
+
+"I wonder if it's another cousin!" she said to herself. "It can't be, or
+Margaret would have known. Dear Margaret! now if she were only here, she
+could answer, and everybody would--"
+
+"Miss Montfort!" said the Principal again, rather sharply.
+
+"Isn't that your name?" whispered the girl who sat beside Peggy. "You'll
+have to answer, you know!"
+
+Peggy started violently, and, looking up, met the Principal's eyes bent
+upon her. She struggled to her feet, feeling herself one blush from
+head to foot.
+
+"I--I beg your pardon!" she faltered. "I didn't suppose--did you mean
+me?"
+
+"You are Miss Montfort, are you not?"
+
+"Oh, no! my cousins are both--that is,--I am just Peggy!"
+
+There was a general titter, which the Principal checked with her pencil.
+"Young ladies!" she said in a warning tone. "Miss Montfort, you will
+have room No. 18, in the second corridor. You will be alone for the
+present."
+
+"Oh, goody!" cried Peggy. "I mean--I'm ever so much obliged, thank you!
+Can I go now?"
+
+"You _may_ go now!" said the Principal, with a slight emphasis on the
+auxiliary.
+
+Peggy stumbled over the foot of the girl next her, stepped on her own
+dress, tripped and came to her knees; picked herself up, with a sound of
+rending cloth, and finally got out of the room. This time the titter was
+not so easily checked. Peggy heard it rippling behind her as she fled.
+Even Miss Russell smiled as she rapped on the desk, and said one word
+to herself: "Untrained!"
+
+But the girl who had sat beside Peggy rubbed her foot, which hurt a good
+deal, and said three words: "Poor little thing!"
+
+No. 18 in the second corridor was a good-sized room, with two windows,
+one of them crossed on the outside by a fire-escape. Its present aspect
+was bare and unhomelike. The furniture consisted of an iron bedstead, a
+bureau and wash-stand, two chairs and a small table, all neat, but
+severely plain. The small square of carpet on the floor was a cold gray
+mixture with brown flowers on it. As Peggy Montfort looked about her,
+her heart sank. Was she to live here, to spend her days and nights here,
+for a whole endless year? She thought of her room at home, the great
+sunny room that she shared with her sister Jean. That had four windows,
+which were generally flung wide open; it was bare, because she and Jean
+liked to have plenty of space for gymnastics and wrestling; but that was
+a homelike, accustomed bareness, and they loved it. The great old
+four-post bed, with the round balls on which they loved to stand and
+perform circus tricks; the hammock slung across one end; the birds'
+nests and hawks' wings that adorned the walls in lieu of pictures; the
+antlers on which they hung their hats,--all these, or the thought of
+them, smote Peggy's stout heart, and sent it lower and lower down.
+
+A maid knocked at the door: here was Miss Montfort's trunk, and would
+she unpack it, please, as the man would be coming again to take the
+empty trunks to the attic.
+
+Peggy fell to work with ardour; here, at least, was something to do, in
+this strange, lonesome place. Arriving in the afternoon, a day or two
+after the beginning of school, her lessons were not to begin till the
+next morning.
+
+Every dress, as she lifted it out, seemed a bit of home. Here was the
+triangular tear in her blue gingham, that Jean mended for her. One could
+hardly see it now! Dear Jean! she was neat-handed, and she had a little
+look of Margaret, the same soft hair and clear, quiet eyes. Here was her
+beloved bicycle skirt! Ah, there was something heavy in the pocket.
+Peggy explored, and drew forth an apple; that brought the tears, which
+were not very far off in the first place, and there was a good deal of
+salt in the apple as she ate it. She was so determined to make the best
+of everything, however, that she fought back the homesickness that was
+rising like a flood within her, and even managed to whistle a tune as
+she hung up her dresses and laid her stockings and handkerchiefs in the
+drawers. Then the shoe-bag must be hung against the closet door, the bag
+that Margaret had made and worked with her initials. Dearest Margaret!
+and here was the pincushion that Flora gave her, and the writing-case
+from Brother Hugh-- Oh! she would write to him every week of her life,
+indeed she would! and so on and so on.
+
+When the trunk was empty, the room looked less forlorn, though still
+pretty bare, for in Peggy's home little thought was given to anything
+not of practical use. The door was open, and happening to look up she
+caught a glimpse of the opposite room, on the other side of the narrow
+corridor. Here, too, the door stood open, and Peggy gazed open-eyed. A
+greater contrast could hardly be imagined. Here every available inch of
+wall-space was covered, with photographs, with Japanese fans and
+umbrellas, with posters and ribbons and flags. The room itself was
+choked, it seemed to Peggy, with chairs and tables, low tables covered
+with books, with cups and saucers, with knickknacks of every possible
+description. The whole effect was bewildering, but so gay and cheerful
+that Peggy sighed as she glanced back at her own bare white walls, at
+the bureau with its sober brush and comb, and the polished table where
+the writing-case lay in solitary state. She could not imagine living in
+a room like that other: she should stifle, and throw half the things out
+of the window; but it would be nice to have just a few more things! If
+she had only thought! Jean would have been glad to share the nests with
+her, and she could have had the rattlesnake skin, for had she not killed
+him herself? and then there were the fossils!
+
+As Peggy meditated, steps came along the corridor, and halted at her
+door. A face peeped in. "May I come in?" asked the girl who had sat
+beside her in the class-room.
+
+"Oh, do! I wish you would!" cried Peggy, eagerly. "I am so glad to see
+you! Sit down! I wanted to tell you--you were awfully kind to let me
+know she meant me. You see, I never was called Miss Montfort in my life
+before."
+
+The girl sat down, and looked kindly at Peggy. She was a
+singular-looking girl, short and dark, with a curious effect of
+squareness in her thickset figure. Her face was plain, but one forgot
+that when one met the bright, intelligent gaze of her dark eyes.
+
+"I ought to introduce myself!" she said. "My name is Bertha Haughton.
+I'm a neighbour of yours. No!" she added, laughing, as Peggy glanced
+involuntarily across the way. "That is Vanity Fair. I don't live there;
+I live in the Owls' Nest, some way down the corridor."
+
+"Are all the rooms named?" asked Peggy, wondering.
+
+"Most of them, on this corridor, at least. There's Vanity Fair and Rag
+Fair and the Smithsonian Institute on the other side--oh! and the China
+Shop and the Corner Grocery, too. And on this side is ours, the Owls'
+Nest, and Bedlam, and the Soap Factory, and the Nursery, and this room
+of yours."
+
+"Oh, how interesting!" cried Peggy. "Do tell me what the names mean! Why
+Owls' Nest?"
+
+"Oh, well, we got the name of studying hard, that's all. We don't study
+harder than ever so many others, but in our freshman year we--my chum
+and I--passed an examination that a good many failed in, and so we got
+the name of owls. That's really all! And the China Shop--well! Ada Bull
+had it last year, and she had a mania for china-painting; and that with
+the name, together, you see! Then there is the Soap Factory,--that is
+quite a story! you really want to hear it? well!
+
+"You know we are not allowed to buy candy, or to have it sent to us.
+This girl's mother--I won't tell her name, she's in college now--was a
+very silly person, and she sent her a great box of chocolate, five or
+six pounds (though she knew the rules, mind you!), all done up like
+soap."
+
+"Like soap!" repeated Peggy.
+
+"Yes! the box was marked soap, and the chocolate was in little cakes,
+just like the little sample cakes of soap they send round, don't you
+know? and each cake wrapped up in paper, with '_Savon de Chocolat_'
+stamped on it. It came from Paris, I believe.
+
+"Well, of course the girl ought to have told Miss Russell at once, but
+she didn't. She kept the box under her bed, and told all the girls she
+knew; and of course they kept coming into her room all day long, and her
+pocket was always full, and, however it happened, at last Miss Russell
+suspected something. One day she came suddenly upon Margie in the hall,
+and saw that she was eating something, and asked her what it was. We're
+not allowed to eat going about the house, of course. Margie had just
+bitten off half a cake, and she had the other half in her hand, with the
+printed side up, '_Savon de Chocolat!_' and she said 'Soap!'
+
+"'Soap!' said Miss Russell.
+
+"'Yes!' said Margie. 'Soap, Miss Russell.'
+
+"The Principal looked at her a minute, and then I suppose she smelt the
+chocolate. She told her to wait, and then she went into her own room and
+came out with a little cake of tar soap--sample cake--that looked for
+all the world like chocolate soap.
+
+"'Pray try this!' she said, as grave as a judge. 'I am sure you will
+find it excellent. I must insist upon your trying it, since you have a
+taste for soap.'
+
+"Poor Margie! she had a good deal of pluck, and when she saw there was
+no help for it, she took a bite of the soap. But it was too horrid; she
+couldn't swallow it. She choked, and ran to her own room; the Principal
+followed her, and then the whole story came out. Margie never told us
+just what Miss Russell said. The chocolate was sent to the Orphans' Home
+next day, and she was a pretty serious girl for some time after. So now
+you know why that room is called the Soap Factory."
+
+"That's a splendid story!" cried Peggy. "Why, I think this is great. Did
+this room have a name, too? I'm sure it must have! Do tell me what it
+is!"
+
+A queer look crossed the dark girl's face.
+
+"It has been called Broadway!" she said. "I hope it may be changed now."
+She hesitated, and was about to speak again, when two girls came along
+arm in arm.
+
+"Look!" said Bertha Haughton. "There are your opposite neighbours,
+Vanity and Vexation of Spirit. I'll call them over and introduce them."
+
+"Oh, please don't!" cried Peggy, under her breath, catching her
+companion's arm. But it was too late.
+
+"V. V.," called Bertha, in her clear, hearty voice, "come and be
+introduced to Miss Montfort."
+
+The girls turned and came forward, one eagerly, the other rather
+unwillingly.
+
+"Miss Viola Vincent, Miss Vivia Varnham," said Bertha Haughton, "this is
+Miss--Peggy, did you say?--Miss Peggy Montfort."
+
+Miss Varnham simply bowed, but Viola Vincent advanced with outstretched
+hand.
+
+"How do you _do_?" she cried; and she lifted Peggy's hand to the level
+of her chin, and shook it gently from side to side. "Awfully glad to see
+you! It's been too perfectly horrid to have this room empty; hasn't it,
+V?"
+
+"A great bore!" assented Miss Varnham, who looked thoroughly bored
+herself.
+
+Both girls had entered the room, and were standing, looking about them.
+Peggy stood, too, feeling unspeakably shy and awkward, and not knowing
+what to say. Bertha Haughton gave her a quick, friendly glance, and made
+a slight motion with her head toward a chair. Peggy started, and
+coloured violently.
+
+"I beg your pardon!" she stammered. "Won't you sit down? here are two
+chairs; and you and I can sit on the bed!" she turned to Miss Haughton
+with an air of relief; she seemed already an old friend.
+
+Peggy's timid glances at the newcomers showed her that they belonged to
+a species unknown to her. Living on a great prairie farm, she had known
+no girls save her sisters and the two cousins with whom she had spent a
+happy summer at Fernley House, the home of her uncle, Mr. John Montfort,
+a year before.
+
+But neither sisters nor cousins, nor Bertha Haughton herself, bore any
+resemblance to the two young women who now seated themselves on her two
+straight-backed chairs. Both were dressed in the extreme of the fashion,
+which was not a specially graceful one. Both wore their hair elaborately
+dressed, with a profusion of gold and silver pins, a passing fancy
+easily carried to extravagance. Both were pretty, and there was even a
+kind of likeness between them, though it vanished when one looked
+closely. Viola Vincent had limpid blue eyes, and long lashes which she
+had a way of dropping, as she had been told that they looked well on her
+cheek, which was clear and delicately tinted. She smiled a good deal,
+and in doing so showed a pretty dimple in one cheek. In spite of a
+certain affectation, Peggy thought her charming.
+
+Vivia Varnham was less attractive, in spite of her bright hazel eyes
+and pretty fluffy hair; there was a supercilious lift to her eyebrows,
+an unamiable droop to the corners of her mouth. Peggy did not make this
+analysis; she only thought, "I shall not like her, I know I sha'n't!"
+
+The girls chattered away without much regard to her, and she only half
+understood their talk.
+
+"My dear! _Have_ you heard?" This was from Viola to Bertha Haughton. She
+patted herself all over while she talked, now her hair, now her collar,
+now her blouse, little approving pats.
+
+"You never hear anything, you owls! When _is_ the Snowy coming back? She
+has been away forty years! I simply can't exist without her. Why, my
+dear, we are to have the straw-ride after all. Miss Russell says we may.
+Isn't it perf'ly fine?"
+
+"Are you sure?" said Bertha Haughton, doubtfully. "You know last time
+she said we couldn't go again, because Grace acted so, pulling out the
+linch-pin and dropping us all into the road."
+
+"My dear, I know! that's just it! The Goat went to her this morning and
+said she would stay at home and do double lessons if the rest of us
+could only go. Noble of the Goat, I call it; only it won't be half so
+much fun without her, and Billy gone, too. Oh, you can't possibly
+imagine how we miss Billy. How forlorn this room looks without all her
+pretty things!" She glanced about the room. "Perf'ly awful, isn't it?"
+she said.
+
+Poor Peggy flushed scarlet. Bertha Haughton flashed her a glance of
+indignant sympathy.
+
+"Billy had the room simply ridiculous!" she said, hastily. "Almost as
+bad as your toyshop, Vanity. I can't abide a frippy room!"
+
+Viola Vincent opened her blue eyes wide. "What ruffled you up, Fluffy?"
+she said. "I didn't say anything about the Nest." Then, happening to
+glance at Peggy, she realised what she had said, and blushed a little
+herself.
+
+"I'm sure I didn't mean anything!" she cried, with a little giggle. "Of
+course when Miss Montfort gets all her things out and arranged, it will
+be quite charming, I'm sure it will."
+
+"I haven't any more things!" said honest Peggy. She managed to keep her
+voice steady, but the tears would come into her eyes, and she raged at
+herself.
+
+"Oh, you'll accumulate them!" said good-natured Viola, who liked to have
+people comfortable, if it did not take too much trouble. "Won't she, V.?
+We had hardly anything when we came, had we, V.? Barns, my dear, were
+nothing to us, were they, V.?"
+
+"Oh, of course not!" assented Miss Varnham; but her smile was so like a
+sneer, and her glance about the room so cold and contemptuous, that
+Peggy felt dislike hardening at her heart.
+
+"What is all that noise in the entry?" exclaimed Bertha Haughton,
+anxious to change the conversation. "It sounds as if an elephant were
+coming to call."
+
+Viola Vincent fluttered to the door, patting her waist affectionately as
+she went.
+
+"My _dear_!" she cried, in high-pitched staccato tones. "It's a box, an
+express box. Oh, it's a perfect monster, a mammoth! Vi, this must be
+your dresses. Hurrah! we'll have a grand trying on."
+
+Vivia Varnham looked out. A burly expressman was staggering forward with
+an enormous box, almost as big as a packing-case.
+
+"Take it in there!" she said, imperiously, motioning across the
+corridor. "Put it down carefully, mind! Miss Varnham, is it?"
+
+"No, miss," said the man, respectfully. "Miss Montfort!"
+
+"Me!" cried Peggy, starting to her feet. "Oh, there must be some
+mistake. I wasn't--there's nothing coming for me."
+
+"It must be for you!" said Bertha Haughton. "There is no other Miss
+Montfort in the school. Look at the address, and you may know the
+handwriting!"
+
+Peggy looked. In a clear, bold hand was written:
+
+                Miss Peggy Montfort,
+                      At Miss Russell's School,
+                          Pentland.
+
+        Glass, with care.        All charges paid.
+
+"Oh!" she cried, clasping her hands. "It _is_ for me! It's from Uncle
+John! Oh, what do you suppose--what can it be?"
+
+"Bring it in here, please," said Bertha Haughton, quietly, to the man,
+who still stood balancing the box. "There! set it against the wall;
+thank you! Now," as the man departed, "we need a screw-driver. Have you
+one, Viola?"
+
+"My _dear_! I had one, but the Goat broke it, using it for a step, you
+know, to get up to the next story. I use a can-opener now, but that will
+only do for small boxes. I don't have--well, State Houses, coming every
+day," she added, with a good-natured laugh, glancing at the great box.
+
+Bertha Haughton ran to fetch a screw-driver from her room, and the other
+two girls moved toward the door. Vivia Varnham looked black. She had
+made sure the box was for her, and felt aggrieved at the stupid freshman
+who appropriated it. Viola Vincent, on the other hand, was delighted.
+"I'm awfully glad!" she said. "It's simply dandy, having a box come. Ta,
+ta! I hope it will be something perf'ly splendid, dresses and hats and
+all kinds of giddiness. I love giddiness! When you want to be giddy, you
+must come to us; the Owls are too worthy. There's Fluffy back again with
+the screw-driver. Ta again! Awfully glad!"
+
+Peggy was half inclined to ask Viola to stay, but still it was rather a
+relief when the opposite door closed. Whatever the box contained, she
+could not have enjoyed it with those sharp, cold eyes of Viola Varnham
+looking on.
+
+"Here is the screw-driver!" cried Bertha, out of breath with her flight
+along the corridor. "It's very strong, you need not be afraid of
+pressing on it. Can I do anything more to help you? If not, I must go. I
+hope it is something very nice indeed!"
+
+"Go! you!" cried Peggy. "Oh, must you? Can't you stay and help me see
+what it is? It isn't any fun opening boxes alone," she added, piteously.
+
+The girl does not live who would not rather unpack a box than eat her
+dinner. "If you are sure you want me," said Bertha. "I didn't want to
+be in the way, that was all."
+
+"In the way! Oh, Miss Haughton! Why, you are the only friend I have here
+in this lonesome place."
+
+"If I am going to be your friend, I am not going to be Miss Haughton
+another minute. Do you really want me to stay, Peggy?"
+
+"I do, Bertha, indeed I do."
+
+"Honour bright?"
+
+"Honour brightest!"
+
+"Hurrah, then! And now for the box!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+THE BOX FROM FERNLEY.
+
+
+The box was no ordinary rough affair, knocked together for simple
+purposes of transportation. It was neatly and carefully made, the edges
+fitting closely together, the lid furnished with hinges.
+
+"We must take care how we open this!" said Bertha. "It would be a shame
+to spoil such a fine box."
+
+Peggy was used to tools of every description, and she drew out the
+screws deftly, then lifted the lid. Both girls bent eagerly forward.
+Nothing was visible but white paper, neatly fitted to the top of the
+box. Yes! on the paper lay a card, on which was written, "For Peggy's
+housekeeping. From Uncle John and Margaret, with best love."
+
+The handwriting was Margaret's, and Peggy seized and kissed it before
+going further. "It is Margaret!" she said. "Dear, darling Margaret, the
+best friend I have in the world. Oh, how dear and kind and lovely of
+them both! What _do_ you suppose they have sent me?"
+
+"Suppose we see!" said Bertha Haughton. Yet both girls lingered a
+moment, tasting the joy of suspense.
+
+It was not a joy to be long indulged, however. Together they lifted the
+paper, and lo! more paper, but this time enveloping various mysterious
+packages neatly tied with pink tape.
+
+"Margaret's tape!" cried Peggy. "Uncle John gave her a great big spool
+of it, because she said she had never seen enough in her life. Oh, what
+a fat bundle! You shall open it, Bertha, because you have been so good
+to me."
+
+"Open your bundle!" cried Bertha. "Indeed I will not! I never heard of
+such a thing. Be quick, though, for I do want to see."
+
+The big square parcel revealed an afghan, knitted in long stripes of
+red and blue, the colours rich and warm, and harmonising pleasantly.
+
+"Oh, what a beauty!" cried Bertha, while Peggy gazed in silent delight.
+"My dear, it warms the whole room! and the length of it, and the
+breadth! why, it will go on double. I never saw such a splendid one."
+
+Indeed, the great afghan had been Margaret's "pick-up work" ever since
+she first heard that Peggy was going to school, and loving thoughts were
+knitted into every stripe.
+
+"What next?" said Bertha. "My dear, sofa-pillows!"
+
+So they were, four of them, each prettier than the other.
+
+"But what shall I do with them?" said Peggy, with a comical glance
+around the room. "There's no sign of a sofa. Never mind! they are
+perfect beauties. Oh, and what can this be? Oh, Bertha, see, it is a
+bookcase!"
+
+The six pieces of polished wood were quickly fitted together, and there
+was indeed a bookcase, not very large, but still ample to contain all
+the books Peggy would be likely to need.
+
+"Where are your books?" asked Bertha, innocently; and Peggy hung her
+head.
+
+"My Bible is in my drawer," she said. "I--I didn't bring any other
+books. I'm a dreadful dunce," she added, timidly. "I might as well tell
+you now, for you'd find it out anyhow, the very first time you talked
+about books. I don't--care--about them, much."
+
+"Oh!" and Bertha looked a little blank, being a bookworm herself. "But
+there must be some books you are fond of, Peggy?"
+
+Peggy shook her head despondently. "I don't believe there are," she
+said. "Oh, of course I like 'Treasure Island,' and 'Robin Hood,' and
+that kind of thing. But history, and the Waverley Novels--why, Margaret
+would like to read the Waverley Novels all day; and they put me to sleep
+in five minutes."
+
+She looked anxiously at her new friend, to see the effect of this
+dreadful confession; but Bertha only laughed. "Well, I love the
+Waverleys very much myself," she said; "but I know everybody doesn't
+care for them. But when you want to read, Peggy, what do you do?"
+
+"But I don't want to read," said Peggy, humbly. "It--it seems such a
+waste of time; except Coues, of course, and he wouldn't go in my trunk,
+and Pa is going to send him by express."
+
+"What do you mean?" asked Bertha, puzzled in her turn. "Cows!"
+
+"Yes, the book, you know! Oh, I couldn't live without that."
+
+"Do you mean a herd-book? Of course, you said you lived on a farm. You
+mean that you study pedigrees and that kind of thing?"
+
+Now it was Peggy's turn to laugh, as she explained that she meant Prof.
+J. Elliott Coues's admirable book on birds.
+
+"Pa has Samuels," she added, "but I couldn't bring that, because it is
+out of print, and too valuable. Besides, he isn't so thorough as Coues,
+don't you know, especially in anatomy and that part. Is there a good
+class in anatomy here? Of course I shall want to join that."
+
+"Oh, dear!" cried Bertha, in comical dismay, "I don't know! Peggy
+Montfort, you are not a dunce at all; you are just shamming. The idea of
+any one _wanting_ to study anatomy!"
+
+"The idea of wanting to study anything else," cried Peggy, "except
+physics and geometry. It's this horrible literature and stuff that I
+cannot bear. But we can't stop and talk, with the box only half
+unpacked. Oh, pictures! Now I do like pictures, when they are the right
+kind. Bertha, look at this, will you?"
+
+With difficulty she lifted out a large picture which filled the box from
+end to end. Both girls uttered a cry of delight. It was the "Automedon"
+of Henri Regnault. The great horses rearing and plunging, the heroic
+figure of the charioteer, seemed to take Peggy's breath. "It--it's the
+kind of thing you dream about, isn't it?" she said. "They are alive; I
+believe they'll break through the glass in another minute. Oh, there
+can't be anything else as splendid as this!"
+
+[Illustration: "'BERTHA, LOOK AT THIS, WILL YOU?'"]
+
+But when she drew out next a fine photograph of "The Night Watch," she
+hardly knew what to say. The gleaming eyes of the lions, prowling
+among the ruined columns, fascinated her almost as much as the wild
+horses had done. She had less to say to the beautiful photograph of the
+Sistine Madonna, which came next; yet she looked at it with eyes of
+wistful affection. It was Margaret's favourite picture, and she loved it
+on that account as well as its own. Yet her taste was for "critters," as
+she freely acknowledged; and she glowed again as Bertha held up an
+engraving of "Sheridan's Ride," with the great captain riding straight
+out of the picture at her.
+
+"That's the kind of thing she wants!" Mr. Montfort had said, when he and
+his niece Margaret were having their delightful "Peggy-lark," as he
+called it. "The Sistine by all means, Meg; but no more old masters for
+our Peggy. She won't understand them, and she won't like them. What was
+it she said about your pet St. Anthony?"
+
+"She said he looked as if he had gone out for clams and fallen into the
+mud!" said Margaret, rather ruefully. "I suppose you are right, Uncle
+John; but, oh, do look at this lovely Murillo angel! How could she help
+loving this?"
+
+"The anatomy of it would distress her," said Mr. Montfort, dryly. "You
+know Peggy is strong on anatomy. Better take the 'Automedon.'"
+
+"Which you said was out of drawing!" cried Margaret, with a flash of
+mischief. "Oh, if you are going to put false ideas into her head, Uncle
+John--" on which she was very properly told to choose her pictures, and
+not be saucy.
+
+The last picture in the box had not been chosen in any picture-shop; and
+at sight of it Peggy sat down on the bed and began to cry.
+
+"Oh, dear!" she said. "What shall I do? Oh, Margaret, Margaret, what
+shall I do?"
+
+Kind-hearted Bertha was distressed. "Don't cry, dear!" she said. "I
+know! I know just how it feels. Is it your father and sister?"
+
+"No! oh, no!" said Peggy, wiping her eyes. "Of course it's different
+with Pa and the girls, because I shall be going home every vacation,
+you know. But I never was so happy in all my life as I was there; and
+seeing it--it is Fernley, and Uncle John and Margaret."
+
+The large photograph showed a stately house shadowed by lofty trees.
+Standing on the stone verandah were two figures, one, that of a tall man
+in a black velvet coat, with bright dark eyes; the other a slender girl
+with a sweet, thoughtful face. Both seemed to be looking straight at
+Peggy, and she felt Uncle John's kind look and Margaret's tender smile
+like warmth at her heart.
+
+"I--I'm only crying because--I'm--glad!" she said. And Bertha seemed to
+understand that, too.
+
+But the wonderful box was not yet empty; it really seemed like the
+famous bag of the Fairy Blackstick. Out came a gay Oriental cloth, which
+made another thing of the chilly little polished table; item, a
+bureau-cover embroidered with gold-coloured chrysanthemums; item, a
+wonderful work-basket, fitted with everything that a needlewoman's heart
+could desire; item, a spirit-lamp and a hot-water bottle, and a neat
+little tool-chest. Peggy sighed over the work-basket, and resolved to do
+her very best, but at sight of the tool-chest her eyes sparkled, and she
+seized upon it with delight, and caressed each shining implement as if
+it were a living and beloved creature.
+
+"Did you ever see such a little duck of a saw?" she cried. "Oh, I must
+go to work and make something this very day. Only, these two dears have
+sent me everything that I could ever possibly need. What is that,
+Bertha? There can't be anything more!"
+
+There could, though, and was. The bottom of the box was fitted with a
+cushion or mattress of chintz, chrysanthemums again, on a pale green
+ground; and the last parcel of all contained several yards of the same
+material.
+
+"What do you suppose-- Oh, I see!" cried Peggy. "The box,--we wondered
+why it was such a good box, don't you know? It is to be a kind of sofa,
+or window-seat, or something; and this is the cushion, and the rest is
+for a flounce and curtains. Oh, dear, did you ever hear of anything so
+perfectly lovely? Dear Uncle John, dear Margaret!" and she wept again,
+and, in default of Margaret, hugged the biggest sofa-pillow, a wonderful
+affair of soft yellow silk, with ruffles and puffles.
+
+"Come," said Bertha, "this will never do, Peggy! We must get these all
+arranged before tea, mustn't we? The gong will sound in a few minutes."
+
+Peggy dried her tears, and the two girls went to work with right good
+will. In ten minutes the dreary room was as cheerful and homelike a
+place as heart could desire. The pictures were hung (I forgot to mention
+that the fairy box contained picture-hooks and wire, hidden away in a
+corner), the cushions fitted, the chintz tacked in a neat flounce around
+the box, which straightway became a divan, and looked positively
+Oriental with the pillows heaped with careful carelessness on it.
+
+Peggy stood and surveyed the whole effect with shining eyes. "When the
+curtains are up--" she said, and looked inquiringly at Bertha.
+
+"When the curtains are up," said Bertha, "it will be one of the
+pleasantest rooms in the whole school."
+
+And then the gong sounded, and they went down to tea.
+
+A throng of girls was pouring into the great dining-room. Few of them
+noticed the newcomer, being taken up with their own concerns, laughing
+and chatting, hurrying to their places; yet Peggy felt as if all eyes
+were upon her. She clung close to Bertha Haughton's arm; but now that
+friendly arm was drawn away.
+
+"I must leave you here, Peggy," said Bertha.
+
+"Oh, don't leave me! Oh, can't I sit by you?" asked poor Peggy, in an
+agonised whisper.
+
+"No, dear, I have to go over there, quite to the other side of the room.
+See, Miss Russell is beckoning to you. You are to sit at her table, with
+the other freshmen. Cheer up, Peggy, it'll be all right after the first
+minute."
+
+Bertha nodded kindly, and took her way across the hall, while Peggy
+stumbled along, tripping over several dresses (she always stumbled when
+she was embarrassed), to the table where the Principal sat. There were
+six tables, twelve girls to each table, with a teacher at the head. Miss
+Russell greeted Peggy pleasantly, and it occurred to our friend for the
+first time that the Principal was not a Gorgon, but a human being, with
+a grave face, it is true, but with kind and friendly eyes.
+
+"I trust you have been resting after your journey, Miss Montfort! Yes?
+That is good. Coming so late yesterday you did not meet your classmates,
+who had already gone to their rooms. Miss Parkins, Miss Barclay, Miss
+Manton,--this is Miss Peggy Montfort. I hope you will introduce her to
+the other young ladies after tea."
+
+The three girls nearest Peggy bowed, all more or less shyly; it was
+comforting to feel that there were others who felt as strange as she
+did. In fact, Miss Parkins, who sat on her left, was so manifestly and
+miserably frightened that Peggy felt herself a lion by comparison, and,
+by way of improving acquaintance, asked her boldly for the salt.
+
+Miss Parkins gasped, shivered, clutched the pepper-pot, and dropped it
+into her own plate. The other freshmen giggled nervously, but Peggy
+glowed with compassion and sympathy.
+
+"Never mind!" she whispered. "That's just the kind of thing I am doing
+all the time. There is the salt; why, I can reach it myself, and nobody
+ever wants pepper, anyhow. There, that's all right!"
+
+The girl lifted a pair of eyes so red with crying, so humble and
+grateful and altogether piteous, that Peggy's own eyes almost
+overflowed. She put her hand under the table, found a little limp, cold
+paw, and gave it a hearty squeeze. "Cheer up!" she said. "It'll be
+better pretty soon, I--I guess. I am--homesick--too!"
+
+Then, finding a sob rising in her throat, she hastily filled her mouth
+with buttered toast, choked, and caught herself with a wild sound, half
+cough, half snort, that brought the eyes of the whole table upon her.
+The strange thing was, Peggy did not seem to care this time. They were
+only freshmen like herself. Any one of them might have choked just as
+well as she, and she was bigger than any of them. If those other girls
+had seen, now! not Bertha, but the other two! She glanced over to the
+opposite table, where the two V's sat facing her; but they were
+chattering away, with no thought of freshmen or their doings. Viola
+Vincent looked very pretty in a pale blue blouse and white pique skirt;
+she was evidently in high spirits, and was patting her hair and her
+waist with perfect satisfaction.
+
+"Perf'ly _fine_!" came to Peggy's ears, in her clear piping voice. "My
+_dear_, it will be simply _dandy_!"
+
+Peggy glanced at the Principal, she hardly knew why, except that
+Margaret disliked slang; and she saw her brows contract with a momentary
+look of vexation. "It does sound rather horrid!" she thought. "I wonder
+if I shall have to give up saying 'awfully!' That would be perfectly
+awful. Besides, it sounds awfully affected to talk like a book all the
+time."
+
+Thus meditating, Peggy let her napkin slip down to the floor. Her
+neighbour saw it, and both stooped at the same time to pick it up. Their
+heads came together with a violent crack. "Ow!" cried Peggy, and rubbed
+her flaxen poll vigorously. Miss Parkins was too frightened to know
+whether she was hurt or not. "Never mind!" said Peggy. "It was my fault
+just as much as yours. Did you get an awful crack? Oh! I mean, did you
+hurt yourself?"
+
+The poor girl murmured something, but it was more like a sob than a
+speech; and Peggy could only press the limp hand again, and resolve that
+when she knew the girl a little better she would try to put some spirit
+into her. Her own spirit was rising. She felt that ten pairs of eyes
+were watching her furtively; that her companions were taking notes, and
+that every spoonful she ate was counted and criticised; but still her
+courage was good, and she was even able to notice that the biscuits were
+light and the peach preserves delicious.
+
+I said ten pairs of eyes, for the eleventh had never been lifted above
+the level of the table-cloth, save for that one grateful glance over the
+spilt pepper. Certainly Miss Parkins was a queer-looking little person.
+Very small and slight, with a certain wizened look that did not belong
+to so young a face; a long, thin nose, and two small reddish-brown eyes
+that looked as if they had always been given to crying. The child--she
+did not look more than a child--had no beauty of any kind; yet a certain
+gentleness of look redeemed the poor little face from absolute ugliness.
+She was queerly dressed, too. Her gown was of good, even rich material,
+but in questionable taste, and cut in a fashion that might have suited
+her grandmother. Peggy's own ideas of dress were primitive, and she was
+not very observant, but she did feel that blue poplin stamped with large
+red roses was not a suitable dress for a schoolgirl, even if she were
+not small and plain and wizened, and even if it were not cut in a bygone
+fashion.
+
+Peggy saw, or fancied she saw, glances of amused contempt thrown at her
+poor little neighbour.
+
+"All the more reason," she thought, "why I should make friends with
+her."
+
+"Do you--did you come yesterday, or the day before?" she asked, as
+cheerfully as she could.
+
+"Oh! yes, I think so!" was the reply, in a gasping whisper. This was not
+very encouraging, but Peggy proceeded.
+
+"Did you have far to come? I came all the way from Ohio."
+
+"Oh! no, I don't think so!"
+
+"It took me all day to get here. It's horrid travelling alone, don't you
+think so?"
+
+"Oh! I--don't know! I never travelled."
+
+On the whole, the girl seemed so distressed that Peggy felt it would be
+a cruel kindness to pursue the conversation. "I needn't talk to the
+others," she said to herself. "They came before I did; they can talk to
+me if they want to."
+
+But now supper was over, and the girls rose with a whirr, like a flock
+of pigeons, and fluttered out of the dining-room. Peggy looked longingly
+after Bertha Haughton; indeed, Bertha seemed to be lingering, looking
+for her; but at that moment two or three girls swooped down upon the
+junior, and began a hubbub of questions. Peggy felt all her shyness
+rushing back in a flood. Turning to flee, she almost fell over little
+Miss Parkins, who was hastening on her way, too. "Come!" said Peggy. "We
+are both strange cats; suppose we stay together! What happens now, do
+you know? This is my first evening here. It's awfully queer, isn't it?"
+
+"Oh!" gasped Miss Parkins. "They--she--read something last night. Don't
+you think I might go to my room? I want to go to my room! Don't you
+think I might?"
+
+"Of course you may!" said Peggy, on fire with sympathy. "It's a pity if
+you've got to hear reading when you don't want to. Cut along, young
+'un!"
+
+Her brother's familiar phrase rose naturally to her lips; it was
+unfortunate that at that moment one of the teachers happened to pass by.
+She was a long, sallow woman, with greenish eyes set too near together,
+and the gaze she fixed upon Peggy was appalling in its severity.
+
+"Young ladies are required to attend the reading!" she said. "Your
+expression is an improper one, Miss Montfort!" and pinching her lips
+together she passed on.
+
+"My goodness gracious me!" whispered Peggy. "Who is that?"
+
+"Oh! hush! oh, don't!" whispered Lobelia Parkins, miserably. "She's
+going to read to-night, because the Principal has a cold; I heard them
+saying so. That is Miss Pugsley!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+IN THE "GYM."
+
+
+Peggy's pillow was quite damp when she went to sleep that night. To be
+sure she had been cheered by a friendly call from Bertha Haughton, but
+even that could not keep the homesickness from triumphing, when she was
+left alone, and the sounds in the corridor died away, and the light was
+out. Home seemed so far, so endlessly far away; she felt so utterly
+alone in the world! Education seemed a foolish and meaningless thing
+beside the love and comfort of home. What would she not give to be able
+to put out her hand and feel her sister Jean beside her, warm and
+loving, her own flesh and blood!
+
+So the pillow was damp, as I have said; but Peggy was young and healthy,
+and she fell asleep after awhile, and when she woke again the sun was
+up and the pillow was dry. Now she did put out her hand for Jean,
+forgetting where she was; and finding nothing but a cold wall, lay
+looking around her, coming back to the present. The room looked very
+strange at first. "Maybe I'm not awake!" said Peggy, wisely; then she
+pinched herself, and with the pinch the whole thing came back.
+
+"Why, of course!" she said. "Oh, dear! well, here I am; and I wanted to
+come, and I've been thinking about it for months, and then it goes and
+is like this!" She sighed, and wondered what they were doing at home,
+and at Fernley; then she became interested in her pretty room, and her
+heart overflowed once more with love to her dear ones at Fernley, who
+had made it so bright and charming for her. "I know what Margaret would
+say!" exclaimed Peggy, raising her head from the pillow. "She would say,
+'Now you are there, my dear, try to make the best of it;' and so I will!
+You hear me!" These last words were spoken aloud with some severity, and
+appeared to be addressed to the brush and comb, which took no notice
+whatever. And then Peggy made the best of that moment, and got up.
+
+Breakfast was another ordeal, but not so bad as the tea of the night
+before; after breakfast came prayers, and then the class-room. Peggy
+found herself seated at a desk, beside one of her classmates, Rose
+Barclay, a pretty brunette, with rosy cheeks and bright dark eyes. In
+the brief pause before study-time, the two girls made acquaintance, and
+Peggy learned that theirs was the largest freshman class the school had
+ever had. All the others were in the west wing, where the freshmen
+belonged.
+
+"You came late," said Rose Barclay, "and that's why you are over among
+the Jews and Seas. That's what they call the juniors and seniors; I've
+learned so much already!" she said, laughing. "They seem to have
+nicknames for everything and everybody in this place."
+
+"Yes!" said Peggy. "Even the rooms are named!" and she told of Vanity
+Fair and the Owls' Nest.
+
+"Corridor A?" asked Rose Barclay. "Oh, they must be Jews. That is
+Judea, I am pretty sure; and the Senior Corridor is the Mediterranean.
+It's awfully silly, isn't it? and yet it's funny, too. I suppose we
+shall get into the swing of it after awhile. You homesick?"
+
+Peggy nodded.
+
+"So'm I! Cry last night?"
+
+Peggy nodded again.
+
+"So did I! but not so much as the girl next door to me. My! she must
+have cried about all night, I should think. I woke up two or three
+times, and she was crying every time, and I heard her sniffing in her
+bath this morning."
+
+"Why didn't you go in and try to cheer her up?" demanded Peggy, rather
+fiercely.
+
+Rose Barclay stared. "Oh, I couldn't do that! why, I've never spoken to
+her; it was that queer little piece that sat next to you. Besides, she
+looks as if she'd die if any one spoke to her."
+
+The school was called to order, and Peggy soon forgot homesickness and
+everything else in the keen joy of mathematics.
+
+She had chosen the scientific course--there were three courses in the
+school--in order to get as much of practical and as little of literary
+knowledge as might be. Geometry was her delight, and it was geometry
+over which she was bending now.
+
+Most of the teachers at Pentland School expected little of the new pupil
+from Ohio. The written examinations that Peggy had passed had caused
+many a head-shaking. The history teacher sighed; the gentle mistress of
+English literature groaned, and said, "Why must this child come here?"
+Only Miss Boyle, the mistress of mathematics, had nodded her head over
+the papers. "Here's a girl who knows what she is about!" she said.
+Accordingly, when Peggy entered class this morning, she was surprised at
+the cordial greeting she received from the bright-eyed lady at the
+central desk; and an indefinable sense of being at home and among
+friends stole gradually over her, as she wrestled with one delightful
+problem after another.
+
+Rose Barclay, at her side, was biting her pencil and twisting her
+pretty forehead into hard knots, and making little progress; but Peggy
+had forgotten her existence. The period passed like a moment, as theorem
+after theorem was disposed of.
+
+"Let EDF and BAC be two triangles, having the angle E equal to the angle
+B, the angle F to the angle C, and the included side EF to the included
+side BC; then will the triangle EDF be equal to the triangle BAC?"
+
+"Of course it will!" Peggy drew triangles in swift and accurate
+demonstration. "Put the side EF on its equal BC, and let the point E
+fall on B, and the point F on C. Then, you see, of course--"
+
+"I don't see how any one is ever to do this!" murmured her neighbour, in
+despair. "Why! why, you've done yours. Oh, just let me see, won't you? I
+never can work it out in the world, so do let me copy yours!"
+
+Peggy reddened to the tips of her ears. "Do you--can you--are we allowed
+to do that?" she stammered.
+
+"Oh! Just as you please!" said Rose Barclay, coldly. "I thought you
+might be willing to oblige me, that's all. It's of no consequence!"
+
+"Oh! But you don't understand!" whispered Peggy, eagerly; but Rose had
+turned away, and paid no heed to her; and Miss Boyle tapped with her
+pencil and said, "Young ladies! No whispering in class, if you please!"
+
+In a few minutes a bell rang, and all the girls sprang up in great
+relief; geometry was not generally popular, and now came the "gym" hour,
+dear to all. Peggy turned at once to her neighbour, sure that she would
+be able to explain everything to the satisfaction of both. To her
+amazement and distress she met a look so cold and hostile that it seemed
+to freeze the words on her lips.
+
+"Miss Barclay!" she said, imploringly. "You didn't understand me, indeed
+you didn't. I should be perfectly delighted to help you, of course I
+should, only I thought it might be against the rules. Of course, I might
+have known you would know what is allowed. I'm awfully sorry!"
+
+Rose Barclay hesitated; her face seemed to soften for a moment; then it
+hardened again, and another change came over it which Peggy did not
+comprehend.
+
+"I don't know what you mean!" she muttered. "Please excuse me, I am in a
+hurry." She was gone, and Peggy, turning in great distress, found Miss
+Boyle standing at her elbow. Had she heard? Peggy was sure she could not
+have heard, for there was no look of surprise or of anything peculiar in
+her pleasant face.
+
+"You like geometry, Miss Montfort?"
+
+"Oh, yes, I love geometry! Oh, please, are we allowed to help each
+other, Miss Boyle?"
+
+"Certainly not!" said Miss Boyle, quietly. "Not upon any account. You
+can see for yourself that there would be no use in a girl's taking
+geometry if she cannot do the work herself."
+
+"Yes, I see! I thought so, only--thank you very much. Do you--shall I go
+now?"
+
+She looked around, and was startled to see that all the other girls had
+disappeared, and she was alone with the teacher.
+
+Miss Boyle smiled, and her smile was so friendly that it warmed poor
+Peggy's heart.
+
+"Yes, you may go now," she said; "but I shall hope to see something of
+you, Miss Montfort. If you will come to my room some evening, I will
+show you some pretty problems that are not in the text-books."
+
+With this, the highest compliment she could pay a pupil, Miss Boyle went
+on her way; and Peggy, after wandering through two or three deserted
+class-rooms, and breaking in upon a senior committee-meeting of a highly
+private nature, and walking into a pantry, found herself at last in the
+gymnasium.
+
+This was a lofty and spacious room, fitted with every possible appliance
+for gymnastic exercises. Peggy's eyes brightened as she gazed about her,
+at the rope-ladders, the parallel bars, the rings and vaulting-horses
+and spring-boards. If this were not Paradise, Peggy did not know what
+was, that was all.
+
+Some of the girls were already arrayed in blouse and full trousers, and
+were taking their place in ranks, under the eye of an alert, graceful
+young woman in a pretty dark blue suit. Others were hurrying up from
+some apartment on a lower floor, and from the stairway came a hum of
+voices which showed that others were still making ready.
+
+Bertha Haughton, in crimson blouse and black trousers, hurried up to
+Peggy.
+
+"Here you are!" she cried. "I have been trying to find you. Where are
+your gym things? Haven't got any? Oh, how too bad!"
+
+"I didn't know!" said poor Peggy. "It didn't say in the programme, did
+it? Can't I do anything without them? Oh, dear."
+
+Her face, so bright a moment before, clouded so instantly with
+disappointment and mortification, that the experienced junior could
+hardly repress a smile.
+
+"My dear! my dear!" she cried. "Do wait till I tell you. You can wear
+the Snowy's things. She hasn't come back yet, and you can wear them just
+as well as not till she comes."
+
+"The Snowy?" repeated Peggy. She remembered vaguely that she had heard
+the name, but it meant nothing to her in her trouble.
+
+"Yes, my chum, the Snowy Owl. I'm the Fluffy one, don't you remember?
+The Snowy is a bit taller than you, but that is no matter; you can wear
+them perfectly well, I tell you. Come along, and I'll get you into
+them."
+
+Peggy hung back, protesting faintly against appropriating the clothes of
+a person she had never seen; but finally she yielded to Bertha's
+vigorous pulls, and followed her down a winding stair, into a narrow
+room filled with a hubbub of girls in every stage of dressing and
+undressing. Viola Vincent fluttered up to her (it is difficult to
+flutter in a gymnasium suit, and only Viola's supremely butterfly
+quality enabled her to do it), a charming vision of pale blue, with a
+profusion of tiny brass buttons twinkling wherever a button could be
+put.
+
+"Here you are!" she cried, airily. "I haven't seen you for an age. I've
+been telling everybody about you, the V. V's vis-a-vis. It sounds so
+quaint, doesn't it? I adore quaintness. How do you like my new suit,
+Fluffy? Isn't it too cute for anything? This is the first time I've worn
+it; I think it is too perfectly sweet to live in, don't you?"
+
+"I hope not!" said Bertha, laughing. "We should be sorry to have you
+pass away, Vanity, because your dress is too sweet."
+
+"No, but really!" continued Viola, earnestly. "Do I exaggerate, Fluffy?
+_Isn't_ it the sweetest thing you ever saw? I ask because I want to
+know, you know!"
+
+Bertha's only reply was to pull her pink ear good-naturedly, and then
+dive head-foremost into a locker.
+
+"You find the Fluffy quaint?" said Viola to Peggy. "Yes? she is quaint,
+but delicious! So is the Snowy! I simply could not exist without them;
+they are the guiding stars of the corridor, don't you know? What are you
+about, Fluffy? What are you doing with the Snowy's togs? She has not
+come back, no!" clasping her hands in ecstasy. "_Don't_ tell me the
+Snowy has come back, Fluff!"
+
+"I certainly won't!" said Bertha, coolly. "She isn't coming back till
+day after to-morrow. Peggy Montfort is going to wear her things till her
+own are ready, that's all. Don't excite yourself too much, Vanity; it'll
+take the colour out of your hair."
+
+"No! _Do_ you think so?" replied Viola; "really? ah! here's V., ready at
+last. What I have to endure, V., waiting while you prink, no tongue can
+tell. Ta, dears, come up soon!" and she fluttered away, arm in arm with
+her chum.
+
+"Is she always like that?" asked Peggy, bewildered.
+
+"Who? Vanity? Oh, yes! there's no possible harm in Vanity; she is really
+the best hearted creature in the world. The other, though,--well, you
+want to be a little on your guard with Vivia. Oh, we are the best
+friends in the world, of course; only, her temper is a little uncertain
+at times, and it's just as well to know about it. There! why, the
+trousers fit you to perfection!" The trousers, as wide as the Flying
+Dutchman's, certainly fell comfortably enough about Peggy's stout
+knees.
+
+"Now for the blouse! I'll put it over your head!"
+
+A silent but breathless struggle followed, from which Peggy emerged
+panting and crimson, but victorious. "Oh, I do hope she--your
+chum--won't mind!" she cried. "I am so afraid I shall get them dirty!"
+for it was a whim of the Snowy Owl's to wear a white gym suit, and it
+was as fresh as if it were just out of the tub, as indeed it was.
+
+"Oh, that is no matter! She washes them every week; she likes to wash;
+it's one of her accomplishments. Come along now!"
+
+They ran up-stairs, and found the class just forming in ranks. A gesture
+bade them fall into line with the rest, and Peggy stood with her toes on
+a chalk mark, waiting the word of command.
+
+It came. "Left foot forward--fall out!" At the command every girl put
+out her left foot as far as she could, and flung her whole weight
+forward on it. Peggy did the same, and fell on her nose with a
+resounding crash. The class giggled, but were sharply checked by the
+teacher.
+
+"We will try this once more. Try to balance the body carefully! Take
+time! Once more! Left foot forward--fall out!"
+
+Again the line dropped forward with one motion; and again our poor Peggy
+fell on her nose. This time the nose protested in its way, and bled;
+great crimson drops fell on the white plumage of the Snowy Owl. Almost
+crying with distress and mortification, Peggy felt for her handkerchief.
+Alas! she was not used to trousers, and no pocket could she find, though
+there was one, and her handkerchief was in it. What should she do? She
+was just about to make a bolt for the stairs, when a handkerchief was
+thrust into her hand. She clapped it to her suffering nose, and looked
+gratefully at her left-hand neighbour in the ranks. The girl nodded
+slightly, and said, "All serene! better ask leave to retire. Hold arms
+over head, stop it!" She was a slender girl, with a pensive face and
+melancholy blue eyes. Her hair was plainly parted, Madonna-fashion, and
+there was something remote and old-world about her whole look and air.
+
+"Oh, thank you!" murmured poor Peggy. "You're awfully kind!" She hoped
+the tiresome bleeding would stop on the instant, but it did not; she was
+obliged to ask leave to go down-stairs; and receiving it, dashed down
+headlong, and cannoned violently against Vivia Varnham, who had gone
+down for something she had forgotten.
+
+"Oh, I beg your pardon!" gasped Peggy. "I'm--awfully clumsy--"
+
+"I think you are!" said the other, with a flash of her hazel eyes.
+"Perhaps you'll let me pass now, please, before you make another
+exhibition of yourself." She went on, with a scornful toss of her head.
+
+Poor Peggy! her tears flowed fast over the friendly handkerchief. "I
+wish I was dead!" she sobbed. "I wish I had never come to this horrid,
+odious place, where everybody is so hateful. And I can't hold up my arms
+when I have to hold this to my nose all the time."
+
+"Quite so!" said a quiet voice behind her. The sad-looking girl took her
+hands and held them straight up in one of her own, the other keeping the
+handkerchief in position. No word was spoken, but in five minutes the
+bleeding was stopped.
+
+"Basin--water!" said the stranger. "Don't mention it!" as Peggy tried to
+falter her thanks. And she was gone.
+
+Peggy waited till she felt sure of herself and her nose. Then she spoke
+severely to herself, and asked what Uncle John would say to such
+behaviour. "_Everybody_ isn't hateful!" she said. "And anyhow, there are
+some things there that I can do, if I haven't learned this trick. I
+won't give up till I've gone up that rope."
+
+Her eye had been caught by a stout rope dangling from the ceiling. This
+was in her own line, and she felt that if she could redeem herself in
+her own eyes, she should not care so much about all those other laughing
+eyes. And yet, perhaps she thought more about those eyes than she was
+aware of, for our Peggy was very human.
+
+This time fortune favoured her. As she emerged from the lower regions, a
+girl was just trying to climb the rope; in fact, there were three ropes
+hanging side by side, and the climbing of them was part of the regular
+exercise. She sought Bertha, who was most sympathetic, not having been
+near enough to help Peggy.
+
+"Climb the rope? Oh, you'd better not try that, Peggy! it takes a lot of
+practice. Why, I've been here two years, and I can't get to the top yet.
+Really, it's very hard. Let's come and swing on the ring, if you are
+quite sure about your poor nose."
+
+But Peggy did not want to swing on the rings, nor to do anything else
+that Bertha proposed; she wanted to climb that rope, and she meant to do
+it; the prairie blood was roused.
+
+"Well, I'll ask Miss Brent," said good-natured Bertha, finding her
+determined. "You say you have had some experience in climbing? Perhaps
+she'll let you go a little way up."
+
+Miss Brent, interrogated, came and looked Peggy over carefully; felt her
+muscles, asked her a few questions, and then said, "You may have the
+next turn, Miss Montfort."
+
+[Illustration: "UP THEY WENT, HAND OVER HAND."]
+
+The girl on the rope next her was having a sad time of it. She swung
+this way and that; her legs waved wildly in the air; and at length
+she came down "all abroad," having only ascended a few feet. At the same
+moment, the girl on the next rope dropped, so that two were left
+unoccupied. Peggy advanced and laid her hand upon one rope, just as
+Vivia Varnham took possession of the other. On the third, the pensive
+girl with the Madonna braids was swinging easily, half-way up to the
+ceiling; she twisted her feet around the rope, and, so resting, observed
+the progress of the other two.
+
+Up they went, hand over hand. Vivia Varnham gave a glance of disdain
+when she saw who her rival was. She was light and agile, and did not for
+an instant think that this heavy, clumsy creature could make any headway
+against her. She went up lightly and easily, but somehow the heavy,
+clumsy creature managed to keep abreast of her; was even gaining upon
+her, drawing up, up, above her head. Vivia put on a spurt, and passed
+Peggy, climbing very swiftly--for a moment; then the ache in her wrists
+compelled her to slacken her rate of speed, and the thickset figure came
+up, up, steadily and surely. Truth to tell, though Peggy Montfort was
+awkward, she was as strong as a steer. Her weight was not fat, but sheer
+bone and brawn; and her one hundred and forty pounds were easy enough
+for her to carry, even up a rope thirty feet long. But Vivia Varnham,
+with all her lightness and quickness, had little strength in her wrists.
+They ached painfully, but she would not give up. Her face flushed, her
+breath came in distressful gasps, she struggled on and up. They were
+more than half-way up; they had passed the quiet observer, swinging
+comfortably with her feet twisted in her rope. "Better go down, V.!"
+said the girl with the sad eyes. "She's too many for you!"
+
+Vivia shook her head with an angry gesture. Her eyes swam, the pain in
+her wrists was unendurable; but she set her teeth, and struggled on,
+till from below came the voice of Miss Brent, calm and authoritative.
+
+"Come down, Miss Varnham! You have gone far enough."
+
+Most unwillingly, with sullen face and fluttering breath, Vivia slid to
+the floor. She expected, everybody expected, to hear the order repeated
+for the benefit of the newcomer, the audacious freshman who had ventured
+upon junior ground; for the rope-climbing was not generally attempted
+till the third year. But Miss Brent kept her eyes on Peggy, and smiled,
+and made no sign.
+
+Peggy was enjoying herself immensely. She was not a swift climber, but
+there was no tiring her, and this, as she said to herself, was "great!"
+She wished Margaret could see her! No! It would frighten dear Margaret.
+Rita, then! Rita loved feats of skill; probably she could climb far
+better than she, Peggy, could; Rita was so light, so graceful, so
+fearless.
+
+A shout rang from below. Something passed her on the next rope, light
+and swift as a bird in flight. She could almost touch the ceiling now;
+she looked up; there, at the very top of the next rope, was her friend
+of the dressing-room, gazing at her with melancholy blue eyes, and
+holding out a slender hand.
+
+"Shake!" said the girl with the Madonna braids.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+ENTER THE SCAPEGOAT.
+
+
+Peggy was sitting alone in her room that evening, studying, when there
+rose a hubbub outside her window; wheels, and the trampling of horses,
+and girls' voices. She ran to the window and looked out; there was a
+great hay-rigging, drawn by four stout horses, and comfortably lined
+with straw. Girls were climbing into it on every side, and more and more
+came pouring out of the house. It was full moon, and their faces shone
+so clear and merry in the light, that Peggy could not help feeling a
+pang, not of envy, but of longing. Of course there had been no question
+of her going; it was a junior affair; but they all looked so happy and
+jolly, and it was so lonely here! As she stood longing, Viola Vincent
+popped her pretty head in to say good-bye.
+
+"Thought you might like to see my toque!" she said, fluttering in the
+doorway. "It's the first time I have had it on. Isn't it dandy? Isn't it
+perfectly sweet?"
+
+Peggy thought it charming, and said so; she was rapidly losing her heart
+to her pretty butterfly neighbour.
+
+"I thought you'd like to see it!" said Viola, naively. "It makes it
+easier to study, if you see something pretty. Ta, dear! I wish you were
+going. We shall have a dandy time, simply dandy!"
+
+She fluttered out, and left the door ajar behind her, so that Peggy
+could not help hearing the half-whispered colloquy that ensued in the
+corridor.
+
+"Went to say good-bye to the Veezy Vee. Why shouldn't I?"
+
+"Why should you? You'll have her around your neck if you don't take
+care, like a lump, as she is."
+
+"Hush, V.! you're quite vinegar, aren't you? Why? She's perfectly
+harmless, and I find her quaint. You know I adore quaintness!"
+
+"Oh, come along, and don't talk flummery to me; you know I can't stand
+it."
+
+The two passed on, and Peggy's ears burned uncomfortably. Evidently
+Vivia Varnham had taken a violent dislike to her; well, she certainly
+returned it. And of course that would prevent her from ever seeing much
+of the other, sweet pretty thing. Well, of course she should have to be
+alone most of the time. She went to the window again, and saw the two
+V's climbing in; then there was a great shouting and waving of
+handkerchiefs, and they drove away. Peggy sighed, and sat down once more
+to her task. It was rhetoric, and her whole nature cried out against it;
+but the study was prescribed, and the teacher, Miss Pugsley, was
+reported to be very strict. Peggy put her elbows on the table, and her
+head on her hands, and bent in good earnest over the book.
+
+"'Both prepositions and conjunctions are called connectives.'
+
+"Oh, dear! then why can't we _call_ them connectives, and have one word
+to remember, instead of three?
+
+"'When I say the hen barks'--why, that makes nonsense! Oh, I got two
+lines mixed up. 'When I say the dog barks, I speak of some particular
+dog.' Well, anybody can see that. Oh, I do wonder if Flora will remember
+to wash Peter's ear, where he had the canker! It was almost well, but
+still it will need washing. Dear Peter! dear dogs! they will miss me, I
+know they will. If one could only have a dog here, it wouldn't be half
+so bad. I could have a basket for him to sleep in, you know, and then in
+the morning he would get up on the bed, and we'd have a beautiful time.
+There's a dog barking now! He wants to be let in, poor dear! How
+perfectly idiotic some people are, not to know what a dog wants. I
+remember that stupid man at home beating poor Peter,--beating him with a
+hoe, when all the time Peter was telling him that a tramp was stealing
+the melons. Yes; but when Petie saw that the man was an idiot, he went
+and attended to the tramp himself, and you never saw a tramp so scared
+in your life. Oh, dear! well!
+
+"'He was in the room, and went out of it.' I wish I could go out of this
+room; but I don't know where I should go to. Bertha went, of course,
+with the others. If it wasn't for Bertha, I really don't think I could
+possibly stay here."
+
+A knock at the door; and Bertha's square, cheerful face looked in. "Any
+chance to study here? there's something the matter with my lamp,
+why,--Peggy!"
+
+For Peggy had jumped up and thrown her arms around her friend's neck,
+and given her a hug which took her breath.
+
+"Oh, you dear!" cried Peggy. "I never was so glad to see anybody in my
+life. Here, take this chair, Bertha. Oh, it was just lovely of you to
+come in. You knew I would be forlorn, I know that was why you came. But
+why didn't you go on the straw-ride? I supposed of course you had gone."
+
+"One question at a time," pleaded Bertha; "and I can't answer any if you
+destroy my breathing apparatus, Hippolyta."
+
+"Why Hippolyta?"
+
+"Oh; she was Queen of the Amazons, don't you know? Only because you are
+so strong, my dear."
+
+"No," said Peggy, dolefully. "I never heard of her. Margaret would know,
+but I am awfully stupid, I told you I was. Do you have rhetoric,
+Bertha?"
+
+"Not this year. I had it the first two years. It's not so bad; in fact,
+I was rather fond of it."
+
+Peggy gazed at her in such unfeigned amazement that Bertha could not
+help laughing; but there was never any sneer in Bertha's laugh. "Come!"
+she said. "Now we'll sit down and study our prettiest. See! I have a lot
+of Greek to do. Peggy, don't look like that! What is the matter?"
+
+Peggy had recoiled in horror, her blue eyes opened to their widest
+extent.
+
+"Greek!" she cried. "You don't--I sha'n't have to take Greek, shall I?
+because I would rather die, and I should die!"
+
+"Nonsense! no, I don't know that you will have to take it at all. What
+course have you taken,--scientific? Oh, no, you don't have Greek in
+that. What have you had to-day?"
+
+"Geometry! Of course that was splendid."
+
+"Oh, indeed! was it?"
+
+"Why, yes; I just love geometry. I could do it all day, but we only have
+it one hour." And Peggy looked injured.
+
+"Well," said Bertha, "you are a queer girl, Peggy Montfort. But there'll
+be one happy person in this school, and that is Miss Boyle."
+
+"I don't understand you! Don't most girls,--don't you like geometry,
+Bertha?"
+
+"My dear, I regard everything in the shape of mathematics with terror
+and disgust. I don't know any geometry, nor any algebra. I've been
+through them both, and the more I learned, the more I didn't know. As to
+arithmetic, I know that four quarts make a gallon, and that really is
+all my mind is equal to. But if you won't let me study my Greek, Peggy,
+I shall go home again to the Nest."
+
+"Oh, I do! I will!" cried poor Peggy; and there was silence for a time,
+both girls studying in earnest, the silence only broken by the turning
+of a page, or a heartfelt sigh from Peggy as she dealt with parts of
+speech.
+
+So thoroughly were they absorbed in their task that they did not hear
+sundry noises outside the window. The window was open, for the night was
+warm as well as bright; indeed, the upper half of it was pushed entirely
+down, so that it was like a double half-door of glass. Outside this
+window was the black skeleton of the fire-escape; and if the two girls
+had been on the alert, they might have heard various unobtrusive sounds
+from this direction. As it was, they both started violently when a clear
+voice addressed them in quiet and thoughtful tones.
+
+"Peace to this dwelling!" said the voice.
+
+Peggy looked up hastily. There, leaning on the window-sash, as calm and
+composed as she had been at the top of the rope, was the stranger with
+the melancholy eyes and the Madonna braids.
+
+"Peace!" she repeated. "Piece of pie! have some!" She held out a large
+segment of pie, and added, "Any admittance for the Goat?"
+
+Peggy was still too startled to find breath to answer, but Bertha sprang
+up, crying, "Grace! how could you frighten us so?"
+
+"Not Grace!" said the stranger, with an unmoved countenance. "Goat! let
+us not deceive the Innocent! A scapegrace is one thing, a scapegoat is
+another, and from some points a preferable one. But the Innocent is
+abroad, I perceive. Innocent, I am the Scapegoat. Is there admittance?"
+
+"Oh!" gasped Peggy, blushing and faltering. "Oh, please come in! I--I
+didn't know you were waiting for me to-- Sha'n't I open it from the
+bottom?"
+
+"If you will take the pie," said the stranger, gravely; "thank you; that
+is your piece, this is mine,--already bitten, or I would offer it to the
+Fluffy."
+
+Relieved of two large pieces of pie, she laid one hand on the sash, and
+vaulted lightly over; then she shook hands solemnly with Peggy, took her
+own piece of pie, and, seating herself on the floor, proceeded to eat it
+daintily.
+
+"It is a good pie!" she said. "If not afraid of pollution, Fluffy, a
+bite?"
+
+Bertha was looking half amused, half angry. "Grace, how can you act so?"
+she said.
+
+"How?" said Grace. "My sweet child, it is as easy as breathing. I will
+give instruction at any time, without charge."
+
+"I thought you were doing double lessons," Bertha went on, "and being as
+good as gold. Grace, you can be so good!"
+
+"Can't I!" said Grace; her tone was one of admiring gravity; her blue
+eyes kept their look of pensive sadness.
+
+"And it's a thing I admire, goodness!" she went on, shaking her head.
+"That's why I practise it. Double lessons? I'll warrant you! this is the
+second time I have been down here to-night, for example; other things in
+proportion." She waved her hand, and fell to again at her pie.
+
+Peggy had been sitting open-eyed, watching this singular person, not
+knowing what to say. Now, however, meeting the solemn gaze of the large
+sad eyes, she felt compelled to speech.
+
+"It--it's delicious!" she said, timidly. "Wouldn't you rather sit in a
+chair, Miss--" she hesitated, not liking to say "Grace."
+
+"Oh, dear!" said Bertha, still put out. "You make me forget my manners
+and everything, Grace. Peggy, this is Miss Grace Wolfe; Grace, Miss
+Peggy Montfort."
+
+"Charmed!" said Miss Wolfe. "But we have met before, Fluffy, or I should
+not have descended."
+
+        "We met, 'twas on a rope,
+           And I thought she had done me;
+         I felt, I could not feel,
+           For my fate was upon me.
+
+"If it hadn't been for your possession of peas, you would have beaten
+me, Miss Montfort. As it was, here's to our next meeting under the
+ceiling!" She took a large bite of pie, and regarded Peggy benevolently.
+
+"Of peas?" repeated Peggy, vaguely, feeling that this might be English,
+but was not sense.
+
+"Precisely. _Avoir du pois_, literally, to possess a pea! The French
+language. But you should have seen Vexation!" this strange person added,
+turning to Bertha. "Did see her? Well, she was a pleasant sight. Noxious
+animal, Vexation! It is a joy to see her taken down occasionally."
+
+"I notice you are good friends enough, where any mischief is afoot!"
+said Bertha, bluntly. She broke a corner off the pie, and added, "Goat,
+this is mince pie!"
+
+"It is! it is!" said Miss Wolfe. "Ever discriminating, my own! And good?
+Say it is good, Fluffy!"
+
+"Yes, it is uncommonly good!" said Bertha. "Where did you get it? You've
+no business to have it, of course!"
+
+"I got it out of a bandbox, sweet one!" replied Grace Wolfe. "It
+lives--they live, I should say, for there are three of them, thanks be
+to praise!--in a bandbox. A round one, or, to be more exact, oval in
+form, covered with wall-paper, whereon purple scrolls dispute the
+mastery with pink lozenges. It's the sweetest thing in bandboxes that
+I've seen since time was."
+
+"Yes, but the pies!"
+
+"The pies! as I was saying, three of them; ample, full moons of rapture!
+
+        "They came in beauty, side by side,
+           They filled one home with glee.
+         Their bones are scattered--"
+
+She paused with an expressive gesture.
+
+"The best of it is,--you will admit that this is neat, Fluffy, even if
+your slavery to the virtues compels your disapproval,--the best of it
+is, the bandbox is the property of our Puggy."
+
+"Miss Pugsley's bandbox! Oh, Grace!"
+
+"Precisely! Our Puggy goes heavily without it, I am told. What would
+you? It was outside her door, while sweeping was going on; one is human,
+after all. She was out, with the best bonnet on her head. Poor head!
+Poor bonnet! My hearty commiseration for both! When she returned, no
+bandbox! At present she harries the domestics; she hasn't thought of me
+yet, for a wonder. To-morrow, or the day after, I shall finish the
+pies--alas! Then I return the repository, and her bonnet acquires a
+fine, full, fruity flavour that annihilation alone can remove.
+
+        "You may break, you may shatter
+           The tile if you will,
+         But the scent of the brandy
+           Will cling round it still."
+
+"Grace! What a diabolical plot! and you have been lying awake, I
+suppose, chuckling over this!"
+
+Miss Wolfe waved her hand in deprecation. "Not lying awake, sweet one!
+Too slight a thing for that; still, it served to amuse. One must live,
+even you will admit that. What's this? Greek? Give it me!" She stretched
+out her hand for the book, but Bertha held it fast.
+
+"No! no, Goat; I want it myself, and besides, you have no business here,
+you know you haven't."
+
+"No; and you?" replied the other, coolly.
+
+"I have permission; my lamp is out of order, and I asked Miss Russell if
+I might study in here," said Bertha. "But you will get into trouble if
+you stay, Grace, you know you will. Be good now, and go home!"
+
+Grace Wolfe gazed pensively at her.
+
+"You would check the interchange of souls?" she said. "I feel drawn to
+this Innocent, Fluff! I feel that she may have an influence over me for
+good. You would not part us? Could'st love a Goat, Innocent?" she
+added, turning to Peggy, and fixing her eyes on her with mournful
+intensity.
+
+Peggy blushed, but before she could reply Bertha struck in decidedly.
+
+"Grace, just one word! Peggy Montfort is a stranger, and I am not going
+to let her get into trouble if I can help it. And I don't want you to
+get into trouble, either!" she added, more gently. "You know, my dear--"
+
+She stopped suddenly, for Grace Wolfe threw up her hand with a warning
+gesture; then, with a single swift movement, she rolled under the bed,
+and was out of sight.
+
+"Study!" said Bertha, in a low whisper. "Study _hard_!"
+
+Wholly bewildered, Peggy fixed her eyes on her book. She had heard no
+sound before, but now came a footfall in the corridor. A knock at the
+door, and Miss Russell opened it and looked in.
+
+"Your lamp is in order now, Bertha," she said. "I thought I would tell
+you, as I was going by; but you can stay a little longer, if you like.
+How charming you have made your room, Miss Montfort."
+
+"Won't--won't you come in, Miss Russell?" stammered poor Peggy,
+conscious of Grace Wolfe's eyes under the bed, yet feeling that civility
+admitted of only one answer.
+
+"Not now, thank you! Some day soon I shall come and make you a little
+visit, though, with pleasure. Good night, young ladies!"
+
+She nodded kindly, closed the door, and passed on.
+
+The girls drew breath. A moment, and Grace Wolfe rolled out again, rose,
+and shook her neat dress.
+
+"So much for Buckingham!" she said. "The good point about Principie is,
+she is respectable. Now, my Puggy would have looked through the keyhole
+first. But I foresee a visit to my own humble cot, to see whether I have
+learned my lessons.
+
+        "Oh! Farewell, friends!
+         Here Thisbe ends!"
+
+She waved her hand, vaulted once more over the window, and was gone. An
+occasional faint, cat-like sound told of her progress up the
+fire-escape; then a window creaked slightly overhead, and all was
+silent.
+
+Bertha Haughton ruffled up her curly black locks with a gesture of
+exasperation.
+
+"And the worst of it is," she said, "that girl will know her Greek
+better than any one in class. That's half the trouble; she learns so
+quickly, her lessons don't take half her time, and she puts the rest
+into mischief."
+
+"She seems awfully clever!" said Peggy, timidly.
+
+Bertha nodded. "She is just that, my dear; awfully clever! I'll tell you
+more about her to-morrow, but now we must study hard, for we've only
+twenty minutes left. Only, my dear, when you think of the Goat, remember
+three things: she is D. D. D.,--dear, delightful,--and dangerous!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+TO THE RESCUE.
+
+
+The next morning proved a hard one for Peggy; the rhetoric lesson was
+the first that must be recited. She had studied it hard, but somehow the
+rules seemed to make little impression. Whenever she tried to fix them
+in her mind, there came between her and the page two melancholy blue
+eyes, and she seemed to hear a voice of singular quality, a voice with a
+thrill in it, saying, "Could'st love a Goat, Innocent?"
+
+So she was not as well prepared as she should have been when she went
+into the class; and on meeting Miss Pugsley's cold greenish brown eye,
+what she did know seemed to evaporate from the top of her head, leaving
+a total blank. She stumbled and floundered; she did not know what an
+antecedent was, and she could not remember ever to have heard of a
+reciprocal pronoun.
+
+"Pray, Miss Montfort, were you asleep or awake when you studied this
+lesson?" inquired Miss Pugsley, with acrid calm.
+
+"I don't know!" replied Peggy, now thoroughly bewildered.
+
+"Well, if you were asleep, let me recommend you to try it again when you
+wake up; or if you were awake, perhaps you might do it better in your
+sleep."
+
+Peggy flushed scarlet, and the ready tears sprang into her eyes; but she
+forced them back, bit her lip, and tried not to feel the eyes of the
+whole class bent on her in amused astonishment. Miss Pugsley seemed to
+take positive pleasure in her ignorance and embarrassment. She put one
+question after another, each more ingeniously contrived than the
+last--or so it seemed--to show what Peggy did not know. At last, in
+self-defence, the poor child took refuge in one simple and invariable
+answer: "I don't know!" So confused was she that these words were the
+only ones she could utter, even when she knew the correct answer, or
+would have done so if she could have collected her wits. By the end of
+the hour, Peggy was entirely convinced that she was the dunce and butt
+of the school; that she knew nothing, and never would know anything.
+
+It seemed a cruel stroke of fate that this terrible period should be
+followed by that of general history, for Peggy detested history, as some
+of my readers already know. She went into the next class-room with an
+aching head, and a heart throbbing with a sense of utter worthlessness
+in herself, and of bitter cruelty in others. She did not even look up at
+the teacher, but kept her eyes fixed on her desk, and answered the few
+questions that meant anything to her, sullenly and unwillingly. She did
+try at first to follow the lesson, but her head ached so, the words
+seemed to sing themselves into mere nonsense, and she soon gave up the
+attempt; the more so as this teacher, who had been observing her pretty
+closely, for some reason or other asked her very few questions. At last,
+however, the blow fell.
+
+"Where did Philip of Macedon come from, Miss Montfort?"
+
+"I don't know," said Peggy.
+
+"Oh, I think you do," said Miss Cortlandt, with a pleasant smile, and
+checking, with a warning glance, the rising giggle.
+
+"Try again, Miss Montfort. Philip the Great, Philip of Macedon,--where
+did he come from? Surely you can tell me!"
+
+"I don't know," said Peggy, doggedly; and at the moment she actually did
+not.
+
+"My dear child," said the teacher, "did you ever hear what was the
+colour of Washington's gray mare?"
+
+"No, ma'am," said Peggy.
+
+"Well, what was it?"
+
+"I don't know."
+
+Emily Cortlandt had graduated from college the year before. She laid
+down her pencil, and looked very kindly at the distracted girl.
+
+"I think you are not feeling well, Miss Montfort," she said. "Does your
+head ache?"
+
+"Yes, ma'am," said Peggy. She could not have said another word; her
+whole strength was needed to keep back the flood of tears that was
+rising, rising.
+
+"You need not stay through the lesson," Miss Cortlandt went on, and the
+sympathy in her voice only brought the flood higher and nearer.
+
+"You can make up the lesson to me some other time. Now, you would better
+go and lie down for a little, and then take a turn in the fresh air.
+Miss Bangs, what was the date of Philip's first invasion?"
+
+Peggy never knew how she got out of the class-room. She longed to give
+at least a grateful look at the kind soul who had saved her, but her
+eyes were already swimming in tears. She fled along the corridor,
+sobbing hysterically, blinded with tears, conscious of only one thing,
+the desperate resolve to get to her room, before she broke down
+altogether. Flying thus around a corner, she rushed headlong into a
+group of girls who were gathered around something, she could not tell
+what. So violent was the shock that Peggy reeled and struck her head
+sharply against the wall. This brought her to herself. She caught back
+the sob on her lips, and dashed the tears from her eyes before any one
+saw them,--or so she hoped; then she looked to see what was going on.
+Next moment she had forgotten that there were such things as tears in
+the world.
+
+There were six or eight girls in the group, mostly sophomores, though a
+few were freshmen. They were looking down at something--somebody--crouching
+on the floor against the wall, and their laughter, checked for an instant
+by Peggy's onset, broke out afresh. "Here's Peggy Montfort, just in time
+to see the fun. Look, Miss Montfort, and see the fashions! Straight from
+Paris, and the very last thing!"
+
+The speaker was Blanche Haight, a tall sophomore with bleached hair, and
+eyes set too near together. She was considered a wit, and every time she
+spoke the other girls giggled and screamed.
+
+The person crouching on the floor was Lobelia Parkins. Her head was
+pressed against the wall, her face hidden in her hands; misery and
+terror were in every line of her poor little shrinking figure, but this
+only gave added delight to her tormentors.
+
+"Look, ladies, at the new sleeve!" cried Miss Haight, lifting the skinny
+arm, from which the blue poplin sleeve hung in an awkward fashion. "Did
+you ever see anything so exquisite? Look at the fringe, will you, and
+the pattern? I'm going to get Miss Russell to put her up on exhibition,
+so the whole school can have the benefit; it's a shame to keep it to
+ourselves!"
+
+"He! he! he!" went all the girls. "Blanche, you are too funny for
+anything!"
+
+"Where did your mother get it?" asked another; and this, as Peggy saw
+with a shock, was pretty Rose Barclay. "Did the ragman bring it around,
+or did she pick it up in the gutter? Say, Miss Parkins, I wish you'd
+tell us, 'cause we all want to know."
+
+"Yes, of course we want to know!" cried Miss Haight. "I'm going to write
+this very night, to see if Mumma can't get me one like it. I never shall
+be happy till I--"
+
+That sentence never was finished. The speaker found her own arm seized
+in a grip of iron, which forced her to drop the poor little arm in the
+blue sleeve. She was forced back against the wall, and found herself
+confronted by a pair of blue eyes blazing with righteous wrath.
+
+"How dare you?" cried Peggy Montfort, in a voice that quivered with
+rage. "You mean, cowardly brute, how dare you? Touch her again, and I'll
+choke the words down your throat!"
+
+Blanche Haight gasped for a moment; indeed, the whole group was cowed by
+this sudden vision of strength and fury. But she recovered herself in a
+moment.
+
+"Well, indeed!" she said. "I should like to know what this means, Miss
+Montfort? I should like to know who gave you authority to choke people,
+and abuse them, and call them names?"
+
+"You'll find out what it means!" said Peggy, waiving the second
+question, and replying to the first. "If you touch that child again, or
+so much as speak to her, I'll choke you."
+
+"Girls, do you hear this?" cried Blanche Haight. "Are you going to
+stand by, and let this girl ride over us?"
+
+"Shame!" cried the girls. "Bully!"
+
+"Bully!" cried Peggy, dropping her hold of Miss Haight, and turning to
+face the others. "You call me a bully, and you yourselves, eight great
+grown girls, standing around to torment and torture this poor helpless
+child? Shame on you! Shame on you all, every one! I'm ashamed to be in
+the same school with you. I--" (Here, I am sorry to say, Peggy forgot
+that she was a young lady, forgot everything save that she was the
+daughter of hot-blooded James Montfort.) "I could whip the whole lot of
+you, and I'll do it if you dare to say 'Boo!' but you don't!"
+
+It was a fact that no one did say "Boo!" There was a pause, Peggy
+standing with folded arms before the shrinking child, her whole figure
+dilated with passion, till she seemed to tower above the rest, who for
+their part cowered before her.
+
+Rose Barclay was the first to speak.
+
+"We are very fortunate to find a leader for the freshman class," she
+said, spitefully, "and such a leader! Miss Montfort is too high-toned
+to help a classmate with her lesson, but not too high-toned to talk like
+a Bowery rowdy. Come, along, girls! I for one don't care to listen to
+any more such refined, elegant talk!"
+
+"Yes, you'd better go along!" said Peggy, the Valkyr, briefly.
+
+"Pray, may I ask," said Blanche Haight, with a bitter sneer, "are you
+monitor of this corridor?"
+
+"No," said a voice behind her; "but I am."
+
+A girl had come quietly up the stairs, and was now standing close beside
+the excited group, none of whom had seen or heard her,--a tall girl,
+with red-gold hair, dressed as if she had just come from a journey.
+
+"I am the monitor of this corridor," she repeated. "Please go to your
+rooms, or I shall be obliged to report you."
+
+The girls shrunk together, whispering, the freshmen questioning the
+sophomores.
+
+"Who is it? Who is it?"
+
+"Hush! It's the junior president. Come along!"
+
+The group melted away; another moment, and all were gone save Peggy, who
+was now on the floor, with her arms around the little miserable
+creature, who still shrank close against the wall, as if her life
+depended on the contact.
+
+"There, dear!" she cried. "They are gone. Come! Don't huddle up so, you
+poor little thing. Those brutes are gone, and there's nobody here but
+me, Peggy, and--" she glanced up at the tall girl. "Oh! won't you help
+me?" she cried. "I think--she doesn't seem to hear what I am saying. Oh,
+is she dead?"
+
+"No," said the monitor. "I think she has fainted, though, poor little
+soul! We must carry her to her room. Do you know where it is? I have
+only just come back, and don't know where the freshmen are."
+
+"No, I don't know, but I'll take her to my room; I'm in No. 18. Oh, I
+can carry her alone; she's all skin and bone; she doesn't weigh
+anything."
+
+The little figure in the staring poplin gown hung quite limp, as Peggy
+lifted it. "You'd better let me help," said the tall girl, kindly. "We
+can make her more comfortable; so!"
+
+Together they carried her to Peggy's room, and laid her on the bed. It
+was really more fright and distress than actual fainting, for she soon
+opened her eyes, and looked eagerly at Peggy, but closed them again with
+a faint cry, at sight of the stranger.
+
+"You needn't be afraid of her!" cried Peggy, eagerly. "She isn't one of
+them; she's none of that horrid crowd. I don't know who you are," she
+said, "but I'm ever and ever and ever so much obliged to you. I don't
+know whether you heard what they were saying."
+
+And she poured out an indignant account of the cruelty she had witnessed
+and put a stop to. The stranger's eyes were stern enough, as she
+listened. "I heard only the end of it," she said, briefly, "but where I
+see Blanche Haight, I am never surprised at anything cruel or cowardly.
+I am very glad to know you; it was a mercy that you happened to come
+along just then. I hope we shall be friends, Miss--is it Miss
+Montfort?"
+
+"Oh, that I will!" cried Peggy, responding with all her warm heart to
+the sweet smile and the lovely look in the clear blue eyes. "Oh, I
+should like to ever so much; but I don't know your name, do I?"
+
+The stranger smiled again. "They call me the Snowy Owl," she said, "but
+my name is Gertrude Merryweather."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+THE OWL'S NEST.
+
+
+When Peggy escorted Lobelia Parkins back to her room, she found that it
+was the one directly above her own. Point for point, the rooms were
+alike, fire-escape and all,--so far as the actual outlines were
+concerned; there, however, the likeness ended. There had been no Uncle
+John, no Margaret, in this case. The room was furnished, evidently, by
+the same hand that had dressed the girl, and with equal taste. The
+carpet on the floor was costly, but hideous as staring colours and
+execrable design could make it. The furniture was cumbrous, and the fact
+that the ugly chairs were rosewood, and their cushions brocade, made
+them neither beautiful nor comfortable. On the bureau were some bottles
+of red Bohemian glass, such as were thought handsome fifty years ago;
+an elephant of a writing-desk, staring with plush and gilding, almost
+covered the table. Altogether, the room was as desolate as its occupant;
+more could not be said. Lobelia seemed smaller and more shrunken than
+ever amid all this tasteless display; she seemed conscious of it, too,
+as she gazed piteously at Peggy. She had been crying, in a furtive,
+frightened way; and, gazing at her, Peggy felt that it must be years ago
+that she was crying, too, and hoping for nothing in the world save to
+get to her room and have a good solid deluge of tears. At present it
+seemed hardly likely that she should ever weep again; she felt strong
+and confident, and was still burning with indignation, none the less
+hotly that the outward flame had gone down. Her kind companion had been
+obliged to leave them, with the promise of seeing them soon again. Peggy
+thought she might stay a few minutes, though the gong for gym had
+already rung.
+
+"Now, Lobelia," she was saying,--"I am going to call you Lobelia, you
+know, and you are to call me Peggy, and we are going to be friends.
+Now, Lobelia, mind what I say! if those girls ever give you any more
+trouble, you are to come straight to me. Do you hear?"
+
+"Yes," said Lobelia, faintly.
+
+"Have they tormented you before? Beasts! Or was this the first time?"
+
+"Oh, not--not so much!" said the girl, deprecatingly. "A little
+yesterday; but--I don't know whether they meant to be unkind, Peggy. I
+know that my dress _is_ queer!"
+
+"Don't be so meek!" cried Peggy, unable to repress a little stamp of her
+foot, which made Lobelia start. "Have some spirit of your own, Lobelia.
+I tell you, these girls are mean, cowardly wretches, not fit for girls
+like the Owls to speak to. They don't speak to them much, either," she
+added, "and I'm not going to any more than I can help."
+
+Lobelia looked more miserable than ever. "Don't!" she said. "I can't
+bear to have any one get into trouble on my account. It--it needn't
+matter to you, Peggy. Of course you are very, very kind, and I think I
+should have died if you had not come along just then, for I couldn't
+seem to bear much more; but I don't want you to get into trouble."
+
+"Who's going to get into trouble?" demanded Peggy. "Guess I can take
+care of myself against such a set as that."
+
+"I don't want you to get into trouble!" repeated Lobelia; and, as she
+spoke, she glanced around the room with a peculiar shrinking look, one
+would say a look of dread, that Peggy did not understand.
+
+"Who's next door to you?" she asked, briefly. "Rose Barclay, for one, I
+know. Who is on the other side?"
+
+Lobelia thought it was another freshman, but was not sure.
+
+"Have they troubled you?" asked Peggy, suspiciously.
+
+But Lobelia shook her head, and seemed so distressed at the question
+that Peggy did not know what to think.
+
+"Please, please don't bother about me!" she implored. "I dare say it
+will be a good deal better now, after you and Miss Merryweather being so
+brave and so kind. I don't want to say anything against anybody.
+Please, please forget all about it, Peggy."
+
+"I want you to be brave yourself," cried Peggy; and Lobelia started
+again, and shrank in her chair. "Don't be so--so--well, I don't know any
+word but meeching, and Margaret won't let me say that. But have a spirit
+of your own, and stand up to them, and give 'em as good as they send. I
+would, I tell you, quick enough, if they tried it on me."
+
+Lobelia looked at her with hopeless eyes. "But I am not you!" she said.
+"I--Peggy, I know just how I look, and how I seem, and how little and
+ugly and queer I am. I don't wonder they laugh, I don't, really. I
+haven't any spirit, either; I can't have. You can't do anything with me;
+it isn't any use."
+
+Peggy gazed at her, with eyes almost as hopeless as her own. Yet she
+must make one more attempt; and with it the honest blood came into her
+face.
+
+"Look here, Lobelia!" she said, "I am awkward, too, and shy, and--and
+stupid, awfully stupid. Why, my cousin Rita used to call me--never
+mind, that was only before she grew so kind! But I know what it is to be
+laughed at, my dear! Only this morning, in rhetoric, Miss Pugsley was
+just as hateful as she could be, and all the girls laughed; yes, they
+did. So you are not so different as you think. Why,--I don't mind
+telling you,--when I came along just now, I was trying to get to my own
+room, so that I could have a good cry. There, Lobelia! now how do you
+feel?" Lobelia raised her eyes with a wondering look; but next moment
+her eyes fell on the looking-glass and she shook her head.
+
+"No!" she said. "No, Peggy! You are kind, and you want to make me feel
+comfortable; but look!"
+
+She motioned toward the mirror. Peggy looked, and her kind heart sank.
+She herself was no beauty; her round, fair face and honest blue eyes
+were pleasant to look at, and she had beautiful hair, but that was all;
+yet she could not help seeing that she was a very vision of loveliness
+beside the sallow, puny, almost deformed aspect of her poor little
+neighbour. She coloured deep with angry sympathy, but Lobelia only
+smiled, a wan little smile.
+
+"You see!" she said. "It's no use, Peggy."
+
+For all answer, Peggy threw her arms around the shrinking figure, and
+pressed it in a warm embrace. "I don't care!" she cried. "I don't say
+you are pretty, you poor little thing, but just remember that you are my
+friend, and if anybody dares to meddle with you again, they'll have to
+reckon with me, that's all. And now I must go, or I shall lose all the
+drill. Cheer up, Lobelia, and don't sit here and mope, mind! and if you
+have any more trouble, just knock on the floor, and I'll be up in half a
+quarter of a jiffy. Good-bye, dear!" and off she ran, feeling that at
+least she had left some degree of comfort and cheer behind her.
+
+Soon, however, came something that put Lobelia Parkins and her troubles
+out of Peggy's head for the time. Bertha Haughton was not at the
+gymnasium, but when Peggy came back to her own room after an hour of
+rapture, she found a note pinned on her pincushion.
+
+        "DEAR PEGGY:--Study _hard_, please, and get
+        through before this evening. The Snowy Owl is
+        going to give us a Grand Tell about the wedding
+        she has been to, and we both want you to come,
+        too. I'm going to speak to Miss Russell, but
+        you'd better ask her, too; it will be all
+        right, for the Snowy has asked permission,
+        anyhow. Eight o'clock, just after reading; be
+        sure to come on time!
+
+                                 "Affectionately,
+                                           "BERTHA."
+
+It was hard to study through that lovely afternoon, when the other
+girls, or most of them, were out-of-doors, playing tennis or
+basket-ball, and their voices came in at the window in every tone of
+joyousness and delight. It was very hard to study the detested rhetoric
+and history, but Peggy was strong in her good resolve, and bent steadily
+over her books, trying her very best. Once, indeed, came a sore
+temptation, when a ball struck her window lightly, and, going to look
+out, she saw Grace Wolfe standing below.
+
+"Come out, Innocent!" said the Scapegoat, in her deep, musical tones.
+"Come and sport with me!
+
+        "The ship is ready and the wind blows fair,
+         And I am bound for the sea, Mary Anne!"
+
+"Oh! Oh, thank you!" cried Peggy. "I wish I could, but I have to work
+now, I'm afraid."
+
+        "Is this a time to think o' wark,
+         Wi' Scapegoat at the door?"
+
+inquired Grace, looking up with her head on one side. "Why work at this
+hour, Innocent? Even the slaves of virtue, even the Owls, are at play
+now."
+
+Peggy leaned out of the window; it really seemed as if her body would be
+drawn out after her longing spirit, which had been out and away from the
+first summons.
+
+"Yes, the Owls!" she said. "That's just it, Miss Wolfe."
+
+"No!" interrupted Grace. "Not Miss Wolfe! Not all AEsop! Impossible to be
+wolf and goat at the same time, and do justice to either character. Let
+it be Goat, or Grace, as you like."
+
+"Grace, then, thank you! Well, you see, the Owls,--that is, Bertha asked
+me to come to their room this evening, and of course I want to
+dreadfully,--though not more dreadfully than I want to come out now,"
+she added, wistfully. "And if I do, you see, I must get my rhetoric
+done. It's awfully hard, and I am so stupid about it, it takes me for
+ever. Oh, will you ask me again some time, please?"
+
+The Scapegoat regarded her for a moment, standing with the ball in her
+hand, swaying her light, graceful body to and fro.
+
+"Another slave of virtue?" she said. "Can I permit this? Innocent, I
+have half a mind to cause you to come down. I am to be thrown over for
+owls, who have, if you will consider the matter, neither horns nor
+hoofs? I am to let you stay and grind through the afternoon for them and
+for my Puggy? Well--"
+
+Her whole face seemed to lighten with whimsical determination. She laid
+her hand on the fire-escape, and seemed on the point of mounting it,
+when suddenly another change came over her. Her eyes darkened into their
+usual melancholy look.
+
+"Here's luck!" she said, abruptly. "See you later, Innocent!" She was
+gone, and Peggy, with a revulsion of feeling, wished she had gone with
+her. Bertha was a dear, and Miss Merryweather looked lovely, but neither
+of them had the fascination of this strange girl, so unlike any one she
+had ever seen in her life.
+
+It was a forlorn afternoon; but Peggy stuck to her work manfully, and
+had the satisfaction of closing the book at last with the feeling that
+she was sure of it now, however things might be in the morning under
+Miss Pugsley's hostile eye.
+
+There was still a little time left before supper. She ran out to the
+lawn, hoping to find Grace Wolfe still there, but she was disappointed.
+The only occupants of the lawn were half a dozen sophomores clustered
+together at one end. Blanche Haight was among them, and at sight of
+Peggy she turned her back pointedly, and whispered to the others. They
+turned with one accord and stared at Peggy, with a cool insolence that
+made her blood boil within her and surge up in angry red to her
+forehead. She could not do anything about it; they had a right to stare,
+if they had no better manners. She returned the look for a moment, then
+turned away with a sore and angry heart. Fortunately, at this moment
+came out two classmates of her own whom she knew slightly,--mild,
+pleasant girls, with no special traits of interest, but still friendly
+and approachable. They were going to play tennis, and invited Peggy to
+join them; so she had a good half-hour of exercise and pleasure, and
+came in with rosy cheeks, and with the cobwebs all blown away for the
+time.
+
+At eight o'clock Peggy was standing before her glass, putting a last
+touch to her hair, and surveying her image with some anxiety. Did she
+"look nice?" Peggy had as little personal vanity as a girl could well
+have; but she had learned from her cousin Margaret that it was part of
+her duty to look as well as she could. Her cousin Rita would have had
+her go further than this.
+
+"Study, my child," Rita would cry, "to be beautiful! Let it be your
+dream by night, your thought by day!" And, in all kindness, Rita would
+try to teach her how to cross her feet so that they might look slender,
+how to extend her little finger when she raised her hand, "not too much,
+but to an exact point, _cherie_!" how to turn her head so as to show the
+lines of the neck to advantage. But Peggy's own good sense, aided by
+Margaret's calm wisdom, had told her the inappropriateness of Rita's
+graceful airs and poses to her own sturdy personality. She was to look
+nice; more she could not aspire to. So here she was to-night, in a
+pretty blue silk waist, with a serge skirt of a darker shade, her hair
+smoothly braided in one mammoth "pigtail," and tied with blue ribbons,
+her neat collar fastened with a pretty pearl brooch. Thus attired, our
+Peggy was truly pleasant to look upon; and her "Is that right,
+Margaret?" brought a little satisfied nod of reply from the smiling
+image in the glass.
+
+Drawing near the Owl's Nest, she heard a hum of voices, and straightway
+her heart sank again, and shyness possessed her. There was a crowd
+there! They would all be juniors and seniors, and she the only freshman
+among them. How could she go in? Oh! she almost wished she was up in the
+other corridor with the younger girls!
+
+But at this moment the door opened, and Bertha's kind face looked out.
+
+"Here you are, Peggy!" she cried, cordially. "Come along; there's plenty
+of room, for I've saved a place for you. Come!"
+
+For a moment Peggy hung back, and knew how Lobelia Parkins felt; then
+she made an effort, and followed Bertha into the room.
+
+The Owl's Nest was a corner room, with windows on two sides. It seemed
+to be furnished chiefly with books. There were the two brass beds, of
+course, the twin bureaus, the desks, and table. All of these, except the
+beds, were covered with books; bookshelves took up most of the wall
+space, though there were two or three good pictures, among them a great
+photograph of the sea, that almost dashed the spray in one's face, so
+perfect was it. It was at a later visit that Peggy observed the books;
+now, she was conscious of nothing save the girls. The room was certainly
+full of them. There were three on each bed, curled up in every variety
+of picturesque and comfortable attitude; two sat on one of the bureaus,
+having pushed books and toilet articles up into a toppling and highly
+perilous mountain behind them; four more crouched somehow on the rather
+narrow window-seats. The rest were on the floor, except two early birds,
+who had come in time to get the two chairs. The floor was made
+comfortable with sofa-pillows, borrowed from the whole length of the
+corridor. Altogether, there might have been twenty girls in the room,
+and every girl was, or seemed to be, talking as fast as her tongue could
+move.
+
+Peggy was hailed with a bird-like call from one corner.
+
+"My Veezy-vee! come here, Peggy Montfort, and sit by me."
+
+It was Viola Vincent. She was curled up at the head of one of the beds.
+She wore the prettiest pink tea-gown imaginable, and her hair was a
+wonder of puffs and curls.
+
+"Come here!" she repeated, patting the pillows. "Lots of room; miles!
+Let her come here, Fluffy!"
+
+"Yes, she shall, in a minute, V.," replied Bertha. "But first,--Toots,
+here's Peggy Montfort!"
+
+The Snowy Owl came swiftly out of the closet, where she had been
+performing some mystic rite; she took Peggy's two hands in hers, and
+held them in a warm, firm grasp that was the very soul of cordiality.
+
+"I'm so glad!" she said. "How's the poor little thing? Better? I'm sure
+you did her a great deal of good."
+
+"Oh, no!" stammered Peggy, pleased and confused. "I couldn't really do
+anything; but she is feeling better."
+
+Gertrude Merryweather nodded wisely. "My dear, you can do a great deal
+for her!" she said. "We'll have a talk sometime; no chance now. Only,
+Bertha has been telling me things, and I'm so glad you are in our
+street! There, now V. shall have you."
+
+Judge of the glow at Peggy's heart, on these words from the Junior
+President, the best-loved girl--or so it was said--in the whole school.
+Those foolish tears actually got half-way up to her eyes,--only they
+were very different from the last tears; but fortunately Viola's
+high-pitched babble drove them back again.
+
+"My _dear_! How nice you look! perf'ly _fine_! doesn't she, V.? Say,
+that's a dandy pin you've got on, simply _dandy_! There! isn't this too
+quaint for anything? You comfy? so'm I! Room, my dear? gallons of room!
+I haven't seen you for an age; where have you kept yourself? I looked
+into your room, though, and it's perf'ly _fine_! I told you it would be,
+when you had things fixed. Your chintz is too perfectly sweet for
+anything; isn't it, V.? We were simply cold with envy, weren't we, V.?"
+
+"Do cackle for yourself, if you must cackle, V.!" responded Vivia
+Varnham, who sat on the same bed, a little lower down. "I can't hear
+myself think, you make such a noise."
+
+"No, really?" cried Viola. "But that must be such an advantage
+sometimes, V. But, say! we came here to hear the Snowy talk, didn't we?
+She hasn't had much chance yet, has she? Are you ready to talk, Snowy?
+Oh, you duck! it is too perfectly enchanting to have you back again. I
+haven't lived since you went away, have I, V.? I've been simply a
+vegetable, haven't I, V.? Potatoes, my dear, are lively compared to me.
+_Are_ you ready to talk, Snowy?"
+
+"If you are ready to have me," replied the Snowy Owl, laughing. "First,
+however--here!"
+
+She produced a mammoth box of "marshmallows," and handed it around. It
+was received with a shout.
+
+"Toast 'em!" cried one. "Hat-pins!" cried another. There was a movement
+toward the gas-jet; but Bertha Haughton checked it decidedly. "You have
+come here to hear the Snowy tell!" she said. "It's a long tell, and if
+you begin toasting now, there won't be time. Tell first, toast
+afterward! that's what I say!"
+
+"Hark to the Fluffy! she speaks well!" cried the girls. There was
+silence; and Gertrude Merryweather, sitting on the floor, with her hands
+clasped around her knees, began her "tell."
+
+[Illustration: THE GRAND TELL IN THE OWL'S NEST.]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+WEDDING BELLS.
+
+
+"To begin with, girls, this is Fluffy's idea, not mine! Of course none
+of you ever saw our Hildegarde, so I didn't suppose you would care
+particularly; but when I was telling the Fluffy last night, she said it
+was selfish and all kinds of things to keep it to ourselves, and that
+you must all hear about it; so if you don't find it interesting, pull
+out the Fluffy's feathers, not mine.
+
+"Hildegarde Grahame--she is Hildegarde Merryweather now, but I cannot
+realise it yet--has been a very dear friend of ours for several years.
+We think there is no one like her in the world; I'll show you a picture
+of her by and by. Well, a year ago she became engaged to my uncle."
+
+"Your uncle!" cried the girls. "Why, I thought she was a girl!"
+
+"So she is a girl, but Roger--well, he is my uncle, but he isn't so very
+much older than I am. That is--he is twenty-five, and Hildegarde is
+twenty; so you see it is just exactly right. There isn't anybody like
+him, either. He is as near an angel as a man can come and be alive; and
+he is tremendously clever, really eminent already in his profession, and
+we all love him to distraction."
+
+"Is he handsome?" asked Viola Vincent.
+
+"I don't know; yes, I think he is. Not a barber-shop beauty, though. He
+is tall, and very strong, broad-shouldered, with the kindest eyes in the
+world, and a smile that makes you crinkle all over with pleasure. Well,
+and so they were engaged, and now they are married; the wedding was on
+Wednesday, and this is Friday, and here I am. Now I'll begin at the very
+beginning of the day. Of course we woke up early, and looked out of the
+window; and it was all gray and cloudy. I thought it was going to rain,
+and I was in the depths, but Bell--you know Bell, my sister, at
+college--was sure it would clear before seven, and so it did. The sun
+came out bright and clear, and soon we saw that it was going to be the
+most beautiful day that ever was. We had been out in the fields all day
+before, getting flowers, and we had them all ready in tubs and bowls and
+pitchers; so after breakfast we could go right to work on the
+decorations. We did the church first. It is a pretty stone church, with
+a good deep chancel. We filled in the back of the chancel with great
+ferns--mostly evergreen ferns, so that they would not wilt--and palms
+and things; and then we made banks and banks of asters and
+goldenrod,--oh, it was lovely! Most of them came from the camp-pasture,
+Bertha; you remember how lovely it is in September."
+
+Bertha nodded. "I should think I did!" she said. "Most beautiful place I
+ever saw, except the rest of it all."
+
+"Well, I never saw it look more beautiful than that day before the
+wedding, when Bell and the boys and I rode out on our wheels, and came
+back by moonlight, with great bundles of purple and gold tied on our
+backs and nodding over our heads. But all the ferns and the asters and
+chrysanthemums and roses came mostly from Hildegarde's own garden at
+Braeside, and from Roseholme, Colonel Ferrers's place. We might have
+carpeted the church entirely with asters, if we had wanted to; as it
+was, we had great garlands of them twined over the chancel rail and
+swinging among the ferns and goldenrod; really, I never saw so many
+flowers at one time in my life. When that was all done we went to the
+house, Braeside, the Grahames' house, to see if we could help there; but
+Mrs. Flower, a friend of Hildegarde's, of whom we used to be the least
+little bit jealous before we knew her, was there, and another friend,
+Miss Desmond,--she was one of the bridesmaids,--and they had everything
+so beautifully arranged that there was nothing for us to do but stand
+and admire it with all our eyes. People in New York had sent down all
+kinds of splendid flowers, boxes and boxes of them, so that the house
+was a perfect bower, and smelt like the Vale of Cashmere; but we knew
+very well that Hilda would like our flowers best. Then--well, a lot more
+presents had come since the night before, so as there was time enough
+before dressing, we went in to see them. I don't suppose you care about
+the presents, girls!"
+
+"Oh! oh! we do!" cried the girls, in chorus. "We want to hear about
+every single one, Snowy."
+
+"My dears! it would take me all night, and then I couldn't remember them
+all. But I'll try and tell you some of them. Let me see! Colonel Ferrers
+gave her a set of sapphires; the most beautiful things you ever saw.
+Necklace and pendant and pin, most wonderful dark blue stones, set in
+star-shape. And Jack Ferrers and his father gave her some wonderful
+Roman gold-work--I don't know how to describe it, I never saw anything
+like it--that Jack picked up in Europe. Then there was silver, heaps and
+heaps of it, from relatives in New York and I don't know where; some of
+it very handsome indeed, but I don't care so much about silver, do you?
+I remember there were ten salt-cellars, no two alike. But the things we
+cared for were the small presents that came from people we knew; people
+who loved Hildegarde, not just because she was their grandniece or
+something, but because she was herself. Oh, some of them were funny,
+girls! There were two dear old people who had come a long way to the
+wedding, a Mr. and Mrs. Hartley, with whom Hilda spent a summer when she
+was about fifteen, and whom she has been fond of ever since. I should
+think she would be; the old lady has a face like Raphael's
+grandmother--I can't think of any other way of describing it; and Mr.
+Hartley is simply a duck, the dearest funny old man you ever saw. Well,
+they brought Hilda the most beautiful toilet-set I ever saw or dreamed
+of,--something wonderful, all blue dragons and gilding. Papa said it was
+very rare; and Hilda cried when she saw it, and scolded them dreadfully
+for bringing it away from its own room; but still she was delighted to
+have it, and says she will never use any other. Then there was young
+Doctor Chirk,--funny name, isn't it?--Mrs. Flower's brother. Such a
+nice, bright, jolly fellow! Well, he was part of that same summer, it
+seems, and he carved a beautiful frame out of wood that grew in
+Hartley's Glen; and Mrs. Flower, who paints very well, had made a
+picture of the glen itself--lovely place!--for the frame, or I suppose
+the frame was made to fit the picture, no matter which; and _that_
+filled her with joy.
+
+"Then there were the people from Bywood. My dear, Miss Wealthy Bond is
+the most beautiful creature I have ever seen, except two. She is just
+like live Dresden china, smiling and dimpling; and the dear quaint maid
+who came with her, Martha, had made Hildegarde's whole winter provision
+of jellies and jams, because 'it wasn't likely Hildegarde would have
+time herself this first season, and it wasn't a thing you could trust to
+hired help in general.' Miss Bond herself had brought china--my dear!
+did you ever see tortoise-shell crockery? Well, it is a most beautiful
+thing, and the art was lost a hundred years ago, and each piece is worth
+I don't know how much; but this dear old lady had a dozen plates, all
+hexagonal, too, and not a single point broken or chipped, and two
+pitchers,--well, I haven't the heart even to think of those pitchers, I
+wanted them so,--and they were all for Hilda, because Hilda had brought
+the sunshine back into her life, she told me.
+
+"Girls, it was the same story everywhere. Mrs. Grahame being so
+delicate, and Hilda so busy, Bell and I were there a great deal the few
+days before the wedding, and we took the guests to walk and drive and so
+on. Everywhere it was the same story, the joy and brightness and love
+that this one girl had carried with her wherever she went. I never shall
+forget it--never.
+
+"Then--let me see--what next? Oh! I had nearly forgotten the dear little
+boy, Benny, Miss Bond's adopted son. He considers Hilda his own private
+property, and he was furiously jealous of Roger and everybody else. When
+he first came it was quite sad, really, the child was so unhappy, and
+there was no consoling him. He wanted Hilda to sing to him and play with
+him just as she did when she was staying there at Bywood; and naturally
+she couldn't, poor dear, though it was wonderful how she managed to be
+with them all a little every day, and to see to almost everything, so
+that her mother should have no care or worry. Well, where was I? oh! the
+little boys. Hugh Allen, our Hugh,--I can't stop to tell you about Hugh
+now, but he is the dearest, queerest little fellow,--Hugh watched all
+this for awhile, and then he took Benny away with him, down into the
+garden, and they were gone a long time. And when they came back Benny
+marched straight up to Roger, and said, 'You are nice! you can have my
+girl,' and then marched off again, and went and cried, poor lamb, till
+Hugh comforted him.
+
+"But I am not getting on with the presents, am I? We all gave her linen,
+because she had to have that, and we wanted to do something ourselves;
+so we, my mother and Bell and Kitty and I, hemmed every one of the
+table-cloths and napkins, and embroidered the marks on all the towels,
+and had a beautiful time over it. Mammy read to us part of the time
+while we sewed, all the interesting weddings that she could find in
+history or fiction, and that was great fun; then she wrote some funny
+verses to go with them, and they really were lovely patterns, so it was
+a nice present, though strictly necessary, you see. Oh, I haven't told
+you about the diamonds! Helena Desmond was so funny about them! 'Hilda,'
+she said, 'it was clear from the beginning that I must be offered up on
+the altar of diamonds. I detest diamonds. They are absolutely
+uninteresting; they are almost vulgar. Never mind, you have to have
+some, and nobody else will be stupid and commonplace enough to give them
+to you. I had hopes of your Aunt Emily, but she has expended herself in
+lace, and was so happy over it that I hadn't the heart to whisper
+"diamonds!" in her ear, as I had meant to do. Here they are, my child;
+the customary horrors!'
+
+"Well, they were very beautiful, though I confess I should have liked
+pearls better for Hilda. A diamond crescent and star, really splendid.
+She is very rich, you know."
+
+"Is that the great beauty?" asked a girl.
+
+"Yes, she is superb, certainly. Next to Hilda, perhaps--but I'll come to
+that presently. Well, now perhaps I have told you half the things, or
+rather more than half; but they are the things I cared most about, you
+see. I can't go into a list of forks and spoons. So now I come to the
+wedding itself."
+
+The girls drew a long breath and leaned forward; presents were very
+well, but weddings were better.
+
+"It was at noon, of course. There were only two bridesmaids, Helena
+Desmond and I. Hilda said she wanted only her nearest and dearest, so
+she would not ask her cousins, though I fancy they had hoped to be
+asked. She wanted Bell, but Bell said it was positively necessary that
+she should play the organ, and so it was. We wore perfectly plain white
+muslin gowns, but, oh, they were so pretty! with soft pale green sashes,
+and little wreaths of ivy in our hair. Hildegarde wanted everything as
+simple as possible, so we didn't go into hats, or any of that kind of
+nonsense. Jerry--my brother Gerald--was best man, and the ushers were
+Phil and Willy, my other brothers, and Jack Ferrers and Doctor Chirk and
+Hugh Allen. Well, so the hour came.
+
+"Helena and I were ready and waiting at Braeside when Hilda came
+down-stairs. Girls, you never saw anything so lovely in your lives as
+she was. Her dress was very simple, too, white embroidered muslin,
+exquisitely fine. Colonel Ferrers brought it from India, years and years
+ago, for a lovely young girl who died while he was on his way home. It
+had been made in the house, and it looked just like her, as her dresses
+always do. She wore a little gold pin that Roger made for her
+himself,--mined the gold and all,--no other ornament, and a wreath of
+white roses, roses that the Roseholme gardener had been nursing all
+summer to make them blossom just at the right time. That was his
+present; everybody wanted to do something, you see."
+
+"What does she look like?" asked a girl.
+
+"Well, you have to see her to know what she really looks like, for half
+of it is the expression and the look in her eyes. Gray eyes, so clear
+and true,--you know she couldn't say or do anything unkind or false to
+save her life,--and a colour just like a wild rose, and a nose,--well,
+it's just her own nose, tilted up a little, but perfectly delightful;
+and when she smiles, you think she has the most beautiful mouth in the
+world, though I don't suppose she really has. Here, this gives you a
+little idea of her; just a very little, for it doesn't begin to think of
+doing her justice."
+
+The girls clustered eagerly to see the photograph, which was passed on
+from hand to hand. It was a lovely face, indeed, at which they looked;
+yet, as Gertrude said, the actual beauty was the least part of its
+charm. Truth and kindness shone from it; not the lightest and most
+foolish girl there but felt grave for a moment, meeting that steady look
+of cheer and constancy.
+
+"And yet she looks awfully jolly, too!" said one, breaking the silence,
+and voicing the thought of all.
+
+"My dear, she is more fun--"
+
+"Than a goat?" asked a new voice; and Grace Wolfe slipped in quietly at
+the window, and, nodding to the company, took her seat on the floor.
+
+"I have heard all!" she said. "Go on, Snowy! I see now where you got
+your virtues; this young woman has much to answer for."
+
+Gertrude looked at her kindly, but said nothing; in a moment the story
+went on.
+
+"We walked over to the church--it is only a few steps--just as we were,
+without any formal arrangement. Hilda held her mother's hand fast all
+the time; they were both very quiet. The dear old black cook walked with
+them, crying all the way. Hugh had Hilda's other hand. I--I can't tell
+about this part."
+
+Gertrude's voice faltered for a moment; then she went on more steadily.
+
+"Colonel Ferrers was waiting at the church door, with his brother, Mr.
+Raymond Ferrers. All the ushers were there, too, and we could see that
+the church was full. And, oh! just a little way from the door was a band
+of little girls, Hilda's sewing-class, and they all had baskets of
+flowers, and scattered them in front of her as she walked. I forgot to
+put that in where it belonged, but it was very pretty, and if you had
+seen the way they looked at her!
+
+"Well, then it all seemed to happen in a moment. Mr. Raymond Ferrers
+took Mrs. Grahame up the aisle; and then the organ broke out with the
+wedding march. I have heard my sister Bell play pretty well, but never
+as she did then. It seemed to fill the whole world, and yet it was not
+too loud, either. Then the ushers went up, and then Helena and I, and
+then came our dear bride on Colonel Ferrers' arm. Roger was waiting at
+the altar steps with Gerald. He came forward to meet her, and took both
+her hands,--oh, with such a beautiful look in his face! and then drew
+her arm through his, so proud and quiet and happy, and then the service
+went on. They both spoke so clearly, everybody could hear them, and the
+ring was ready, and there was not a mistake anywhere; only both Jerry
+and the colonel were on the point of breaking down, both of them, and
+every time the colonel blew his nose I could see Jerry start and wince.
+And so they were married, and the music broke out again, and Roger put
+back the veil and kissed his wife; and--and then they came back down the
+aisle, and--and--and that is all!"
+
+Gertrude had struggled hard for composure. She had nearly outgrown the
+childish proneness to tears, which in early days had earned her the home
+sobriquet of "Chelsea Waterworks;" but this recital touched her too
+nearly, and she had overcalculated her power of self-restraint. Her
+voice broke altogether, and she could only nod and smile through her
+tears on Bertha, who was regarding her remorsefully.
+
+"I ought not to have made you, Toots!" said Bertha. "I did want them to
+hear it, it has been so beautiful. Don't cry, dear!" But Grace Wolfe
+came and laid her hand on Gertrude's shoulder, and spoke in a tone one
+hardly ever heard in that voice.
+
+"Don't stop her!" she said, gravely. "Let her cry! It's good for
+her--and for all of us! Snowy, your friend is a blessed creature, and
+you are another."
+
+No one spoke for a few moments. Peggy was crying quietly in her corner,
+and feeling that she had been at the wedding herself, and wondering what
+she should possibly do if Margaret should ever get married.
+
+But now the Snowy Owl wiped away her tears in good earnest, and spoke in
+her own cheerful tones.
+
+"Come, this will never do. Girls, we have extra time to-night, Miss
+Russell was so kind when I told her what I wanted to do; but even that
+time will be up if we don't mind. Volunteers to toast marshmallows!"
+
+Instantly there was a rush and a cry. A dozen hands were stretched out.
+Hat-pins appeared, as if by magic, brandished on every side. In another
+moment a dozen marshmallows were frizzling over the gas-jets, while the
+student lamp did duty for several more. As soon as one was done, it was
+popped, hissing hot, into an open mouth, and the hat-pin, charged with
+another freight, returned to the charge. Cries of mingled joy and
+anguish rose on every side.
+
+"Oh, I am burnt entirely! The skin is all off my lips."
+
+"Here, for me one!"
+
+"No, she has had two already! Fluffy, my turn next!"
+
+It was a merry Babel. The fun rose higher and higher. Peggy dried her
+eyes, and looked on wondering. How could they hear each other? They were
+all talking at once, each one faster than the other.
+
+"My dear! Perf'ly fine, wasn't it? Oh, I do love to hear a tell--"
+
+"When my cousin was married, she had eight bridesmaids, and they wore
+just mob caps, not another thing--"
+
+"Orange-blossoms are too sweet for anything, but they make some
+people--"
+
+"Simply pea-green, my dear, with fright, and she had blue woollen socks
+on over her white slippers--'something blue,' you know,--and forgot to
+take them off--"
+
+"Her head, and you never saw anything like it in your life. It measured
+three yards around, if it did--"
+
+"A sunburst, you know, diamonds and pearls. I adore diamonds, for my
+part. Why, to be married without diamonds would be--"
+
+"Simply fierce! I should die, I know I should, before I got half-way up
+the aisle. But to see one, and the music and flowers and all, is--"
+
+"Dandy! perf'ly dandy! I wouldn't miss it for all the--"
+
+"Flounces, my dear, up to the waist, as true as I sit here! and she said
+'No!' She said: 'Before I'll be flounced to the waist, I'll--'"
+
+"Marry a tin peddler! said there was nothing in the world she'd like
+better, because then she could--"
+
+"Sit still the whole morning without moving a muscle, for fear of
+breaking her--"
+
+"Heart, with forty pearls and sixty diamonds. Fact, I assure you, my
+dear! I had it from--"
+
+"A perfect brute, not fit for any one to--"
+
+Here, Destiny knocked on the door; the round, rosy face of Miss Carey,
+the housekeeper, looked in.
+
+"Girls, you really must go to bed. Miss Russell sent me to say so. Do
+you know what time it is?"
+
+Grace Wolfe slipped like a shadow out of the window and was gone unseen;
+the assembly broke up with laughter and cheers for the Snowy and the
+Fluffy, and snatches of talk bubbling all the way along the corridor.
+When Peggy reached her room, she found the Scapegoat already there,
+sitting on the floor and chanting solemnly:
+
+        "I have nailed my Puggy's slippers
+           Down upon her closet floor.
+         She may pray with both her flippers,
+           But she'll never use them more!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+BY MOONLIGHT.
+
+
+The time went quickly enough at Miss Russell's. Once the routine
+established, lesson followed lesson and day followed day with amazing
+rapidity. Before Peggy could realise that she was fairly settled, a
+month had passed. It was not so bad now; in fact, a good deal of it was
+very pleasant, she was obliged to admit. Her geometry was a constantly
+progressing joy; so was her anatomy, and she had the happy consciousness
+that she was doing well in both studies. This enabled her to bear up
+against the bitterness of rhetoric and of Miss Pugsley. As for the
+history, once equally dreaded, its terrors had nearly vanished. Miss
+Cortlandt had a way of making things so clear that one could not help
+remembering them once they were explained. Furthermore, she managed to
+invest the lay-figures of dead and gone kings and conquerors with life
+and motion. Alexander the Great was no longer a tiresome person in a
+book, who cried in an absurd way when there was nothing left to conquer.
+That had always exasperated Peggy, "because if he had had any sense, he
+would have gone on, and found out for himself what a lot more there was,
+that his old books and seers and things had never found out." But now,
+she found Alexander in the first place a boy who knew about horses,
+which in itself was a great thing, and in the second place a man who
+knew about a great many other things, and who acted on his knowledge in
+a variety of swift and surprising ways. As with this hero, so with
+others, till Peggy came to look forward, actually, to the history hour;
+which shows what a teacher can do when she understands her girls, and
+knows enough to call Plutarch and his peers (if any!) to aid her in her
+task.
+
+But when all was said and done, Peggy was not cut out for a student; and
+her happiest hours were not those of even the pleasantest class-room.
+Basket-ball claimed her for its own, and she proved an apt and ready
+learner in this branch of study. Less swift than Grace Wolfe, who seemed
+a thing compact of steel and gossamer, she was far stronger to meet an
+attack, and many a rush came and passed, and left the stalwart freshman
+standing steady and undaunted in her place.
+
+The hours of sport brought the two girls nearer and nearer together; and
+Peggy found herself yielding more and more--often against her own
+judgment--to the fascination of the lawless girl, who on her part seemed
+curiously drawn to the simple, downright, law-abiding freshman.
+
+It was about this time that Peggy found out why her room had been called
+Broadway. The nights were still fine and warm, though it was now
+October. Apples were ripe in the neighbouring orchards; and though it
+was perfectly practicable and allowable to buy all the apples one wanted
+in the daytime, that method did not approve itself to the wilder spirits
+at Miss Russell's school.
+
+To slide down the fire-escape, slip across the lawn, keeping well under
+the trees by the edge, and so out into the road and down to the nearest
+orchard, only a few rods off,--this was the true way to get apples, and
+a very thrilling way it was. Peggy had been a good deal startled when
+the first merry party, with noiseless steps and stifled giggles, came
+stealing into her room, and, nodding to her, made their way out of the
+window and down the fire-escape. It never occurred to her to make any
+effort to stop them; they were sophomores, and she only a freshman. She
+supposed it was against the rules, but of course they would not really
+do any harm; and oh, what a good time they would have!
+
+She looked after them with a sigh, and wished them luck in her heart, a
+successful raid, and a safe return. Indeed, it was not long before they
+were back, rosy and breathless, with baskets and pockets stuffed with
+apples. The Fresh Freshman, as Peggy was called, did not fail to receive
+her share; and she ate it with a little thrill of vicarious guilt which
+was certainly not unpleasant. The two Owls never came with these
+parties; and somehow Peggy did not mention the matter to them, though
+she saw them constantly, and loved them always more and more. Sometimes
+the expeditions were headed by Grace Wolfe, in her wildest mood;
+sometimes it was Viola Vincent, who came tripping in with a band of her
+chosen intimates. Viola had several times asked Peggy to be of the
+party, but Peggy had not gone,--she could hardly have said why. Why was
+it that Grace had never asked her? If she had, perhaps--
+
+The night came when Grace did ask her.
+
+Peggy had been studying as usual, and the signal for "lights out" came
+while she was still at her task. Out went the light, for Peggy was, as
+we have said, a law-abiding citizen. She was groping about, not yet used
+to the half-light of the growing moon, when the door opened, and Grace
+glided in with her usual noiseless tread. She laid her hand over Peggy's
+mouth without a word, and stood motionless, seeming to listen. Then she
+said aloud and deliberately:
+
+"Yes, I must go this minute. I had no idea it was so late. Suppose Miss
+Pugsley should catch us! You know she goes around and listens at the
+doors every now and then, and looks through the keyholes to see what is
+going on."
+
+"Oh, Grace!" said Peggy.
+
+"Fact, I assure you. I sometimes wonder what Miss Russell would say if
+she knew it. That isn't her own style, you see. The fun of it is, the
+other never realises that the wheeze gives her away every time."
+
+Grace Wolfe had the ears of a fox; but, in the pause that followed, even
+Peggy heard, or fancied she heard, a breathing outside the door. It was
+only for an instant, if, indeed, it had been at all; yet in another
+moment a board creaked somewhere along the corridor, and again in a
+moment came the slight but unmistakable sound of a closing door.
+
+Grace laughed, and pirouetted merrily on one foot, looking in the
+moonlight like a glimmering sprite.
+
+"Oh, Grace!" repeated Peggy, aghast. "Was she--could she have been
+there, do you think?"
+
+"She could very easily have been there. Innocent," replied the
+Scapegoat. "Indeed, she was. I saw the glitter of her eye, and a sweet
+thing it was."
+
+"Oh, but how could you? how dared you? Surely, you will get into
+dreadful trouble, Grace."
+
+"Not I!" said Grace. "She can't report me, you observe, without saying
+that she was listening at the door. And even if she did, Miss Russell
+would ask her what I said, and she would be sad and sorry to relate
+that. No! this time I am safe enough, my Prairie Flower. But come, now
+that I am here, shall we be merry?
+
+        "The owl is abroad, the bat, and the toad,
+         And so is the catamountain.
+
+"Shall the Goat be lacking on such a night as this, or the Wolf either?
+One has one's responsibilities toward one's names. Come, Innocent, we'll
+go abroad and celebrate my victory over my Puggy!"
+
+Grace's tone was as quiet as ever, but she was more excited than Peggy
+had ever seen her. Her eyes shone; her hair, which was very beautiful,
+was unbraided for some reason--one never knew what whim would seize the
+whimsical one--and hung like a mantle about her shoulders. Standing
+thus, with her hand on the window, she looked, as I have said, like a
+creature from another world.
+
+"Come!" she repeated; and Peggy had never heard sweeter music than her
+voice.
+
+"Do you--do you think I ought to?" stammered the freshman, moving toward
+the window.
+
+"One owes it to the catamountain!" cried Grace. "As for the owls,--well,
+they will be abroad!" she added, with a low laugh. "They would be far
+enough abroad if they knew. Come, Innocent!"
+
+She glided out of the window, and Peggy followed, her heart beating to
+suffocation, her cheeks glowing with excitement. To be chosen by the
+Lone Wolf (for this was another of the wild girl's nicknames, the third
+being Ishmael) as the companion of one of her solitary rambles was
+perhaps the most thrilling thing that had ever come into Peggy's simple
+life. Probably she would have had courage to resist an invitation from
+any of the frolicsome parties that came and went through her room; she
+had no power to resist this. Silently she followed the Scapegoat down
+the iron ladder of the fire-escape, across the lawn, out into the open
+road.
+
+Grace turned to her with one of her sudden movements, and took both her
+hands.
+
+"The world's before us, where to choose!" she cried. "What shall it be,
+Innocent? Shall we climb up into the tower and ring the fire-bell? or go
+for apples? This is your first expedition, you shall choose."
+
+"Oh, no, Grace; please! I don't know. I cannot. I'll go wherever you go,
+that's all!"
+
+The Scapegoat meditated. "On the whole," she announced, "soda seems to
+be the thing. We'll go and have some soda, Innocent."
+
+"Go down-town?" gasped Peggy.
+
+"Yes; why not? Only to Mrs. Button's. You know she is the college
+grandmother; why shouldn't she be ours? Many's the time Granny Button
+has sheltered me from the wrath to come. Besides, I have had no
+marshmallows for a week. A vow, a vow! I have a vow in heaven to have
+marshmallows once a week, merely for the honour of the school."
+
+Granny Button, as she was called, kept a neat little shop at the corner
+of the High Street. Here she dispensed soda-water, candy, and cakes to
+the students of school and college. She was a little old woman, with a
+face like a dry but still sound winter apple, and she shook her head
+reprovingly as the two girls entered.
+
+"Now, Miss Wolfe!" she said. "You hadn't ought to come here at this
+time, now you hadn't, my dear. What do you want? I declare, I've most of
+a mind not to give it to you, for a wild slip as you are. What would
+Miss Russell say if she should come in this blessed minute, Miss Grace?"
+
+"Ah, but she won't, granny!" said Grace, coolly. "She's gone to a
+lecture, you see, so it is all right, truly it is.
+
+        "I saw her go; one horse was blind,
+         The tails of both hung down behind,
+         Their shoes were on their feet.
+
+"I got so exhausted studying, I feared the vital spark might become
+extinguished, might pop out, granny, if I didn't have some soda. Two
+pineapple creams, please, and be quick about it. I'll be getting the
+marshmallows while you pour it."
+
+The old woman filled the long glasses, shaking her head all the time,
+and muttering about naughty girls and dark closets.
+
+Peggy drank the soda, but it did not taste very good, and her hand
+trembled as she held the glass. Her eyes were fixed on the door, and
+every moment she expected to see it open, and Miss Russell or one of the
+teachers enter. But no one came. Grace found the marshmallows, and in
+high spirits brought them to Mrs. Button to count and tie up for her.
+
+"Granny, you look lovely to-night!" she said. "Don't try to look cross,
+Granny Button, for you don't know how. Smile on me, lovely one, for we
+must kiss and part."
+
+"Indeed, then, we'd better, Miss Grace," cried the good woman; "and
+don't let me see you here again this long while, save and except at
+proper hours. I know well enough I ought to tell that good lady of all
+the times you've been here out of hours. Yes, dear, I know it well
+enough, and sometimes it makes me uneasy in my bed. But you have the
+beguiling of the serpent himself, Grace Wolfe, and you know it, and
+that's the worst."
+
+"Isn't it?" said Grace, pensively; and her large eyes were full of
+tender gravity, as she fixed them on the old woman.
+
+"I'll add serpent to my menagerie, and thank you, granny! Nobody ever
+called you serpent, did they, dear? Wait till you come to my time in
+life, and you'll know what it is to suffer.
+
+"Well, Innocent, shall we come? After all, it is hard to stay where one
+isn't wanted, and the only trouble with Granny Button is that she has no
+heart."
+
+"Yes, go, dear!" said the old woman to Peggy, eagerly. "Go right along
+home now, and don't let Miss Grace bring ye out again, as she's a
+naughty girl, and so I always tell her, though I never can say no to
+her, and that's the truth. But you are different, dear, and a freshman,
+I'll be bound; and don't let me see ye here again without leave or
+license, let alone the hour as is getting on for 'lights out.'"
+
+"Fare thee well, my first and fairest!" said Grace, kissing her hand at
+the door. "Till our next meeting!"
+
+It was only a few steps back from the turn into the High Street. Peggy's
+pulse began to beat more naturally; in a moment, now, they would be
+back, safe back, and she would never do it again, no matter what Grace
+thought of her. Fun was fun, but it was not worth this; and what would
+Margaret say?
+
+Coming up from the High Street, they skirted a field that lay like
+waving silver in the moonlight. Nothing would do but that Grace must
+have a run through this field; she declared that it was her favourite
+spot in the world.
+
+"After all, soda and marshmallows are carnal!" she insisted. "Our bodies
+are fed, Innocent, our souls starve for want of poetry. There is poetry
+in all that silver waving. I must! I must prance, or I shall not rest in
+my bed. Come along!"
+
+And she went flitting about through the long grass, hither and thither
+like a will-o'-the-wisp, her long hair floating around her, her arms
+waving in gestures sometimes fantastic, but always graceful. Peggy could
+think of nothing but her cousin Rita, as she used to dance in the old
+days at Fernley. What a pair she and Grace would make! What a mercy they
+had never come together. Moreover, her heart, the heart of a farmer's
+daughter, smote her at the treading down of the grass. She stood at the
+edge of the field, now and then calling to her companion and urging her
+to come home, but for the most part simply watching her in mingled
+terror and admiration.
+
+At length the wild spirit was satisfied, and Grace came flying back,
+radiant and breathless.
+
+"That was glorious!" she said. "Poor little Innocent, you haven't much
+soul, have you? Still, I love you. Come, we will go back to the
+shades."
+
+They neared the gate; as they did so, they heard voices and the sound of
+approaching footsteps. Grace paused for a moment; then held up her hand
+with a warning gesture. Peggy felt her heart turn cold; it was coming!
+one of the voices was that of Miss Russell. It was impossible for them
+to escape being seen. The broad stretch of the lawn lay between them and
+safety, and the relentless moonlight lay full upon the hedge which had
+lain in shadow when they came out. Peggy braced herself to meet the
+shock; but Grace laid a hand on her arm, and then made a gesture. A
+great tree stood just by the gate of Pentland School; a chestnut-tree,
+with low-jutting, wide-spreading branches. With the swift movement of
+some woodland creature, Grace Wolfe swung herself up to the lowest
+branch, and motioned Peggy to follow; Peggy was a good climber, too;
+more slowly, but with equal agility, she gained the branch; then softly,
+slowly, both girls crept along, inward and upward, till a thick screen
+of leaves hid them completely from sight.
+
+Two ladies came around the turn, and paused a moment at the gate,--Miss
+Russell and Miss Cortlandt. They stood directly under the chestnut-tree;
+Peggy could have dropped a nut down exactly on the crown of Miss
+Russell's bonnet; she never knew how near Grace came to doing so, nor
+how hard it was to refrain for her, Peggy's, sake.
+
+"I hope not!" said Miss Russell. "I do most earnestly hope not."
+
+"I am afraid there is little doubt of it!" replied Miss Cortlandt. "Miss
+Pugsley seemed quite positive; I know she means to bring it up at
+Faculty Meeting to-morrow night."
+
+Miss Russell sighed. "Then it will not be done in the wisest manner!"
+she said. "I can say this to you, Emily, for you understand her as well
+as I do. I had hoped," she continued, "that the whole business would be
+over when Wilhelmina Lightwood--well, I suppose she will always be
+'Billy,' even to me--when Billy went away. I put Peggy Montfort there,
+because she seemed such an honest, steady, sensible kind of girl. I
+thought I could trust Peggy Montfort."
+
+"I think you can!" said Miss Cortlandt. "I don't believe Peggy has had
+any share in the flittings. But I do think it might perhaps have been
+better to tell her all about it, and put her on her guard. Being a new
+girl, she might not feel at liberty to stop the older ones when they
+came; and she could not tell of it. You see, Miss Russell, it is such a
+little time since I was a 'girl' myself, that I haven't got away from
+their point of view yet."
+
+"I hope you never will, my dear!" said Miss Russell, warmly. "It is when
+I get too far away from that point of view myself that I make mistakes.
+Yes, I ought to have put the child on her guard; I'll do so to-morrow."
+
+She looked over toward the school, and sighed again.
+
+"Broad is the way that leadeth to destruction!" she said. "It was Grace
+who gave it the name, of course. Poor Grace!"
+
+"Poor Grace!" echoed Miss Cortlandt; and then the two passed on.
+
+They were two very silent girls who crossed the lawn five minutes later.
+Grace Wolfe held her head high, and walked with her usual airy grace;
+her face was grave, but perhaps no graver than usual. Still, she did not
+speak; as for Peggy, she was too bowed down with shame and wretchedness
+to think even of her companion. She had been trusted; and she had
+betrayed the trust. There seemed nothing in the whole world but that.
+
+They parted outside Peggy's window. Grace was going up a story higher on
+the fire-escape, Peggy did not think nor ask where.
+
+No word was spoken; only, Grace laid her hand on Peggy's shoulder and
+looked in her face for a moment. Peggy could not speak, could only shake
+her head. A single sob broke from her lips; then she hurried in, and
+closed the window behind her.
+
+Then Grace Wolfe did a singular thing. Standing on the iron step, she
+took from her pocket the packet of marshmallows, and deliberately
+scattered them over the lawn, throwing each one as far as her arm could
+reach.
+
+"For the frogs!" she explained, aloud. "With the compliments of the
+Goat, the Wolf, and the Serpent,--to which is now added the Beast which
+Perishes!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+FACULTY MEETING AND BEDLAM.
+
+
+"Have you proof of this, Miss Pugsley?"
+
+"I am perfectly sure of it, Miss Russell!"
+
+"Yes; I am sure you would be, before you spoke of it; but have you the
+proof? Of course, before taking any such serious step as you propose, I
+should, in justice to all, be obliged to ask for positive proof."
+
+"Proof!" cried Miss Pugsley, in some excitement. "Proof enough! Look at
+my bonnet, Miss Russell. Oblige me by smelling of it. I can never wear
+it again, never! I tell you, brandy has been poured over it. Here are
+the slippers!" She produced a pair of slippers which were certainly in a
+sad condition. "They were nailed--nailed with tenpenny nails, to the
+floor of my closet; they are totally ruined. Look--I ask you all,
+ladies, to look at my hand-glass!" She held up the glass; and at the
+sight Emily Cortlandt had one of those violent fits of coughing that
+often troubled her; this one was so bad that she was obliged to leave
+the room for a moment. The worst of it was that one or two of the other
+teachers seemed to have caught the infection, for there was a regular
+outbreak of coughing and choking, which only a severe glance from Miss
+Russell checked.
+
+Somebody had painted a face on the little mirror. It covered the whole
+surface; the face of a monkey, with grinning mouth, and twinkling,
+malicious eyes; it had an undoubted resemblance to Miss Pugsley. As she
+held it up with a tragic gesture, the effect was so absurd that even
+Miss Russell might have wished that she could--cough!
+
+"It lay on my dressing-table, face downward," Miss Pugsley went on. "I
+had just done my hair for tea,--I am scrupulous in such matters,--and
+took up the glass to see that my pug was straight behind. I looked--and
+saw this. Ladies, I could have fainted on the floor. My nerves being
+what they are, it is a marvel that I did not."
+
+"I am very, very sorry, Miss Pugsley," said Miss Russell, gravely. "If I
+knew who had done this--"
+
+"But I tell you I do know, Miss Russell!" cried Miss Pugsley,
+vindictively. "I tell you that there is only one girl in the school who
+is capable of all this, and that girl is Grace Wolfe!"
+
+There was a moment's silence.
+
+"Have you found Grace in your room at any time, Miss Pugsley?" demanded
+Miss Russell.
+
+No, Miss Pugsley had not, but that made no difference. Grace had done
+the things, there was no shadow of a doubt of it.
+
+"Have you been careful to lock your door when you left the room?"
+
+"Miss Russell, you know that locks and bolts make no possible difference
+to Grace Wolfe. The girl is cut out for a malefactor. I prophesy that
+she will be in State's prison before she has been out of school a year."
+
+"I must request you not to speak in this way of any of my young ladies,"
+said the Principal, sternly. "You have been the victim of some very
+malicious practical jokes, Miss Pugsley. I shall look into the matter
+thoroughly, and shall do my best to discover the offender, and shall
+punish her--or them--as I think best." She laid a slight emphasis on the
+last words.
+
+"Then you refuse to expel Grace Wolfe?" said Miss Pugsley, quivering
+with anger.
+
+"On such evidence as you have brought forward to-night? certainly," said
+Miss Russell, with some severity. "I have no proof whatever that Miss
+Wolfe played any of these pranks, though I admit it is probable that she
+may have done so. You found the bandbox outside your door, where Bridget
+admits she left it several days before. You left your door unlocked on a
+rainy half-holiday, when sixty or more girls were constantly passing and
+repassing; there are half a dozen girls, I am sorry to say, who might
+have been tempted by the open door to play some prank of the kind which
+seems so clever to children, and so silly to older people."
+
+Why did Miss Russell look toward the window as she spoke? But now she
+was looking at Miss Pugsley again.
+
+"You and Grace are not friends, I know, Miss Pugsley," she went on. "I
+am sorry for it, for I think all the rest of us feel how much that is
+fine and noble might--may still be brought out of that untamed spirit.
+She has never known a mother, remember. The name of the Scapegoat, which
+she has given herself, may, I sometimes think, reflect blame on the rest
+of us as well as on her. It is true that, whatever mischief is afoot, it
+is sure to be laid at Grace's door. This is mainly her own fault, of
+course--"
+
+"I should think so!" snorted Miss Pugsley.
+
+"But not entirely," the Principal went on. "There are other mischievous
+girls in the school. I should like to know how Grace has been doing this
+month in her various classes," she added, turning to the other teachers.
+
+On this point the testimony was unanimous. Grace Wolfe led many of the
+classes; she was well up in all, and had passed her examinations in a
+way that did credit both to her intelligence and her industry. Thus
+testified every teacher, except the small brown mouse who taught drawing
+in Pentland School. This mouse, Miss Mink by name, had crept away
+silently, and left the room, after one glance at the hand-glass; she
+knew that but one hand in the school could have drawn that monkey, and
+though her heart swelled with pride, she feared for her darling pupil.
+
+There was a pause after the teachers had given their testimony; then
+Miss Pugsley returned to the attack.
+
+"I certainly hope justice will be done, Miss Russell," she said, with a
+smile of sweetened vinegar. "It would be a great pity, wouldn't it, if
+the school got the reputation--he! he!--of injustice and favouritism?"
+
+"It would," said the Principal, gravely.
+
+"But there is another matter that I feel bound to speak of before we
+separate," Miss Pugsley went on. "Are you aware that room No. 18, in
+corridor A, the room formerly occupied by Miss Lightwood, is again being
+used as a place of exit for parties of students going on lawless
+expeditions?"
+
+The Principal looked at her steadily.
+
+"I fear that is true," said one of the other teachers. "I had meant to
+speak to you before about it, Miss Russell, but waited till to-night."
+
+"Of course it makes no possible difference to me!" cried Miss Pugsley.
+"It is not my corridor, and I have no authority there; but as long as
+one is in the school, of course one must consider the honour of it, you
+know, and I am glad some one else is here to bear me out in _this_
+complaint."
+
+The Principal still looked at Miss Pugsley; teachers who had been long
+in the school were glad that she was not looking at them in that way.
+
+"I have heard of this matter before," Miss Russell said, at last. "I am
+going to devote my own time to investigating it, and think I shall need
+no help; though I thank you," it was to Miss Ivors that she spoke, "for
+bringing it to my notice, as it was right for you to do. I think I need
+not detain you longer, ladies."
+
+When the teachers were gone, Miss Russell stepped to the window and
+said, softly, "Grace!"
+
+There was no reply. An owl hooted in the distance; a bird chirped
+somewhere near by. That was all.
+
+"Grace!" said the Principal again. "If you are there, I wish you would
+come in and let me speak to you."
+
+Still no reply. After waiting a moment, the Principal closed the window
+with a sigh. On leaving the room she paused a moment to look at the
+photograph of a lovely young woman, in the dress of twenty years ago,
+which stood on her desk.
+
+"Dear Edith!" said Miss Russell. "My first pupil! I'll keep your girl
+for you, Edith, if I can!"
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Was Grace Wolfe outside the window when the Principal called her? Who
+can tell? It is certain that ten minutes after she was at the supper in
+Bedlam.
+
+The tenant of Bedlam, Miss Cornelia Hatch (familiarly known as Colney
+Hatch, in remembrance of the famous English Insane Asylum), was not
+actually mad, though many of the scholars thought her so. She was a
+special student of natural history, botany, and zoology; she was
+absent-minded and forgetful to the last degree. When she came into
+class, she often had to be brought there, some good-natured classmate
+dragging her away by main force from her private experiments. If she did
+remember to come of her own accord, she was apt to have a half-completed
+articulation hanging around her neck, or a dried frog skin stuck behind
+her ear for safe-keeping. Her hair was generally untidy, owing to this
+habit of sticking things in it while she worked; you never could tell
+what it would be, vertebrae, or seaweed, or pine-cones, but you could
+safely reckon on finding something extraneous in Colney's ruffled black
+hair. As for her clothes, she was usually enveloped in a huge brown
+gingham apron, with many pockets, which held snakes, or eggs, or roots,
+or anything else that would not go comfortably in her hair. When the
+apron became too dirty (she had had two at the beginning of the term,
+but one had been destroyed in an explosion), Miss Carey took it away
+and washed it, while Colney went around looking scared and miserable in
+a queer flannel gown of a pinkish shade. Report said it had once been
+brown, but that the colour had been changed by the fumes of something or
+other, no one knew what. Sometimes she had buttons on frock and apron,
+more often not. Periodically, Miss Carey or the Owls descended upon her,
+and sewed on her buttons and mended her up generally; and she was very
+grateful, and said how nice it was to have buttons. But she soon pulled
+them off again, because she never had time to do anything but tear her
+clothes off when she went to bed, and drag them on again when she got
+up. When a button flew off, she pinned the place over, if a pin was in
+sight; if not, she went without; it made no difference to her, and she
+was not conscious of it in five minutes. Miss Russell, and most of the
+teachers, were very tender with Colney. She was poor, and meant to work
+her way through college; even now she paid part of her schooling by
+stuffing birds and setting up skeletons for one of the college
+professors. If she did not kill herself or somebody else before she
+graduated, Miss Russell looked forward to a distinguished career for the
+tenant of Bedlam; so, as I have said, she was tender and patient with
+her; and good Miss Carey mended her when she could, and saw that she
+remembered to eat her dinner, and Miss Boyle and Miss Mink rejoiced over
+her, and Miss Cortlandt led her gently through English literature,
+giving her Walton and Bacon and all the scientific men of letters that
+she could find. Only one teacher failed to do her best to smooth poor
+Colney's path through school; that was Miss Pugsley. Rhetoric was simply
+an empty noise to the girl. She never by any chance knew a lesson, and
+Miss Pugsley lashed her with so cruel a tongue that Peggy used to ache
+and smart for her as well as for herself, and would get hold of Colney's
+hand and hold it and squeeze it, growing red the while with pity and
+anger. But Colney never noticed it half as much as Peggy did; she used
+to look at the angry teacher for a few minutes in an abstracted kind of
+way, and then retire within herself and make imaginary experiments.
+This was what happened on the dreadful day when Miss Pugsley said:
+
+"The subject of this sentence is _I_. How do we go to work to form the
+predicate, Miss Hatch?"
+
+Cornelia started, but replied, instantly:
+
+"By mixing one part hydrogen with three parts--"
+
+"Indeed!" said Miss Pugsley, with ominous calm. "And what happens next,
+pray?"
+
+"It turns green, and explodes with a loud report."
+
+And this was exactly what did happen. Poor Colney!
+
+Peggy Montfort did not form one of the party in Bedlam that night. The
+room lay at the extreme end of the corridor, round a corner, so that it
+was in a manner shut off from the rest of the wing. It was an
+extraordinary place. Stretched on the walls, dried or drying, were
+specimens of every possible variety,--bats, frogs, snake skins, bird
+skins. Along the mantelpiece were jars and bottles, all containing other
+specimens preserved in spirits. In one corner stood part of a human
+skeleton. It stood on one leg, with a jaunty air, having indeed but one
+leg to stand on; both arms were wanting, but the skull, which was a very
+fine one, made up for much. On account of this fragmentary skeleton, few
+of the younger girls ever dared to enter Bedlam, and some of them would
+run past the door with face averted, and beating heart, fearing lest the
+door should be open and they should catch a glimpse of the gruesome
+thing. But this object was the pride of Colney's heart. She could not,
+of course, afford to buy a whole skeleton, so she was collecting one,
+bit by bit; even Peggy had been quite uncomfortable one day, when Colney
+had told her, hanging over each bone with delight, where and how she had
+come by each one. It was always honestly, one could be sure of that.
+
+Everywhere in the room, underfoot and overhead, were setting-boards and
+pill-boxes, blowpipes and crucibles. One could not move without
+upsetting something; and yet it was here that the Gang came to have its
+annual supper.
+
+Colney Hatch was dissecting a mouse. She was perfectly happy, and
+oblivious of the world, when the door opened, and in came fluttering the
+wild spirits of the junior and sophomore classes. Last year the
+sophomores had been freshmen, and must not know anything about the Gang,
+save in wondering envious whispers and surmises. Next year the juniors
+would be seniors, and they too must forget that such a thing as the Gang
+had been, and think only of dramatics, examinations, and graduation.
+Such had been the unwritten law at Miss Russell's, since time was.
+
+Here were Vanity and Vexation of Spirit, one smiling and dimpling, the
+other with her usual air of blase superiority. Here was Blanche Haight,
+the leader among the sophomores; here were six or eight girls, in fact,
+chosen from the two classes for the same characteristics, lawlessness
+and love of fun; last but not least, here was Grace Wolfe, the
+acknowledged leader and queen of the Gang, when she deigned to be so.
+
+Grace was in her wildest mood to-night. She danced solemnly around poor
+Colney, who looked up in dismay from her mouse as the silent crowd came
+pouring in, and assured her that her last hour was come.
+
+"We are the Secret Tribunal!" she cried. "We have come to make a pile of
+all your rubbish, Colney, and burn it, with you on top, like the
+Phoenix. I am sure you would come up out of the ashes, if we left the
+mouse out for you to finish."
+
+"Oh, do be careful, please, Goat!" cried Colney Hatch. "Don't sit down
+on that frog, he isn't dry! Dear me! do you--do want anything, girls?"
+
+"We want your room, my love; and your company!" replied Grace. "Yet we
+are merciful. Here!"
+
+She twirled Cornelia's chair around, and set her with her face to the
+wall; then moved the lamp so that its light fell on the board in her
+lap.
+
+"There!" she said. "Finish him, poor old dear, and we'll wake you up
+when supper's ready. Now then! who's brought what?"
+
+Then, from pockets, from surplice folds, from shawls and cloaks hung
+carelessly over the arm, came forth a strange array of articles. One
+had brought a chicken, one a cake. Here was a Dutch cheese, a tin of
+crackers, a bottle of coffee, a bottle of olives, and a box of sardines.
+Grace herself told in high glee how she had met one of the teachers in
+the corridor, and had stood for five minutes talking about the next
+day's lesson. "And with this under me cloak the while!" and with a
+dramatic gesture she produced and held out a dish of lobster salad.
+
+"If it had been potato," she declared, "I had been lost; the onion had
+betrayed me. Blessings on the bland, the seductive mayonnaise, which
+veiled the ardent lobster and his smell. She did smell it, however, and
+said, so cheerfully, poor dear, that Miss Carey was evidently going to
+give us a surprise to-morrow, for she smelt lobster. It was Miss
+Cortlandt, too; I did want to say, 'Oh, come along, and have some!' She
+is a rectangular fragment of baked clay, used for building purposes,
+Miss Cortlandt is."
+
+"What do you mean, Goat?" asked some one.
+
+"I never use slang, as you know!" replied Grace, gravely. "It argues a
+poverty of intellect, as well as a small vocabulary. I suppose you would
+have said she was a brick, my child."
+
+"Oh, Goat, how funny you are!" giggled the girls.
+
+"Not at all, I assure you," said Grace, unmoved. "But I pray you fall
+to! Have some salad, Vanity? yes, I'll take a wing, thank you."
+
+"Isn't this perf'ly fine?" cried Viola Vincent. They were all seated by
+this time, some on the floor, others wherever they could find a few
+inches of spare room, and were dispensing the viands with reckless
+liberality. "I say! I wish we had these every week, instead of only once
+a year. Why, it's just as easy! Oh, what an elegant cream pie! Give me
+some!"
+
+"No!" said Grace Wolfe, with emphasis.
+
+"Why not? What's the matter, Goat?"
+
+"I will _not_ have pies called elegant while I am leader of this Gang,"
+said Grace. "Take my life, if you will, but spare my feelings!"
+
+"All right," said Viola, cheerily. "Your own way, Goat. I'd just as lief
+call it dandy, and it _is_ dandy, you can't deny that."
+
+"Perhaps the Goat is thinking of succeeding her Puggy in the rhetoric
+chair!" said Blanche Haight, with a sneer.
+
+"Perhaps I am thinking of stopping your--" began Grace; but she checked
+herself, and turned away abruptly.
+
+"Look at Colney!" said Vivia Varnham. "Isn't she too perfectly killing?
+She doesn't know we are here, I believe. Look at her hair, girls! It
+gets more ratty, not to say woozzy, every day. I wonder when she brushed
+it last."
+
+"Possibly when you brushed your manners," said the Scapegoat. "Colney is
+our hostess, I beg to remind you. And nobody giving her a bite of
+supper!"
+
+She rose from the floor, piled a plate with good things, and went over
+to the corner where Colney Hatch was bending over her mouse, conscious
+of nothing else.
+
+"Here, Colney; here's your supper."
+
+"Oh, thank you, Grace," said Colney, looking up for a moment. "But I
+can't, you know. Both my hands are full, you see."
+
+"Then open your mouth," commanded the Scapegoat, in tones of authority.
+
+Colney obeyed meekly, and Grace stood over her, feeding her like a baby
+with the choicest morsels, and now and then casting a glance over her
+shoulder at the others. Grace's gaiety was fitful to-night, certainly.
+When she first came in she had been the life of the party; now, as she
+stood there in the corner, her brow was overcast, her eyes gloomy. What
+ailed the Lone Wolf?
+
+What were they saying over there? They, at least, were at the very
+height of glee, breaking into gusts of giggling, into whisperings ending
+in squeaks and smothered screams.
+
+"To-morrow night? Hurrah! Through Broadway, of course."
+
+"Freshy? Oh, Freshy won't say anything. She wouldn't dare to, in the
+first place."
+
+"She'd dare fast enough," said Viola. "She isn't afraid of anything,
+Freshy isn't. But she's safe, she won't say anything."
+
+"What's all this?" demanded the Scapegoat, coming back with the empty
+plate. "Plans? Does one hear them?"
+
+"The apples are all gone," said Kitty Green. "We're going for some
+to-morrow night, Goat. You'll go, too, of course?"
+
+"Going out through Broadway," said Viola. "We haven't been out for more
+than a week, and the moon will be nearly full to-morrow. It'll be
+perf'ly fine, Goat, won't it?"
+
+"Veto!" said Grace, calmly.
+
+"Veto? Why, what do you mean?"
+
+"What's wrong?"
+
+"What has happened?"
+
+"Nothing has happened. Boots are no longer free, that's all."
+
+"Do speak English, Grace Wolfe! What do you mean?"
+
+"There--are--to--be--no more--free-booting expeditions--through
+Broadway. Is that sufficiently plain, or shall I spell the words?"
+
+Blanche Haight rose to her feet, several of the other girls following
+her. "What is the matter with you to-night, Goat?" she said. "We don't
+seem to succeed in satisfying you. Aren't we good enough company for
+you, perhaps?" And Blanche sneered in her own particular manner, of
+which she was proud.
+
+"I make no remarks," said the Scapegoat, in her quietest tones. "I have
+not been personal. I merely say, while I lead this Gang, there will be
+no more expeditions through Broadway."
+
+"And how long do you suppose you will lead this Gang, if you play the
+part of Pope and emperor?" demanded Blanche.
+
+The other girls began to murmur and protest at this. "Listen to the
+Goat!" said one and another. "She must have some reason, or she wouldn't
+act so."
+
+But Grace seized her opportunity.
+
+"How long?" she repeated. "Not an hour! not a second! I resign. My last
+act is to break up this meeting. To your tents, O Israel!"
+
+Then arose such a confusion of whispering, exclaiming, disclaiming,
+entreating, protesting, that no one voice could be heard. The owner of
+the room, fairly roused for a moment (but indeed she had finished the
+mouse), turned round to see what was wrong. For a moment she saw the
+two leaders, Grace and Blanche, facing each other, the one pale and
+quiet, the other red with anger, her eyes darting spiteful flames. Next
+moment, Grace made a single quick movement, and the room was in
+darkness. She had blown out the lamp.
+
+"To your tents!" she repeated, sternly. And, hurrying, whispering,
+stumbling over the remains of their feast scattered on the floor, the
+frightened girls obeyed.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+TEACHER AND PUPIL.
+
+
+The day after the escapade was the worst one that Peggy Montfort had
+ever known. She was too strong and healthy to lie awake all night,
+though it was much later than usual before she ceased to toss in uneasy
+wretchedness and lay peacefully sleeping. When morning came, she woke,
+and for a moment greeted the bright day joyfully. Then remembrance came
+like a hand at her throat, and she shivered, and all the blue seemed to
+fade away, and leave nothing but cold, miserable gray over all the
+world. What had she done? What would Uncle John and Margaret, what would
+Brother Hugh think, if they should know this? Slowly and heavily she
+dressed and went down to breakfast. There, it seemed as if everybody
+knew what she had done. Miss Russell's eyes rested thoughtfully on her
+as she bade her good morning; Peggy shrank away, and could not meet the
+gaze. If she did not know now, she would soon. "An honest, steady,
+sensible girl!" Well, Miss Russell would find she had been mistaken,
+that was all; and of course she would never trust again where she had
+once been deceived. And yet Peggy knew in her heart that there was no
+girl in the school who was so little likely to do this thing again as
+herself. She was by nature, as I have said, a law-abiding creature, with
+a natural reverence for authority. To have set the law at defiance was
+bad enough; to have done it secretly, and betrayed the trust that had
+been placed in her, that was worse! That was beyond possibility of
+pardon. Thus argued Peggy in her wretchedness; and all through the
+morning she went over it again and again, and yet again, seeing no help
+or comfort anywhere. Bertha Haughton, always quick in sympathy, saw the
+trouble in her friend's face, and came over in "gym" and begged to know
+what was the matter. Wasn't Peggy well? Had anything happened to trouble
+her? Peggy shook her head; she could not tell even this good
+friend--yet. There was some one else who must be told first. She
+promised to come to the Owls' Nest later in the day, and Bertha was
+forced to be content with this, and left her with a vague sense of
+uneasiness and a feeling that somehow little Peggy had grown suddenly
+older and more mature. Yes, there is nothing like trouble for that!
+
+It was almost a relief when the summons came.
+
+"Miss Montfort, Miss Russell would like to see you in the study."
+
+Peggy steadied herself for the encounter, and went quietly. If only she
+could be met with a cold look, it would be easier, somehow--but no! the
+Principal's gray eyes were as kind as ever, her smile as gravely sweet,
+as she said, pleasantly, "Good morning, Miss Montfort. Good afternoon, I
+should say; I forgot how late it was. Sit down for a moment, will you? I
+want to ask you about something."
+
+Peggy did not want to sit down. She wanted to stand still and go through
+with it, and then get away to her own room. But there was no
+disregarding the request, so she sat down on the edge of a chair and set
+her teeth.
+
+"I hardly know where to begin!" said Miss Russell. "I am going to take
+you into my confidence--Peggy."
+
+Peggy shivered a little, but said nothing, only set her teeth harder.
+
+"There has been a good deal of trouble," Miss Russell went on, "a good
+deal of trouble in former years with the room which you now occupy. The
+girl who occupied it was--was wild and undisciplined, and took pleasure
+in breaking bounds, and in inducing others to do so. She--there were a
+number of girls who used to go out without leave, by way of the
+fire-escape outside the window."
+
+She paused a moment, and looked at Peggy, but Peggy made no sign.
+
+"That girl--left the school last year, not to return; but there are
+several still here who used to share in those wild pranks (undertaken in
+mere thoughtlessness, I am glad to think, and not with any evil intent),
+and I have been afraid--in fact, it has come to my ears, that the room
+was again being used for the same purpose."
+
+She paused again; but still Peggy was silent. What could she say?
+Besides, no question had been asked her--yet!
+
+The question came. "You are silent, Peggy. Do you know anything about
+this matter?"
+
+"Yes, Miss Russell!" said Peggy, faintly.
+
+"I feel," said the Principal, in a tone of regret, "that I have been to
+blame in not warning you of this beforehand, and putting you on your
+guard. I had hoped that when Bil--when the young lady of whom I spoke
+was gone, the whole thing would die out; it is a distressing thing to
+warn a pupil against her schoolmates. Still, I feel that in this case I
+ought to have done so. I place entire confidence in you, Peggy. I am
+sure that you would not yourself break the rules of the school; but you
+may have been put to inconvenience and distress by the lawlessness of
+others. I am very sorry if this has been the case."
+
+Peggy shut her eyes tight, and said "Margaret!" twice to herself. Then
+she looked at the Principal.
+
+"Miss Russell," she said,--she tried to steady her voice, but it would
+come strange and shaky,--"you are mistaken about me. I am not the kind
+of girl you think I am. I--I went out last night without leave, by the
+fire-escape."
+
+There was a silence.
+
+"Who induced you--that is, with whom did you go?" asked Miss Russell,
+presently.
+
+"I--I didn't say that any one else went."
+
+"No, my dear, you did not say so. But--" and here Miss Russell rose,
+and, crossing the room, laid her hand on Peggy's shoulder; "if I know
+anything at all of girls, you did not go alone, and you did not go of
+your own motion. And--Peggy, if you were not the kind of girl I thought
+you, you would not be feeling as you do now about the whole thing."
+
+This was too much. Peggy could have borne, or she thought she could have
+borne, anger or scorn, or the cold indifference that is born of
+contempt; but the kind tone, the look of affectionate inquiry, the
+friendly hand on her shoulder,--all this she could not bear. She
+covered her face with her hands and burst into a passion of tears.
+
+It seemed hours that she wept, and sobbed, and wept again. It did not
+seem as if she could ever stop, the tears came rushing so fast and so
+violently; but however long it was, Miss Russell did not try to stop or
+check her, only stood by with her hand on the girl's shoulder, patting
+it now and then, or putting back with the other hand--such a soft, firm,
+motherly hand it was!--the stray locks which kept falling over Peggy's
+face as the sobs shook her from head to foot.
+
+At last, however, the storm abated a little; and then, while Peggy was
+trying to dry her tears, and the choking sobs were subsiding into long,
+deep breathings, Miss Russell spoke again.
+
+"Peggy, we teachers have to go a good deal by instinct, do you know it?
+It is not possible for me, for example, to know every one of seventy-odd
+girls as I ought to know her, by actual contact and communion. But I
+have acquired a sort of sense,--I hardly know what to call it,--an
+insight by means of which I can tell pretty well what a girl's standard
+of life is, and how I can best help her. I know that now I can best help
+you and myself by saying--and meaning--just what I said before. I place
+entire confidence in you, Peggy Montfort."
+
+Peggy looked up in amazement; could she believe what she heard?
+
+"To some girls," the Principal went on, "the taste of stolen fruit is
+sweet, and having once tasted it, they hanker for more. To you, it is
+bitter."
+
+"Oh!" said Peggy; and the gasping exclamation was enough.
+
+"Very bitter!" said the Principal. "I speak not from impulse, but from
+experience, when I tell you that there is no girl in the school to-day
+whom I could sooner trust not to commit this offence than you, who
+committed it last night."
+
+Her own thought, almost her own words. Peggy raise her head again, and
+this time her eyes were full of a new hope, a new courage.
+
+"I believe that is true, Miss Russell," she said, simply. "I had
+thought that myself, but I didn't suppose--I didn't think--"
+
+"You did not think that I would know enough to understand it!" said Miss
+Russell, smiling. "Well, you see I do, though we both owe it partly to
+dear Emily Cortlandt, who reminded me of my duty and of your position.
+Now, Peggy, I have a recitation, and we must part. I put you in charge
+of 'Broadway,' fully and freely. No one must come in, and no one must go
+out, by that window. And if you have any trouble," she added, with a
+smile, "if you have any trouble and do not think it right to tell me,
+call for the Owls, and they will help you. Good-bye, my child!"
+
+She held out her hand, and Peggy took it with a wild desire to kiss it,
+or to fall down and kiss the hem of her gown who had shown herself thus
+an angel of sympathy and kindness. But the Principal bent down and
+kissed the girl's forehead lightly and tenderly.
+
+"We shall be friends always now," she said, simply. "Don't forget,
+Peggy!"
+
+She was gone, and Peggy took her own way in the opposite direction,
+hardly knowing whither she was going. Her heart was so full of joy and
+love and gratitude, it seemed as if she must break out into singing or
+shouting. Was ever any one so kind, so noble, so lovely? How could any
+one not try to do her very, very best, to deserve the care and
+friendship of such a teacher as this?
+
+Passing as if on wings through the geometry room, she saw a figure
+crouching over a desk, and was aware of Rose Barclay, bent over her
+book, and crying bitterly. Nothing could hold Peggy back in that moment
+of exaltation. In an instant she was at the girl's side. "Let me help
+you!" she cried. "Please let me; I know I can."
+
+Rose Barclay looked up fiercely. "I asked you to help me, once!" she
+said. "I am not likely to ask again. Go away, please, and let me alone."
+
+"No, I won't!" said stout Peggy. "You never would let me explain, but
+now you are going to let me. I couldn't show you my example, and I
+wouldn't, and I never will; but I could make you see how to do your own
+right, and that's what I am going to do now."
+
+Down she sat without more ado; took the pencil from the unwilling hand,
+and set to work on an imaginary problem. Rose Barclay sat still for a
+moment with averted face, pride and shame doing their best to silence
+the better voices within her. At length she stole a glance at Peggy's
+face, and there beheld such a shining expanse of goodwill and
+friendliness that Pride and Co. gave up the battle, and retreated into
+their dens. Heaving a long sigh of relief, she bent forward, and soon
+was following with all her might Peggy's clear and lucid explanation.
+
+"Why, yes!" said Rose, at last. "Why, I do see. Why, I do believe I
+could do that myself."
+
+"Of course you can!" said Peggy. "Here, take the pencil, and I'll give
+you one."
+
+She did so, and, after some screwing of the mouth and knitting of the
+brows, Rose actually did do it, and felt like Wellington after Waterloo.
+Then, at Peggy's instigation, she tackled the actual lesson, and,
+steered by Professor Peggy, went through it triumphantly. Then she
+turned on her instructor.
+
+"What made you come and help me, Peggy Montfort? I've been perfectly
+hateful to you, you know I have. I wouldn't have helped you, if you had
+acted the way I have."
+
+"Oh, yes, you would," said Peggy, good-naturedly.
+
+"Why--why, you have been crying, too!" said Rose, examining her
+benefactress more closely. "Peggy, you have been crying awfully, I know
+you have."
+
+"Yes, I have," said Peggy; "I have cried my eyes out, and I never was so
+happy in my life. Come on, and have a game of ball!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+DECORATION--AND OTHER THINGS.
+
+
+The Junior Reception was "on." In fact, it was to take place this very
+evening, and an air of subdued excitement hung over the whole school.
+All the other classes were invited, as well as the Faculty and many
+friends from outside; it was sure to be a delightful occasion. Peggy was
+fortunate enough to be one of the auxiliaries called in by the Snowy Owl
+to help in the decorations, and she counted it a high privilege, as
+indeed it was. As a general thing, there is more sympathy between
+juniors and freshmen than between any other two classes in school or
+college; various reasons may be assigned for this, but it remains the
+fact. Besides this, however, Peggy felt a very special bond with the
+"Jews," because her dearest friends were among them. This had come
+about partly from the accident of her coming late to school, and so
+being put into the junior corridor; but it was still more due to her
+making instant acquaintance, as we have seen, with the Fluffy Owl, and
+through her with the beloved and powerful Snowy. These two girls,
+through their wise and gentle ways, were a power for good in the whole
+school, and especially in their own class. They were queens of the
+steady and right-minded majority, while Grace Wolfe led the wilder and
+less disciplined spirits. The Owls went their quiet way, and troubled
+themselves little, less perhaps than they should have done, about the
+doings of the "Gang." They were busy with study, with basket-ball, with
+a hundred things; they could not always know (especially when pains were
+taken that they should not know) what tricks the Scapegoat and her wild
+mates were up to.
+
+Both Owls had a real affection for Peggy, and though they knew nothing
+as yet of the recent escapade, they felt that it would be well to keep
+her rather under their wing, the more so that Grace had undoubtedly
+taken a fancy to the child, too.
+
+"She's too fascinating!" said the Snowy. "We shall have the Innocent
+falling in love with her if we don't look out, and that would never do!"
+
+"Never!" said the Fluffy, shaking her head wisely; but she added, in an
+undertone, "If only the mischief isn't done already!"
+
+So the two asked Peggy to help them in the work of preparing the
+gymnasium for the great event, and she consented with delight. She was
+making plenty of friends in her own class, oh, yes; especially now that
+she and Rose Barclay had made it up. She was the one stay and comfort of
+poor little Lobelia Parkins, and was devotedly kind to that forlorn
+creature, taking her out to walk almost by main force, and presenting to
+all comers a front of such stalwart, not to say pugnacious,
+determination, that no one dared to molest the girl when Peggy was with
+her. Spite of all this, however, her heart remained in Corridor A, and
+she would have left the whole freshman class in the lurch at one
+whistle from the Owls--or, alas! from the Scapegoat.
+
+But all this is by the way, and does not help us to get up the Junior
+Reception.
+
+There had been an early morning expedition to the neighbouring woods
+(not, however, through the fire-escape), and Peggy and the Owls had
+returned each with a wheelbarrow-load of boughs and ground pine and all
+manner of pleasant woodland things. The leaves had turned, and were
+glowing with scarlet and gold and russet. These were put in water, lest
+they should begin to curl and wither before night; while the evergreens
+were heaped in a corner and left to their fate. Now it was afternoon,
+and the girls, released from their tasks, had flown to the scene of
+action. Already the gymnasium began to assume a festive appearance.
+Several garlands were in place, and on the floor sat six or eight
+juniors, busily weaving more. Ladders stood here and there. At the top
+of one stood the Snowy Owl, arranging a "trophy," as she called it, of
+brilliant leaves, on another, Peggy was valiantly hammering, as she
+arranged in festoons the long folds of green and white bunting that the
+Fluffy handed up to her. The Fluffy was a curious sight, being swathed
+in bunting from head to foot. When Peggy demanded "more slack," she
+simply turned around a few times and unrolled herself, thus presenting
+the appearance of an animated spool.
+
+"It's effective," said Gertrude, surveying her from her perch, "but I
+can't say that it looks comfortable. How ever did you get yourself into
+such a snarl, Fluff?"
+
+"Why, I was measuring it, don't you know?" said Bertha, "and it got all
+into a heap on the floor, and there was so much of it I didn't know what
+to do. So I began to roll it round and round myself, and the first thing
+I knew I was the cocoon-thing you see before you. I feel as if I ought
+to come out a butterfly, somehow."
+
+"They are lovely colours!" said Peggy. "There's nothing so pretty as
+green and white. How do you choose your colours? We haven't chosen ours
+yet, but I suppose we shall soon."
+
+"The Snowy chose them," said Bertha. "They were Sir Somebody-or-other's
+colours at the Siege of Acre. I wanted scarlet, because that was
+Launcelot's--"
+
+"Fluffy! it was nothing of the kind!"
+
+"Well, you know what I mean, Snowy; don't make a cannibal meal of me.
+Scarlet was Elaine's colour, and Launcelot wore it; that was what I
+meant."
+
+"I thought--" said Peggy, timidly, "I thought she was the Lily Maid; I
+thought she wore white."
+
+"Did, herself," said the Snowy, with her mouth full of tacks. "But she
+gave him a scarlet sleeve embroidered with pearls, and he wore it on his
+helmet, and that was what made Guinevere throw the diamonds into the
+river."
+
+"Oh!" said Peggy, meekly. She had tried to read the "Idyls of the King,"
+but could not make out much except the fighting parts.
+
+"Never understood why they had sleeves so often," said Bertha,
+abstractedly bunching the green and white draperies. "Never could see
+how they got the sleeve on the helmet in any kind of shape. What sort of
+sleeves did they have then, anyhow? Why, they were those tight ones,
+weren't they, with a slashed cap at the top? Well, now, Snowy, that
+would look perfectly absurd on a helmet, you know it would."
+
+The Snowy deigned no reply; or perhaps the tacks were in a perilous
+position at that moment. Bertha went on, thoughtfully:
+
+"A balloon sleeve, now, would be more sensible; you could slip it over
+the helmet, and it would look like--like the shade of a piano lamp. But
+somehow, whenever I read about it, I see a small, tight, red sleeve,
+spread out like a red flannel bandage, as if the helmet had a sore
+throat--"
+
+"Fluffy, you are talking absolute nonsense!" said Gertrude, regaining
+utterance. "And after all, they had gloves oftener than sleeves; not
+that that makes it much better. For my part, I always think of a glove
+with all the five fingers sticking up out of the middle of the crown, as
+if they had tried to be feathers and been nipped in the bud."
+
+"Feathers don't bud!" said Bertha, handing up more slack.
+
+"But the real thing," Gertrude went on, "the beautiful, graceful thing
+for the knight to wear, was the scarf. He could do anything he liked
+with that; tie it around his helmet, or across his breast,--that was the
+proper way of course,--or around his waist.
+
+"A green scarf, that is what I would have! Very soft, so that it would
+go through a finger-ring, and yet wide enough to shake out into
+wonderful folds, you know, so that he could wrap himself up in it, and
+think of me, and--what's the matter, Peggy, why do you sigh?"
+
+"Did I sigh?" said Peggy, looking confused. "It was nothing, Snowy. I
+was only thinking--thinking how stupid I was, and how Margaret would
+like all the things you talk about."
+
+"Meaning sleeves?"
+
+"No, oh, no! but about knights, and chivalry, and all that kind of
+thing. Margaret loves it so! She used to try to read Froissart to me,
+but it always put me to sleep. I suppose you like Froissart, Gertrude?"
+
+She spoke so wistfully that Gertrude took the tacks out of her mouth
+(she should never have put them in; a junior should have known better!)
+that she might reply the better.
+
+"Why, Peggy, yes, I do like Froissart, but it never troubles me when
+people don't care for my kind of books. You see, there are so many
+kinds, such an endless variety, and good in so many different ways. Now
+you, for example, would like the Jungle Books, and the 'Cruise of the
+_Cachalot_,' and all kinds of books of adventure."
+
+"I don't know what is adventure if Froissart isn't," Bertha put in.
+
+"Yes, but it's all too far away, too remote. I know how Peggy feels,
+because I have a cousin who is just that way. She used to think she
+should never read anything at all; then one day she got hold of Kipling,
+and the worlds opened, and the doors thereof. Just you come to me for
+the Jungle Books some day, Innocent, and you'll see. Look here, I want
+lots and lots, and again lots more leaves. Where are they all? I don't
+see any more, but there must be any quantity. I brought in a whole
+copse, myself."
+
+"We put them all into the old swimming-tank, don't you remember? Oh, no;
+you went in before we had finished this morning. Well, they are there.
+Stay where you are, Snowy, and Peggy and I will get a couple of loads."
+
+The two girls ran down-stairs to the lower floor. Part of this was taken
+up, as we have already seen, by dressing-rooms, but it was only a small
+part. The larger space was occupied by the great swimming-tank, five
+feet deep, and twenty by thirty feet in area. The tank was not used now,
+but the water was still connected, and could be turned on by special
+permission. Now, accordingly, the water in the bottom was about two feet
+deep, and the whole surface was a blaze of autumn colours, great
+branches of maple, oak, and ash covering it completely.
+
+"Pretty, isn't it?" said Bertha. "Like a little sunset sea all alone by
+itself, without any sun to set. The next question is, how are we to get
+at them?"
+
+"Oh, that's easy enough!" said Peggy. "I can reach them easily from the
+edge, and I'll hand them over to you."
+
+Suiting the action to the word, she climbed up on the broad marble slab
+which formed the edge of the great tank.
+
+Then, bending down, she brought up a great branch of golden maple, fresh
+and dripping. She shook it, and a diamond shower fell back on the dark
+space left vacant; then another branch floated quietly over and filled
+the space again.
+
+"You'll be wet through!" said Bertha. "I don't suppose you care?"
+
+"No, indeed! I'd rather be wet than not, when I'm doing things."
+
+"I'll remember that," said Bertha, slyly, "and come round with a
+watering-can next time you are reciting your rhetoric. Give me some red
+now; oh, that is a beauty! There! that's enough for one load; unless you
+see just one more little one that is superlatively beautiful."
+
+"That is just what I do see! Hold on a minute! this is such a beauty,
+you must have it, if I--oh!"
+
+Peggy had been leaning as far as she could over the broad tank, fishing
+for the gay branch, which floated provokingly just out of reach. At last
+she touched it--grasped it--drew it toward her; when all in a moment she
+slipped on the marble, now wet and glossy with the falling drops,
+clutched the air--slipped again--and fell headlong into the tank, with a
+mighty splash.
+
+Bertha shrieked. There was an answering shriek from above, and Gertrude,
+followed by all the other girls, came flying down the stairs.
+
+"What has happened? What--where is Peggy?"
+
+"In the tank!" cried Bertha. "Oh! dear me, what shall we do? Peggy, are
+you much hurt?"
+
+"No; I--think not!" spluttered Peggy. "I came down on my nose, that's
+all. Feels as if it was broken, but I don't know--no! It doesn't crack
+when I wiggle it. It's bleeding a good deal, though. Perhaps I'd better
+stay in till it stops."
+
+Bertha tried to climb up to the perch which Peggy had so suddenly left
+vacant, but in vain; her legs were far too short. Gertrude, however,
+came with a flying leap, and scrambled cat-like up the side of the tank.
+Looking down, with the kindest heart in the world, and a world of
+sympathy to fill it, she still could not help bursting into a peal of
+laughter. Peggy, sitting in the tank, crowned with gold and scarlet
+leaves, and dripping like Undine, was certainly a funny spectacle.
+
+"Oh, do forgive me for laughing, Peggy dear!" cried Gertrude. "You--you
+do look funny, but I'm dreadfully sorry."
+
+"Well, I'm laughing myself," said Peggy, "I don't see why you shouldn't.
+But did you ever hear of a water-nymph with a nosebleed? If I could only
+get at my pocket--"
+
+"Here, take mine," and Gertrude dropped her handkerchief, which Peggy
+caught adroitly.
+
+[Illustration: "'HERE! TAKE MY HAND AND SCRAMBLE OUT.'"]
+
+"My dear," Gertrude went on, "it seems so strange to have some one
+besides me falling about and dropping herself. I used to be the one,
+always. They called me 'Dropsy' at home; and I fell in here last year,
+Peggy, and I know exactly how it feels. Here! take my hand and
+scramble out."
+
+Peggy, still sitting in the water, which covered her to the waist,
+looked about her thoughtfully. "It seems a pity, now I _am_ here, not to
+have some good of it," she said, philosophically.
+
+"If it were only a foot deeper, or I weren't bothered with all these
+petticoats, I might have a good swim. However, I suppose I may as well
+get out--if I can. Take care, Snowy--oh! take care!"
+
+Alas! for the Snowy Owl! After all, she was still Gertrude Merryweather.
+The marble was wet--she bent down to take Peggy's hand--here was another
+tremendous splash, and two Undines sat in the tank, gazing speechless on
+each other. This was too much for the composure of any one. Both Peggy
+and Gertrude sat helpless, shaking with laughter, and absolutely unable
+to move. Bertha, outside, fairly went into hysterics, and laughed and
+screamed in one breath; while the other girls raised such a clamour of
+mingled mirth and terror that Emily Cortlandt, who had just come in to
+take a look at the decorations, came running down-stairs, dreading she
+knew not what.
+
+One look over the edge of the tank, and Miss Cortlandt was not so very
+much better than the rest of them; but she recovered herself sooner.
+Wiping her eyes, she proceeded at once to the business of rescuing the
+two involuntary divers. It proved impossible for them to climb up, the
+sides being too slippery, and the flying leap being out of the question
+in two feet of water. She brought a short ladder, and in another moment
+first one nymph and then the other came up from their fountain, and
+dripped little rivers on the floor.
+
+"Is either of you hurt?" asked Miss Cortlandt.
+
+"Not I!" said Gertrude, ruefully. "I fell on top of poor Peggy, and she
+makes a perfect cushion. How are you, Peggy? Did I half kill you?"
+
+"Not a bit! I think perhaps I've sprained my wrist a little, but that
+was when I went in myself. No, I'm all right; truly I am, Miss
+Cortlandt. I'll just go and change my clothes, and then come back and
+finish."
+
+Emily Cortlandt did not come of amphibious stock. "You will do nothing
+of the kind!" she said. "You _ought_ to go to bed, Peggy, and Gertrude,
+too; but I suppose you would think that a terrible piece of injustice."
+
+"Yes, Miss Cortlandt, we should!" replied both girls, in a breath.
+
+"And I know that you have both been brought up more or less like whales;
+so I'll let you off with camphor pills and peppermint drops. Those you
+_must_ have. Run along and change everything--everything, mind!--and
+I'll come around in five minutes and dose you. Run, now; make it a race,
+and I'll add hot lemonade to the stakes,--first prize and booby prize!"
+
+"Yes, Miss Cortlandt," cried the two Undines; and off they set in a
+shower of spray, with the other girls at their heels.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+AN ADVENTURE.
+
+
+It all came from Peggy's forgetting her handkerchief. That was nothing
+remarkable. Rapidly though our heroine was developing, there was still
+plenty of the old Peggy left; and when she looked up at Miss Russell
+with a certain imploring gaze, the Principal was apt to say, without
+waiting for anything further: "Yes, Peggy, you may; but do try to
+remember it next time!"
+
+But this time it was well that Peggy had not remembered it. She stumbled
+across the long dining-room quite in her own way, stubbing her toe
+against a sophomore's chair, and sending the sophomore's spoon
+clattering to the ground. Stooping, in confusion, to pick it up, with
+muttered apologies, she encountered the sophomore's head bent down for
+the same purpose, and some mutual star-gazing ensued. Finally she did
+manage to get out of the room, after cannoning against the door and
+taking most of the skin off her nose, and made her way up-stairs
+ruefully, rubbing the places that hurt most, and wondering where in her
+anatomy lay the "clumsy bone" that her father always talked about. "And
+it isn't there all the time!" said poor Peggy. "Sometimes I don't fall
+into anything for days, and then, all at once, it's like this!"
+
+Shaking her head dolefully, she reached her own room, got the
+handkerchief, remembered with a great effort to shut the drawer, and
+came out into the corridor again--to come face to face with a man
+emerging from the opposite room.
+
+The opposite room was Vanity Fair; and the man's hands were full of
+trinkets and knickknacks, and his pockets bulged in a suspicious way. He
+cast a wild glance over Peggy's shoulder at the open door of her room
+and the fire-escape beyond; evidently he had entered by that way, and
+counted on the dinner-hour's keeping every one below stairs till he got
+safe away. Now, however, baffled in this, he turned down the corridor
+with some degree of composure.
+
+"Stop!" said Peggy. "Who are you, and what are you doing here?"
+
+"I'm the plumber, miss," said the man, still walking away.
+
+"Put down those things!" cried Peggy. "Do you hear? or I'll call the
+police!"
+
+Apparently the man did not hear, or else did not fancy the idea
+suggested to him, for he began to run down the long corridor as fast as
+he could go.
+
+So it came to pass that the school, waiting peacefully for its pudding,
+heard a sound of hasty feet scurrying down the stairs. Then, all in a
+rush, came past the door the flying figure of a man, with Peggy Montfort
+in hot pursuit.
+
+"Stop thief!" Peggy shouted it once, and then prudently saved her
+breath. The man fumbled for an instant at the front door, gave it up,
+darted into Miss Russell's study. Crash went a window; he was out, with
+Peggy at his heels, and away across the lawn.
+
+"Stop thief!" the cry rang through the school; and, lo! in the twinkling
+of an eye there was no school there. The long dining-room was emptied as
+if by magic; the front door flew open, and out streamed the seventy
+maidens, all crying "Stop thief!" all running their very best to come up
+with the flying pair.
+
+There were some good runners at Pentland School; but after the first few
+minutes of running together, jostling and pushing, two girls drew
+rapidly away from the rest, and soon left them far behind. Gertrude
+Merryweather and Grace Wolfe had long been friendly rivals in what they
+called the royal sport of running. Perhaps neither of them was sorry of
+this opportunity for a "good spurt." Certainly it was a pretty sight,
+the two tall, graceful creatures, lithe and long-limbed as young
+greyhounds, speeding over the ground, their arms held close at their
+sides, their eyes flashing, youth and strength seeming to radiate from
+them as they ran. Now one drew ahead a little, now the other; but for
+the most part they kept side by side, for both were running their best,
+not only for the joy and honour of the thing, but because it was
+necessary to arrive, to help Peggy and catch the thief.
+
+The thief was evidently not a trained athlete, but he was doing his
+best. He had cut himself a good deal in smashing the window, and had
+thrown away part of his booty, hoping that his relentless pursuer might
+be content, and might stop to pick up the brooches and belt-buckles that
+lay at her feet; but Peggy never looked at them, and held on straight
+after him, gaining, undoubtedly gaining. The man doubled back across the
+lawn, hoping to reach the gate and safety; but Peggy headed him off as
+quietly and coolly as if he were an unruly steer in the home stock-yard.
+Again he doubled, and again the girl was running in a diagonal to cut
+off his approach to the wished-for retreat. But now he caught sight of
+the two tall avengers bearing down upon him, and the school in full cry
+behind. He made a desperate spurt and reached the gate; it was half
+open, and as he rushed through he slammed it behind him with a hoarse
+shout of defiance. But much Peggy cared for gates! She was over in an
+instant, and at his heels again. And realising this, the rascal suddenly
+changed his tactics. He stopped short, and, turning on Peggy a
+villainous face, bade her with an oath, "Come on, and see what she would
+get for it!"
+
+The words had not left his lips, when a ludicrous change came over the
+man's face. He uttered a wild yell, and fell headlong, almost at Peggy's
+feet. When Peggy saw this, she knew what to do; and when Grace and
+Gertrude came flying up a moment after, they found her sitting quietly
+on the rascal's head, and telling Colney Hatch to go for the police.
+
+Colney had been watching the evolutions of a new and extremely
+interesting spider. The spider had made her web in the hedge beside the
+road; and Colney, as soon as morning recitations were over, had hastened
+thither, and sat down under the hedge to watch, undisturbed by thoughts
+of dinner or of any other known thing. So watching, it came to pass that
+she heard the sound of rushing feet so close that it actually did
+disturb her; and looked up to see an extremely ill-looking fellow in
+full flight, hotly pursued by Peggy Montfort. When he turned to bay, it
+was within a foot of the spot where Colney sat under the hedge; and
+without more ado Colney stretched out her long, lean hand, and, grabbing
+the fellow by the ankles, "tripped up his heels, and he fell on his
+nose."
+
+Presently up came the school, panting and breathless; with them Miss
+Cortlandt, who had been saying to herself that if she ever let herself
+get out of practice in running again she would know the reason why.
+Finally, up came William the chore-man from one direction (for Miss
+Russell had gone straight to the kitchen and given the alarm there), and
+the next-door neighbour from the other; whereupon Constable Peggy got up
+from her uneasy seat, and handed over her prize to the tender mercies of
+his own sex.
+
+"Git up, ye varmint!" said William, stirring the prostrate figure with
+his foot. "Git up, and say what ye've got to say for yerself."
+
+The man got up, bewildered, and shaking his head as if he expected it to
+come off.
+
+"She 'most killed me!" he spluttered. "I ain't got no breath left in my
+body."
+
+"Small loss if ye hain't!" retorted William. "What's he ben doin',
+gals?" William never _would_ say "young ladies," which distressed Miss
+Russell; but he was _so_ valuable, as she said.
+
+"Stealing!" said Peggy, briefly. "I met him coming out of one of the
+rooms."
+
+"I snum!" said William. "You're a nice kind o' harmonium, ben't ye? Tu'n
+out yer pockets!"
+
+"She sot down on my head!" muttered the man. "Somethin' come up out o'
+the ground at me and knocked me down, and then she sot down on my head.
+I'm 'most killed, I tell ye!"
+
+"Well, who cares if ye be?" replied William, with some irritation. "It's
+a pity she didn't finish the job, that's all I've got to say. Tu'n out
+yer pockets, will ye?"
+
+The man obeyed unwillingly, still muttering; and out came a mass of
+lockets, pins, and chains, enough, in spite of those he had thrown away,
+to furnish half the girls in the school.
+
+After searching to see the surrender was complete, William adjured the
+next-door neighbour, a stout and silent person named Simpson, who had
+been standing by, to "take t'other arm, and we'll walk him down to the
+lock-up jest as easy!" The thief begged and prayed, and, finding that
+useless, took to cursing and swearing; whereupon William and Mr. Simpson
+marched him off in short order, and all three disappeared around the
+turn leading to the High Street.
+
+The school was left standing in the road, still panting with haste and
+excitement. They had been silent during William's colloquy with the man,
+but now the strings of their tongues were loosened, and the flood of
+speech broke loose.
+
+"My dear!"
+
+"My _dear_! I never was so excited in my life, were you?"
+
+"Where did he come from?"
+
+"Who saw him first?"
+
+"Why, Peggy Montfort, of course! Didn't you see her?"
+
+"No; I just ran, because every one else was--"
+
+"Perfectly distracted! I never heard of such a thing."
+
+"He was in the closet--"
+
+"No; he was on the stairs--"
+
+"Just getting out of the window--"
+
+"With just her bare hands, I tell you. Just took a--"
+
+"Pair of earrings, nothing else in the world."
+
+"But who was he--where did he come from? What does Peggy say about it?"
+
+"Girls! _girls_!" cried Miss Cortlandt. "Will you please be silent for a
+moment? Peggy has not had a chance to say a word yet, and I for one want
+to hear her story. Have you got your breath yet, Peggy? because we all
+want to hear, very much indeed."
+
+"There isn't much to tell," said Peggy, blushing. "I went up to get my
+handkerchief,--I had forgotten it,--and as I was coming out of my room,
+this fellow was just coming out of the other room."
+
+"What other room? Whose was it?" cried a dozen voices.
+
+"Why, Van--I mean No. 17, Miss Vincent and Miss Varnham's room."
+
+"Oh! oh!" a shrill scream was heard; and Viola Vincent pushed her way
+through the crowd of girls, and threw herself upon Peggy.
+
+"My Veezy-vee!" she cried. "It was my room! V., do you hear? It was our
+room that horrid wretch was robbing. My dear, if we had been there we
+should have been murdered in our beds, I know we should. Peggy Montfort
+has saved our lives. Isn't it perfectly awful?"
+
+"That she should have saved your lives?" asked the Snowy Owl, laughing.
+"Come to your senses, Vanity, and don't strangle Peggy. She's black in
+the face, and I shall have to set about saving her life if you don't let
+her go."
+
+Released from Viola's embrace, Peggy gasped, and shook herself like a
+Newfoundland puppy.
+
+"Don't be ridiculous, Vanity!" she said, looking at once pleased and
+shamefaced. "It wasn't anything, of course; it was just what any one
+else would have done. But do look out for your things! They are
+scattered all about the lawn; he threw away a lot of them when he first
+came out, and we shall be stepping on them if we don't take care. Oh!
+oh, please don't say anything more about it. It was just the merest
+chance I happened to go up." This was to Vivia Varnham, who, trying to
+overcome her ungraciousness, was expressing her gratitude for what Peggy
+had done. It was evidently an effort and was not pleasant for either
+girl.
+
+The girls scattered over the lawn, picking up here a hairpin, there a
+brooch or buckle. It really seemed as if Vanity Fair was stocked like a
+jeweller's shop. Gertrude Merryweather, standing by Peggy, uttered an
+exclamation. "My dear! Peggy! Why, you are all over blood! You are
+bleeding now. What--where--oh! oh, Fluffy, _look_ here!" Bertha came
+running, as Gertrude lifted Peggy's arm, which was indeed dripping
+blood. Both girls exclaimed in horror, and Bertha turned quite white;
+but Peggy looked at it coolly.
+
+"Oh!" she said. "That must be where I went through the window after
+him."
+
+"The window?"
+
+"Yes, didn't you hear the crash? He smashed the window in Miss Russell's
+study and got out, and I followed him, of course. It isn't anything.
+Why, I didn't feel it till you spoke."
+
+"That is excitement!" said the Snowy Owl. "You must come in and be
+bandaged this minute, Peggy! Come right along to the Nest; I have
+bandages and lint all ready."
+
+The Snowy Owl was all on fire with ardour and sympathy. Peggy looked at
+her in surprise, but the Fluffy Owl laughed. "You have struck the
+Snowy's hobby," she said. "She is going to study medicine, you know. Go
+along; she will be happy all the rest of the day, bandaging and
+cosseting you."
+
+"But it doesn't hurt!" said Peggy, still wondering.
+
+"Never mind!" said the Snowy Owl. "It ought to hurt, Peggy Montfort,
+and it will hurt in a little while. Come along and be bandaged!" and,
+meekly wondering, Peggy went.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+
+PEGGY VICTRIX!
+
+
+"Well, it certainly was a great success!" said the Scapegoat. It was the
+day after the reception, and she had drifted into the Owls' Nest toward
+twilight, and now stood by the mantelpiece, swaying backward and forward
+in the light, wind-blown way she had.
+
+"A great success!" she repeated, thoughtfully. "Why, it was actually
+pleasant! How did you manage it?"
+
+"We didn't manage it," said honest Bertha. "It just came so. Everybody
+was ready to have a good time, and had it; that was all."
+
+"More than that!" said Grace, absent-mindedly. "There has to be a knack,
+or something, and you have it. I haven't. I couldn't do it, even if I
+wanted to, and I don't think I do."
+
+"Do what?" said the Snowy.
+
+"Be an Owl!" said Grace. Suddenly she left her hold of the shelf, and
+turned upon them almost fiercely.
+
+"Why should I?" she exclaimed. "Tell me that, will you? It is all
+natural to you. Your blood flows quietly, and you like quiet, orderly
+ways, and never want to throw things about, or smash a window. I tell
+you I have to, sometimes. Look here!"
+
+She caught up a vase from the shelf, and seemed on the point of flinging
+it through the closed window, but Gertrude laid her hand on her arm
+firmly. "You may have a right to throw your own things, my dear," she
+said, good-naturedly. "You have no possible right to throw mine, and
+'with all respect, I do object!'"
+
+Grace gave a short laugh, and set the vase down again; but she still
+looked frowningly at the two girls, and presently she went on.
+
+"It's all very well for you, I tell you. You have a home, and a--my
+mother died when I was five years old. My father--"
+
+"Grace, dear," said Gertrude; "come and sit down here by me, and tell
+me about your mother. I have seen her picture; she must have been
+lovely."
+
+But Grace shook her head fiercely.
+
+"My father is an actor, and I want to be one, too, but he promised my
+mother before she died--she didn't want me to be one. What do I care
+about all this stuff we are learning here? I tell you I want to take a
+tambourine and go on the road with a hand-organ man. That would be life!
+I would, too, if I only had the luck to have hair and eyes like yours,
+Fluffy."
+
+"You could wear a wig, of course," said Bertha, soberly. "The eyes would
+be a difficulty, though, I'm afraid."
+
+"Well, I am here now! and I'm supposed to stay another year, and then go
+to college. Four--five years more of bondage, and tasks, and lectures on
+good behaviour! Am I likely to stand it, I ask you?"
+
+"I hope so!" said Gertrude, steadily. "It would be a thousand pities if
+you didn't, Grace, and you know it as well as I do."
+
+"And if I do, it must be in my own way!" cried the wild girl, swinging
+round again on her heel. "And if I can make things more endurable
+here--if I can get rid of--it must be in my own way, I tell you. Snowy,
+you are like your name, I suppose. You are white and gold and calm,--I
+don't know what you are, except that we are not of the same flesh. I
+tell you, I turn to fire inside! I must break out, I must go off when
+the fit comes on me. I do no harm! It doesn't hurt anybody for me to go
+down the wall and cool myself with a run in the fields. Why can't I be
+let alone? I am not a child! I tell you it is the way I am made!"
+
+The Snowy Owl rose, and, going to the fireplace, laid her arm around
+Grace's shoulder.
+
+"You are making yourself!" she said. "It's your own life, Wolf; are you
+making it worse or better?"
+
+"I'm not doing either. I am taking it as it comes, as it was meant to
+come."
+
+Gertrude shook her head quietly.
+
+"That can't be!" she said. "That is impossible, Wolf. We have to be
+growing one way or the other; we can't stay as we are, for a year or a
+day. And there's another thing: you don't seem to think about the
+others, about the effect on the school. If you are to break the laws,
+why should not every one do the same?"
+
+"Because they are different!" said Grace, sullenly.
+
+"You don't know that! They may have the same temptations, and be
+stronger than you to resist them. You ought to be a strong girl, Grace,
+and, instead of that, you are weak--as weak as water."
+
+"Weak? I!" cried Grace, her eyes blazing. "If any one else had said that
+to me, Gertrude Merryweather, I would--"
+
+"But no one else would say it to you!" said Gertrude. "Because no one
+else--except Miss Russell--cares as much as I do--Fluffy and I. We love
+you too much, Grace, to flatter you and follow you, as most of them do.
+I tell you, and you may take it as simple truth, for it is nothing else,
+that which you think strength is simply weakness,--lamentable weakness.
+And as for your influence on the other girls--just listen a moment!"
+
+Taking up a little book from the table, she opened it--indeed it seemed
+to open of its own accord at the place--and read:
+
+        "'Little thinks, in the field, yon red-cloaked clown
+         Of thee from the hill-top looking down;
+         The heifer that lows in the upland farm,
+         Far-heard, lows not thine ear to charm;
+         The sexton, tolling his bell at noon,
+         Deems not that great Napoleon
+         Stops his horse, and lists with delight,
+         Whilst his files sweep round yon Alpine height;
+         Nor knowest thou what argument
+         Thy life to thy neighbour's creed hath lent.
+         All are needed by each one;
+         Nothing is fair or good alone.'"
+
+There was silence when she finished reading. Then--"What is that?" asked
+Grace, stretching out her hand. "Give it to me!"
+
+"Emerson. Take him home with you, and let him talk to you; he speaks
+well."
+
+Grace took the book, looked it over, and dropped it into her pocket. For
+a moment she leaned her head against Gertrude's arm, and a sigh broke
+from her involuntarily. Then, all in a moment, a change came. Her face
+lightened in an indescribable way, and her eyebrows lifted with a look
+that both girls knew well.
+
+"And have you heard the news?" she said. "There is a rumour that my
+Puggy leaves me at the end of the term. How to exist, I ask you, without
+her? Othello's occupation would be gone indeed."
+
+"No! is it true? Why is she going? What does it mean?"
+
+Grace shrugged her shoulders with an elfish gesture.
+
+"How should I know? It appears she sees ghosts. A ghost must be hard up,
+one would think, to visit my Puggy; there ought to be an asylum for
+impoverished spectres. Would you subscribe for it, Owls? Good-bye! I
+must go. You mean well, and I don't bear malice. Oh! by the by,--" she
+came back for an instant, and stood balancing herself on one foot and
+looking round the edge of the door, and she certainly looked hardly
+human,--"I forgot the thing I came for. Stand by the Innocent this
+evening, will you, if she should get into trouble? I am sent for to the
+study, and shall be in for a good hour's lecture, and then bed."
+
+"What do you mean, Goat? What is it?" asked both girls, anxiously. But
+the Goat was gone.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Peggy was enjoying herself extremely. She had learned all her lessons,
+for a wonder, and now she had curled herself up in a corner with the
+"Jungle Book," and the rest of the world was forgotten. There was
+nobody, there never had been anybody, but Mowgli and the Wolves. She had
+hunted with them, she had slain Shere-Khan, she had talked with Baloo
+and Bagheera. Her outdoor nature had responded in every fibre to the
+call of the Master of Magic, and he filled her with joy and wonder. As
+the Snowy had said, the worlds were opening, and the doors thereof.
+
+Things being thus with her, she hardly heard her own door open softly.
+Before she had torn her eyes from the enchanted page, the room was
+filled with silent, flitting figures--as it had been often filled
+before. The girls nodded to her with silent laughter and friendly
+gestures. In another moment they would have been at the window; but
+Peggy was not dreaming now. In an instant she had sprung from her corner
+among the cushions, and stood before the window, with arms outspread.
+"No!" she said.
+
+The girls recoiled, paused, in amazement. There were six of them: the
+two V's, Blanche Haight, and three other sophomores. Peggy saw with a
+throb of joy that Grace Wolfe was not among them. That would have made
+it harder.
+
+"What does this mean?" asked Vivia Varnham, with her cold smile. "You
+have never made any trouble before, Peggy; isn't it rather late in the
+day?"
+
+"Oh, she's only in fun!" cried Viola Vincent. "Aren't you, Veezy-vee?
+Why, she's acting, girls, and she does it elegantly. It's perf'ly fine,
+Veezy-vee. I didn't know you had it in you."
+
+"No, I am not acting," said Peggy, quietly. "I am sorry, girls, but you
+can't go out. You never can go out again, so long as I am here."
+
+"Upon my word!" cried Blanche Haight, who had not spoken yet. "This
+seems to be a pretty state of things. Perhaps you are not aware, Miss
+Montfort, that this exit was used, long before you came to adorn the
+school with your presence. We acknowledge no right of yours to forbid us
+the use of it. Stand out of the way, please."
+
+For a reply, Peggy backed against the window; her face assumed an
+expression with which her family was acquainted.
+
+"When Peggy looks dour," Jean used to say, "look out for rising winds
+and a falling barometer!"
+
+Then Viola came forward, and began to plead, in her pretty, wheedling
+way.
+
+"Let us go, just this once; that's a dear, good Veezy. I know what has
+happened; Miss Russell has found out, hasn't she?"
+
+Peggy nodded.
+
+"And she has spoken to you, and of course I know just how you feel. But
+you see, Peggy, we have an appointment this time, truly we have, with
+some college girls, and you wouldn't make us break it, would you,
+Veezy? Of course you don't want us to go, and we won't again,--at least
+most probably we won't, if it is going to get you into trouble. But we
+really _have_ to go this time, Peggy, dear, so do be nice and sweet, and
+let us pass."
+
+"No," said Peggy. "I'm sorry, Viola, but it's no use. Nothing you can
+say will make any difference."
+
+"Possibly not!" said Blanche Haight; she pushed Viola aside without
+ceremony, and came close to Peggy.
+
+"Possibly nothing we can say will make a difference, Miss Montfort, but
+something we can _do_ may make a good deal. I ask you, fair and square,
+will you come away from that window? We are six to one, and I give you
+the chance of settling this in a quiet and friendly way. Will you come
+away from that window?"
+
+"No," said Peggy, "I will not. Is that square enough?"
+
+"Then, girls," said Blanche, turning to her followers, "we must help
+ourselves. We shall see whether one freshman is going to block the way
+of the Gang! You take one arm, Viola, and I'll take the other."
+
+"Oh, don't hurt her!" cried Viola. "Don't hurt her, Blanche. I'm awfully
+fond of Peggy. I know she only means to do what she thinks she ought to.
+Peggy, do give up! You are all alone, and there are six of us. Do give
+up, Peggy; for my sake, Peggy! I--I'll give you my gold bangle, the one
+with the locket, if you'll only give up, Peggy!"
+
+Peggy smiled, and said nothing. She could not be angry with the little
+butterfly, but there was no use in wasting breath; she might need all
+she had.
+
+Blanche Haight seized one arm, Vivia Varnham the other, and tried to
+drag her away from the window by main force. With her favourite
+Newfoundland-dog motion, Peggy shook them off, planted a quick blow
+here, another there, and her assailants staggered back for a moment. In
+another instant, however, they returned to the attack, and this time the
+other sophomores joined, and all five threw themselves on Peggy. Once
+more she shook them off, but they closed in again, and a struggle
+began, all the more fierce that no word was spoken, no cry uttered. No
+cry, that is, by the combatants. When the five set upon Peggy, Viola ran
+in and made an effort to pull them off, with piteous entreaties. But no
+one paid the smallest heed to her, and the poor little butterfly,
+frightened and distressed, burst into tears, and ran away.
+
+At the same moment, any one who had been listening in quiet might have
+heard a singular sound that seemed to come from above, from outside--no
+one could tell from where; the cry of an owl, followed by a long, low
+howl. Three times this was repeated; and many a junior, studying under
+her lamp, looked up and said, "What is up now, I wonder?" for the sound
+recalled freshman days, before the Lone Wolf and the two Owls had come
+to the parting of the ways.
+
+Three minutes later, two figures, speeding silently along Corridor A,
+were met at a turn by a third, which flung itself sobbing upon them.
+
+[Illustration: "WITH ONE OF HER SUDDEN MOVEMENTS SHE HAD THROWN OFF HER
+ASSAILANTS."]
+
+"Oh, Snowy, oh, Fluffy, they are killing Peggy Montfort! I was coming
+to call you--oh, be quick! be quick!"
+
+Without stopping, somehow the Snowy Owl managed to open a door and
+thrust Viola in. It was to be noticed that neither girl looked at her.
+They ran on, swift and silent.
+
+Indeed, it was time! Peggy's lip was bleeding, where Vivia Varnham's
+head had struck against it as she fell, tripped by a pretty trick that
+was learned on the Western farm. Her hair was dragged down and hung in
+her eyes, her dress was torn in a dozen places. With one of her sudden
+movements she had thrown off her assailants, and stood for an instant
+alone, looking the very Spirit of Battle, with blazing eyes and scarlet
+cheeks. Blanche Haight rushed at her again, and this time Peggy seized
+her around the waist in a deadly grip. The others closed in once more,
+furious, determined this time to finish with the insolent freshman. It
+was like to go hard with Peggy Montfort this time.
+
+What happened? A flash, the glance of an eye, and all was changed. The
+assailants fell back, staggering across the room, gasping and staring;
+and the Snowy and the Fluffy Owl were standing shoulder to shoulder with
+Peggy, one on either side, with stern and angry looks.
+
+For a moment there was dead silence, save for the hard breathing as
+Blanche Haight tried to wriggle out of the iron grasp that held her--in
+vain! Then Gertrude Merryweather spoke.
+
+"Miss Varnham, Miss Floyd, Miss Johnson, Miss White, Miss--who is
+this?--Miss Haight. Found out of bounds and out of hours, making a
+disturbance in the rooms. To be reported to the Principal. Go to your
+rooms, if you please!"
+
+Was this the Snowy Owl, gentle and friendly, beloved of all? No! it was
+the Junior President and the Monitor of Corridor A. She might have been
+an avenging angel as she stood there, tall and white and severe.
+
+Her face softened as she bent over Peggy. "You can let her go now!" she
+said. "We are here, Peggy, Bertha and I. It is all right! Let her go,
+child!"
+
+Slowly and reluctantly Peggy loosed her hold, and Blanche,
+half-fainting, dropped upon the bed. She looked with feeble venom at the
+two rescuers.
+
+"Spying, eh?" she whispered. "Very dignified, I'm sure, for a president.
+That little sneak Viola Vincent was here too, mind! Put her down in your
+precious report."
+
+"I don't see Miss Vincent here!" said Gertrude, coldly. "Go to your
+rooms, if you please! I think I understand the case thoroughly, Blanche,
+thank you. Will you go, or shall we help you?"
+
+But Blanche preferred to go unaided. Silent as they had come, they slunk
+away, flitting like shadows along the corridor. And when they were gone,
+the two Owls sat down on the bed and took Peggy between them, and
+rocked, and petted, and soothed her; for lo! the Goddess of Battle was
+crying like a three years' child.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV.
+
+ON SPY HILL.
+
+
+Things were quietly managed at Pentland School; there was never any
+outcry, any open flurry of excitement and gossip. Many of the scholars
+never knew why five girls left school in the middle of the term. The
+seniors who did know shrugged their shoulders, and said it was a pity to
+have such things take the girls' minds off their parts--looking at
+everything from the point of view of Senior Dramatics. The juniors
+looked pretty sober for a week, even the sophomore spirits were dashed
+for the time. But nothing was said openly, and after awhile the scared
+whisperings died away, and work and play went on as usual. Poor little
+Viola Vincent mourned deeply the loss of her mate. She herself had
+escaped with a severe reprimand, having gone to Miss Russell to plead
+Vivia's cause, and confessing frankly her own share in the escapade.
+Vivia was anything but an agreeable girl; but she and Viola had grown up
+together, next-door neighbours and companions from their cradles, and
+Viola was lost without her. She threw herself upon Peggy for
+consolation, and Peggy found herself in the curious position of
+protecting and comforting a junior, and a girl two years older than
+herself. Viola would come in, and, curling herself up in the corner of
+Peggy's divan, declare that she had come for a good cry. A few sniffs
+would follow, and then perhaps actual tears, but more likely a river of
+speech.
+
+"It's no use, Peggy! I cannot live! I simply can _not_ live on in this
+way. I know V. was horrid to you--yes, she was! Oh, I am not blind, you
+know, if I am a goose! She was horrid to most of the girls, I know she
+was, but she was good to me, generally, and it didn't matter much if she
+wasn't. I was used to her little ways, and I didn't mind. And I have
+always had her, you see, all my life, and I don't--see--how I _can_ get
+along without her. I wanted to be expelled, too! Yes, I did! that was
+why I told Miss Russell about my being there and all; I thought she
+would be sure to send me away, too. I think it was very unjust of her
+not to, I'm sure."
+
+"Viola, don't talk so! You had nothing to do with the--the attack, or
+any violence. You would have gone away quietly when I said you could not
+use the window; you know you would."
+
+"How do you know I would have? I might have torn you limb from limb,
+Peggy, for all you can say. What are you laughing at?"
+
+For this statement, coming from a small person with a grasp about as
+powerful as that of a week-old kitten, was too much for the stalwart
+Peggy's composure.
+
+"You don't know what I am when I am roused!" Viola went on. "I'm awful,
+simply awful!" And she opened her blue eyes wide, and looked like a
+tragic baby.
+
+"But--my! Peggy, how you did look that night! I wonder this whole room
+didn't turn blue with fright. I was frightened almost to death; I wonder
+I'm alive to-day. Well, wasn't it too perf'ly awful for anything, the
+whole thing?"
+
+"It was pretty bad!" Peggy assented. "But it's all over now, Viola; I
+would try not to dwell on it too much, if I were you. Of course I know
+how you must miss Vivia, and I'm dreadfully sorry about it all. But just
+think how dear the Owls have been to both of us."
+
+"Haven't they?" cried Viola, drying her tears, her eyes brightening.
+"Aren't they too perfectly lovely for anything, the Owls? I think the
+Snowy is just the sweetest thing that ever lived in this world, don't
+you?"
+
+"I think she's one of them," said honest Peggy. "But I'm just as fond of
+Bertha. She was my first friend here, my very first."
+
+"Oh, how funny you were that first day, Peggy!" cried Viola, laughing
+now, her sorrows forgotten for the time. "You were too killing! I
+thought I should have died, when you went tumbling all over yourself.
+You _were_ killing, weren't you, now?"
+
+"You seem to have survived!" said Peggy, good-naturedly. It was not
+pleasant to be laughed at, but no one ever minded Viola.
+
+"Where are you going?" demanded Viola, as Peggy got out her "Tam" and
+pinned it on with a resolute air. "Peggy, you are not going out, just
+when I have come to see you? I was so lonely, and I wanted some one to
+talk to; and now the minute I come, you get up and go away. I must say I
+don't think you are very polite." And Viola pouted and looked like a
+child of six instead of a girl of sixteen.
+
+"Viola!" said Peggy. "You have been here an hour and a half, do you know
+it? and I must have a walk; I haven't been outside the door this
+afternoon. Put on your Tam and come along with me! You'd feel ever so
+much better if you would take more exercise."
+
+"Oh, no, I shouldn't! and I cannot see what you want to be walk,
+walking, all the everlasting time for, Peggy Montfort. What's the use of
+it?"
+
+"The use?" cried Peggy, with sparkling eyes. "Why, there's all the use
+in the world. In the first place, it makes you strong and healthy, and
+keeps you well."
+
+"Oh! but gym does that! We have to do gym, and I don't mind that; in
+fact it's rather fun, only it spoils your figure dreadfully."
+
+"But gym isn't enough, if you don't take any other exercise," said
+Peggy. "And besides, V., just think of the _joy_ of walking and running.
+Why, you see all the things growing, and breathe the air, and--and--hear
+the birds, and the water, and--well, I shouldn't want to live if I
+couldn't walk, that's all. Come along, and you'll see!"
+
+"Oh, I can't, I'm too tired."
+
+"You are tired, because you have been sitting in the house all day. And
+you are pale, and--"
+
+"No! am I?" cried Viola, running to the glass. "I'm so glad! I just love
+to be pale, it's so interesting. It makes my eyes look larger, too,
+doesn't it, Peggy? They do look very large to-day, don't they, Peggy?"
+
+Peggy sighed. "You do discourage me, Viola!" she said. "Well, good-bye.
+I must go. The others are waiting for me."
+
+"What others? Who else is going? What are you going to do?"
+
+"Why, I told you! We are going to walk."
+
+"Yes, but what _for_? Are you going to the shops, or going to see
+somebody? I can't see _any_ sense in just stupid walking, without any
+object. And you didn't tell me who was going."
+
+"You didn't give me a chance. Well, Rose Barclay is going, and two other
+freshmen whom I don't think you know, Clara Fair and Ethel Bird--and
+Lobelia Parkins."
+
+"Peggy Montfort! why _do_ you go with that little animal? I've told you
+before that I could not, for the honour of the corridor, have you seen
+with a creature that looks like that. Let her go with Colney Hatch if
+she wants company; they'd be two of a kind."
+
+"Colney Hatch is one of the brightest girls in school, Miss Cortlandt
+says so!"
+
+"Very likely; but that doesn't make her a fit associate for you, my
+Veezy-vee. You never seem to understand about different sets. I want you
+to belong to the smart set, and you won't."
+
+"Do the Owls belong to it?" demanded Peggy, turning red.
+
+"Peggy, how dense you are! The Owls don't belong to any set because they
+won't. Of course they could belong to any set they pleased."
+
+"Does Grace Wolfe belong to it?"
+
+"The Goat? Why, she used to; but she's so awfully queer, you know; the
+Goat has grown too awfully queer for anything. She stays by herself
+mostly, ever since she cut loose from the Gang. And Vivia is gone," she
+wailed, "and Blanche Haight,--Blanchey was not very nice, but her gowns
+fitted like a seraph's, and the style to her hats was too perfectly
+killing for anything, you know it was. And now there isn't any one, not
+a single soul, that I care to talk to about clothes. I've had my pink
+waist done over, and it's simply dandy--the sweetest thing you ever saw
+in your life; and nobody cares. I am so unhappy!"
+
+"I haven't seen that new hat you told me about!" said Peggy, with a
+happy stroke of diplomacy. If any one had told Margaret Montfort that
+her Peggy would ever develop a talent for diplomacy she would have
+opened her eyes wide indeed; but one learns many things at
+boarding-school.
+
+Viola brightened at once.
+
+"No! didn't I?" she cried, her whole manner changing. "Would you like to
+see it, Peggy? It is really too cute for anything, it just _is_! What
+makes you shut up your mouth that way?"
+
+"Oh, nothing! Well, yes, it is something. You won't mind if I tell you?
+Well, I used to say 'cute,' and Margaret showed me what bad English it
+was, and how silly it sounded. So I made up my mind to stop it, and
+every time I wanted to say it I screwed up my mouth and counted ten.
+Just the same with 'elegant.' I've broken myself of that, too, but it
+was hard work."
+
+"Elegant! simply elegant!" repeated Viola, thoughtfully. "The Goat won't
+let you say that, either, or the Owls. What's the use of being so fussy?
+besides, elegant is a real word, they can't say it isn't, so now!"
+
+"Oh! of course it is, and it has its real use. You can speak of an
+elegant dress, or an elegant carriage, and then it's all right; but I
+used to say I had had an elegant time, don't you know? and talk about
+elegant cake, and all that kind of thing. And when once you have learned
+better, it does sound awfully silly."
+
+"Well, they make just as much fuss about 'awful,' and there you are
+saying that, and you say it all the time."
+
+"I know!" said poor Peggy, hanging her head. "I know I do, though I try
+awfully hard not to. There! that's the way it is. It does seem as if I
+couldn't get over that, but I'm going on trying. And if you don't get
+your hat this minute, V., I shall go without you. I can't wait any
+longer. It's awfully--it's _very_ late."
+
+"Why, I'm coming, as fast as I can; how impatient you are, Peggy! You
+aren't half as fond of me as I am of you, or you would not be in such a
+hurry to get away to that little fright. There, here it is! Now isn't
+that dandy, simply dandy? I do think it is too perf'ly sweet for
+anything!"
+
+It was a pretty hat, and Viola certainly looked charming in it. She was
+so pleased with her appearance that she could not resist the temptation
+of "showing off" to the other girls; so she followed Peggy down to the
+lawn, where a little group was already gathered. At sight of a junior,
+even so unformidable a junior as Viola Vincent, poor little Lobelia
+Parkins shrank into a small knotted heap of misery. Through Peggy's
+intercession, Rose Barclay and the two other freshmen had been kind to
+her, and had agreed to let her share their walks, which they took now
+semi-weekly under Peggy's leadership. None of them cared for her, or
+felt much interest in her, but they did care for Peggy Montfort, partly
+because she was the strongest girl in the class, partly because of the
+fame that had accrued to her since her exploit in resisting and breaking
+up the famous Gang; but mostly, perhaps, because everybody felt and said
+that Peggy Montfort was "all right," which in schoolgirl parlance meant
+that she was a cheerful, kindly, and right-minded girl. So, though her
+chief friends were still among the juniors, she was well known and well
+liked in her own class.
+
+Peggy took Lobelia's hand, and drew it resolutely through her arm.
+
+"We'll lead the way!" she cried. "Rose and Viola, you two come next, and
+Clara and Ethel bring up the rear. How's that?"
+
+All agreed to the arrangement; and the six started off in high spirits.
+
+"Where are we going to-day?" asked Rose Barclay. "Don't kill us, Peggy!
+I haven't got over being stiff yet, from the last tramp. It was jolly,
+though."
+
+"It was splendid!" chimed in Ethel Bird. "Why, I had no idea what pretty
+places there were about here. Shall we go to the woods again?"
+
+"I thought of going up Spy Hill!" said Peggy. "It isn't very high, and
+there's a lovely view from the top."
+
+"Oh, I never can get as far as that!" cried Viola, aghast. "You said a
+little walk, Peggy, and that is miles and miles, I know it is. Oh, I
+think I'll go back."
+
+"Oh, don't!" cried Rose, in a tone of heartfelt interest that won
+Viola's susceptible heart. "It isn't very far, truly it isn't; and I
+want to ask you where you got that hat. It is too perfectly lovely for
+anything! I've got to have a new hat, and I do wish--"
+
+"My dear!" cried Viola, dimpling all over with pleasure, "I'll tell you
+all about it. You see--"
+
+There was no more trouble with Viola. Peggy chuckled, and started off at
+a round pace, the others following.
+
+The two Owls, standing at their window with arms intertwined, just
+thinking of taking a little flutter in the cool of the afternoon, looked
+after them with friendly eyes.
+
+"What's the matter with Peggy Montfort?" said the Fluffy to the Snowy.
+
+"_She's_ all right!" said the Snowy to the Fluffy. And then they looked
+at each other sternly, and shook their heads in grave rebuke. "My dear,"
+they said both together, "we are surprised!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV.
+
+WHAT WAS THE MATTER WITH LOBELIA PARKINS?
+
+
+"Lobelia, I insist upon knowing!"
+
+"Oh, Peggy, please don't ask me!"
+
+"But I will ask you. I do ask you. What is it that you are afraid of? I
+shall find out sooner or later, so you might as well give up at once and
+tell me."
+
+Lobelia looked around her uneasily. She and Peggy were sitting in a cosy
+little hollow under the lee of a great brown rock, waiting for the
+others to come up.
+
+"Come!" said Peggy. "There's nobody behind that rock. What is the matter
+with you, Lobelia Parkins, and why don't you sleep? Out with it!"
+
+Lobelia sighed, and twisted her buttons. "I--I never am a very good
+sleeper," she said at last. "I--I'm nervous, Peggy. And then--"
+
+"And then, what?"
+
+"Oh, dear me! I can't tell you. You won't believe me if I tell you.
+Things come into my room and frighten me."
+
+"Things? What do you mean, Lobelia?"
+
+"I don't know what I mean!" cried the poor girl, looking about her
+again, as if in dread of some unseen terror. "I don't know who it is, or
+what it is. Something--or somebody--comes through my room at night and
+goes out of the window."
+
+"Ah!" said Peggy. "Well, go on. How long has this been going on?"
+
+"Oh, ever so long! At first--Peggy, you will feel badly if I tell you
+this."
+
+"Well, then, I've got to feel badly," said Peggy, stoutly. "Though I
+can't see what I have to do with it--so far. I'll have plenty to do with
+it from now on!" she added, significantly. "Go on, Lobelia."
+
+"Well, you know that time you were so good to me, Peggy; when Blanche
+Haight and those others were teasing me, and you came in like a lioness
+and drove them off. I never shall forget it as long as I live, Peggy,
+never!"
+
+"Nonsense!" said Peggy. "It wasn't anything at all. Don't be absurd,
+Lobelia. Well, what since then?"
+
+"It began after that. She--I know that it used to be Blanche Haight
+then--she used to come in after I was in bed, and frighten me. She had a
+sheet on, and at first I thought it was a ghost, and I fainted the first
+time, I think; and then she used--she used to make faces and pinch me,
+and one time I saw her ring, and so I knew who it was."
+
+"The cowardly brute!" muttered Peggy. "It's well for her that she's out
+of this school. Now, Lobelia Parkins, why, in the name of all that is
+feeble-minded and ridiculous, didn't you tell me this before?"
+
+"Oh, I couldn't!" said Lobelia. "I had given you enough trouble, Peggy.
+And besides--"
+
+"Well! besides what?"
+
+"I was afraid! I was afraid she would kill me if I told."
+
+"My goodness gracious _me_!" cried Peggy, bouncing on her mossy seat,
+till Lobelia shrank away scared and trembling. "Do you think we live in
+the Middle Ages, Lobelia Parkins? This is what comes of reading history;
+it puts all those old-fangled notions into your head, till you have no
+sense left. I know! You had all that stuff about Florence and Rome, and
+poisoning, and all that. I had it too; awful stuff, and probably
+two-thirds lies. History is the father of lies, you know; somebody says
+so somewhere."
+
+"I--I thought it was Herodotus who was called that," Lobelia ventured,
+timidly.
+
+"Perhaps it was; it's all the same."
+
+"No, I am wrong. Herodotus was called the father of history, and then
+some other people said he was the father of lies; but now it has all
+come true, so he isn't any more!"
+
+Lobelia, who was stupid and painstaking, proffered this lucid
+explanation painfully, and then gasped; it seemed a liberty for her to
+explain anything to anybody.
+
+"Who cares?" said Peggy. "He's dead, anyhow. Oh, how it used to provoke
+my dearest Margaret when I said that. I only mean, I never see how it
+can matter so much as people think. But you are not dead, Lobelia; and
+the idea of your being killed, here in this school, in the nineteenth
+century! Why, it is absurd, don't you see? It is funny! You must laugh
+about it, my dear!"
+
+Lobelia, with an effort, produced a watery smile; seeing which, Peggy's
+mood changed, and she laid her hand instantly on the skinny, shrinking
+arm.
+
+"My dear, don't think I was laughing at _you_," she cried, warmly. "No;
+I am going to be furious in a minute, when I get round to that part
+again. Well, but Lobelia, Blanche Haight is gone now, and a good
+riddance, and yet you say you are still afraid. What are you afraid of?"
+
+"I--I don't know who it is now!" said Lobelia. "But some one comes
+through, just the same."
+
+"How do you mean, just the same? some one pinches you?"
+
+"No! oh, no! this person never speaks to me or looks at me.
+It--she--only wants to go through the window. It has something light
+gray over its head and shoulders. It goes down the fire-escape and
+stays about half an hour, and then comes back. I--I don't mind it so
+very much, now. I dare say it's all right, only--I can't sleep very
+well, you know."
+
+"I see!" said Peggy. "Well, I think we can settle that matter, Lobelia.
+Hush! here come the others. We won't say anything more about it now.
+Well, girls, how did it go? Isn't it a lovely little scramble?"
+
+Rose Barclay and Viola appeared, with the other two just behind. Viola
+was panting, and her delicate colour was deepened by exertion till she
+was almost as rosy as her companion.
+
+"My dear!" she cried. "You are responsible for my life! I am killed;
+simply killed, Peggy Montfort. I shall never recover from this awful
+fatigue, I know I shall not."
+
+"Nonsense!" said Peggy, briefly. "Here! sit down here, V., and get your
+breath; you'll be all right in a minute. It wasn't bad, was it, Rose?"
+
+"It was a bit stiff in one place!" Rose admitted. "I rather think we
+took the wrong turn, Peggy. Did you say left, after the big pine?"
+
+"No, right; you didn't come up that bank? Poor little V.! no wonder she
+thinks she is killed. Let me take your hat off, V., and get you some
+water or something."
+
+But Viola refused to part with her hat. She sat panting and crimson, and
+seemed really exhausted. Peggy eyed her with remorse. "I couldn't know
+that you would take the wrong turn, could I?" she said. "I'm awfully
+sorry!"
+
+"Oh, but it was fine!" said Ethel Bird. "How do you find out all these
+places, Peggy? This is just lovely, isn't it?"
+
+"By looking," said Peggy. "I like to poke about, and I came on this the
+other day. See, here's a little baby spring, trickling right out of the
+rock here. Isn't it pretty? and the water is clear and cold as ice.
+Shall I make you a leaf-cup, Viola? The best way, though, is to put your
+mouth down and drink, this way."
+
+"Oh, I never would do that!" cried Clara Fair. "Why, a snake might go
+right down your throat, Peggy Montfort; truly it might. There was a
+man--"
+
+"Oh, don't talk about a man!" cried Rose Barclay. "How could you, Clara?
+You remind me of my German lesson."
+
+"I never said a word about your German lesson," said Clara, who was
+literal and matter-of-fact.
+
+"No, but you reminded me," said Rose, who was imaginative and poetic.
+"All the morning I was saying to myself:
+
+        "'Der dickere Mann,
+         Des dickeren Mannes,
+         Dem dickeren Manne,
+         Den dickeren Mann.'"
+
+"You seem to have learned it, anyhow," said Peggy, laughing.
+
+"Oh, but that isn't all!" said Rose. "There is more horror. It goes on,
+you know:
+
+        "'Die dickeren Manner,
+         Der dickeren Manner,
+         Den dickeren Mannern,
+         Die dickeren Manner.'"
+
+"I think foreign languages are the silliest things in the world!"
+declared Peggy. "Well, I do! Such perfect foolishness as they talk! I
+have no patience with them."
+
+"Well, but Peggy, they aren't foreign when they are at home!" protested
+Ethel.
+
+"Well, then, I wish they would stay at home. I don't know whether German
+is so bad, though that sounds awful, all that you said just now, Rose;
+but I have French; and I have to try to mince and simper, and twist my
+mouth up into all kinds of shapes, just saying things that are too silly
+to _be_ said. I wish there was a law that no one in this country should
+ever speak anything but English. It would be ever so much more
+sensible."
+
+"So it would!" assented Rose. "I say! what a pity we didn't think to
+bring something to eat! I'm awfully hungry, walking all this way."
+
+"All this way, Rose!" said Peggy. "Why, how far do you think it is?"
+
+"Oh, four or five miles, I'm sure!"
+
+"Well, it isn't two. Look here, girls, what is the reason none of you
+seem to know how to walk?"
+
+"What do you mean? We have walked, haven't we? Here we are."
+
+"Oh, you call this a walk! that's just it, I tell you. You walk a mile,
+or two at the very most, and you think you have done something
+wonderful; and poor Viola is all tired out, and says she will never come
+again. Well, but this isn't what _I_ call walking, you know. Why, I went
+with the Owls the other day, and we walked fifteen miles if we did a
+step, and it was perfectly glorious. _That's_ what _I_ call walking, and
+I do wonder how it is that none of you ever learned. You are all strong
+and well, aren't you?"
+
+Yes, they were all strong and well; except Viola, who still declared she
+had got her death, and should never recover.
+
+"Well, but what's the use?" asked Rose. "I think this is great fun, to
+come to a pretty place like this, and sit and talk and look at the view;
+but just to go on walking and stalking along the way you and the Owls
+do,--what's the use of it? We are not ostriches, and why should we
+pretend we are? Besides, it takes such a lot of time."
+
+"And what would you be doing with your time?" asked Peggy, hotly.
+"Reading stories, or just sitting, sitting, and talking, talking. My
+goodness gracious _me_! the way some of the girls just sit around all
+their spare time, doing nothing, makes me tired. Why, if I hadn't
+stalked, as you call it, how would you have come here to-day, and seen
+the prettiest place you ever saw since you came here--for it is, and you
+can't deny it, girls. I do hate to see people doing nothing. I don't
+much care what they do, so long as it is _something_!"
+
+"Peggy, you're getting very ferocious, do you know it?" said Clara Fair.
+"And, after all, we did come, and now we are doing just as much as you
+are, and why are you shouting at us?"
+
+"I won't shout any more," said Peggy, laughing. "I suppose we all have
+our hobbies, haven't we? Walking is one of mine; and you are going to
+like it just as much as I do, girls, before we get through the term.
+Why, there are about twenty of the loveliest walks, and none of
+them--hallo!"
+
+Peggy stopped abruptly, and seemed to listen.
+
+"What's the matter?" asked Rose. "I didn't hear anything."
+
+"I thought I did," said Peggy, quietly. "Be still a minute, will you?"
+
+She bent her head. There was a moment of perfect silence; then,
+somewhere close at hand, a singular dry, rattling sound.
+
+"What a queer noise!" said Ethel. "What is it?"
+
+"It's time to go home, girls!" said Peggy. "You'd better start along,
+and I'll come behind you. Come, Viola, give me your hand--so! Now take
+her, Rose, and hurry along! Lobelia, go with them, will you?"
+
+"What upon earth is the matter, Peggy Montfort?" asked Rose, eyeing her
+curiously. "What do you want to get us out of the way for? I believe you
+have found something, and want to keep it to yourself."
+
+"Rose, _please_ go!" said Peggy, earnestly. "I am coming, I tell you.
+No, not there! that way--along by the big pine. Keep away from the
+rock--so! Now hurry, and I'm coming right along."
+
+The girls hardly knew why they obeyed; but there was such a singular
+earnestness in Peggy's look and gesture that they did not stay to
+question her, but one and all--or so it seemed--turned and hastened down
+the side of the hill.
+
+No sooner were their backs turned than Peggy, whose keen eyes had been
+fixed all this time on one spot, moved swiftly behind a great rock that
+stood close by. There, stooping, she sought with eager hands and eyes;
+sought and found a stout stick. She tried its strength--it was strong
+and tough. Then warily she came back, and looked once more at the pile
+of withered leaves that had riveted her attention before. The pile
+seemed to move--to undulate; and from it came once more the dry,
+rattling sound. Something reared itself, brown and slender; at the same
+instant a shriek rang through the wood. It did not come from Peggy's
+lips. Like a flash, the girl had sprung forward, and caught the snake's
+neck under her crotched stick, just as he was raising himself to strike.
+Pinned firmly to the earth, the creature could only twist and wriggle in
+impotent rage. Looking around coolly, Peggy saw Lobelia's face peering
+around the trunk of a tree, pale with horror.
+
+"Well!" said Peggy. "You are a nice obedient child, aren't you? Since
+you are there, you might get me a good stone; he's all right; he can't
+get his head round."
+
+Gasping and trembling, Lobelia found and brought a stone, which she held
+out at arm's length.
+
+"Oh, Peggy!" she whispered. "Is it--is it a rattlesnake?"
+
+"That's what!" said Peggy, relapsing into slang in the absorption of the
+moment. "He won't be a rattlesnake much longer, though. There! now you
+can look, Lobelia; he's dead. I tell you he's dead, as dead as Julius
+Caesar. What are you crying for, child?"
+
+Lobelia came forward, trembling and cringing.
+
+"Oh, Peggy, I knew it was. I didn't say anything, because I thought you
+wouldn't want me to--"
+
+"Quite right," said Peggy. "Sensible rabbit!"
+
+"And--and I am terribly afraid of snakes--oh, I was sure you would be
+killed, Peggy!"
+
+"And so you came back to be killed with me? Lobelia, what a foolish girl
+you are. There, there, don't cry. Why, the snake isn't crying, and he
+really has been killed."
+
+"Oh, Peggy, if you had been killed, I should have died. I shouldn't have
+needed any snake to kill me."
+
+"Nonsense!" said Peggy, gruffly. "Lobelia, do stop crying. My goodness
+gracious _me_, come along, or we shall have them all back again after
+us. I'm going to bring him too, and get Colney to dry him for me. He's a
+beauty! look at him, Lobelia! Not look at him? Why, I tell you he's
+dead, as dead as--who was he?--the Father of Lies! Come along, now."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI.
+
+THE TERROR BY NIGHT.
+
+
+All was quiet in No. 18, Corridor C. It was the room directly above
+Peggy; and was tenanted, as we have seen, by Lobelia Parkins. Lobelia
+was in bed at this moment, though it was before the usual bedtime. She
+had felt ill and dizzy-brained for several days, and Peggy had begged
+her to go to bed early and get a good long sleep. Peggy herself lay on a
+mattress on the floor. It was against the rule, but for once the
+law-abiding Peggy was wilfully breaking the rule. She felt strong in
+Miss Russell's confidence in her; and she meant to find out who and what
+it was that was "frightening Lobelia silly," as she expressed it.
+Accordingly, here she was, in her wrapper, with a blanket rolled around
+her. The night was warm, and the window was thrown wide open, Peggy
+having been brought up to love fresh air. Lobelia shivered, but would
+rather have frozen stiff than say a word, if Peggy preferred to have the
+room cold. Each girl hoped the other was asleep. Lobelia hardly dared to
+breathe; she lay still as a mouse, feeling a delightful sense of comfort
+and security, such as she had not felt since she came to this nightmare
+of a place. Not to be alone any more, with the night and the terrible
+things it brought; to have this friend, so strong, so kind, so helpful,
+lying close beside the bed, ready to help, to comfort,--Lobelia's poor
+shrinking spirit took courage, and she held her breath now and then, for
+the pure pleasure of hearing Peggy's calm, regular breathing. Surely she
+must be asleep! She could not breathe like that unless she were sleeping
+quietly. Oh, might nothing happen to break her friend's rest!
+
+Peggy was very nearly asleep, it was true. She had meant to stay awake
+as long as there was any possibility of any one's coming into the room.
+She was valiantly wide awake at first, and lay blinking at the moon,
+which Was shining in the most obliging manner full upon the spot where
+she lay. Peggy wondered what those mountains were like which made the
+strange figures on the broad, silver disk. They must be tremendous!
+Think of them, miles high, with deep, awful valleys between, and all
+dead and white and dry like bone. And all they seemed to be good for now
+was for us to make faces and things out of, and stories--to
+please--the--children. Peggy was getting very sleepy. She opened her
+eyes wider, and stared harder at the moon. It seemed to be staring back.
+They were certainly eyes, not--mountains--and one of them was winking at
+her; and now she seemed to hear a sound, a voice, coming from far,
+far--ages away, and saying, whispering--
+
+Then, all in a moment, sleep, and the moon and its mountains were as if
+they had never been.
+
+The door opened, swiftly and noiselessly, and some one darted in,--a
+tall, slender figure, with gray drapery over the head and shoulders. It
+turned and halted, facing the door. Peggy sprang up in bull-dog
+silence, and was about to fling herself bodily on the intruder; but an
+arm thrown out, a familiar gesture, a whispered word, checked her, and
+she stood motionless, hardly drawing breath. Next moment footsteps were
+heard in the corridor, as of some one hastening, and making every effort
+to be silent. The door was pushed hastily open, and Miss Pugsley stood
+on the threshold. She was panting, and her dress was disarranged.
+
+"Ah!" she cried, in a spiteful whisper. "I have caught you at last, have
+I? I know you, miss! No need to hide your face! I know you well enough,
+and this is the end of your fine doings. Lift up that veil, I command
+you!"
+
+The gray figure advanced toward her one step, and lifted the veil; and
+even Peggy's stout heart turned to water within her. Miss Pugsley
+recoiled with a wild shriek from the waxen countenance, the hollow
+burning eyes, the fleshless, grinning lips; recoiled, staggered, and
+fled back moaning along the corridor. The gray figure dropped its veil
+and darted in pursuit. Peggy, running to the door, saw them vanish
+around the corner; then she returned, to find Lobelia fallen into a dead
+faint, her head hanging over the side of the bed.
+
+As she bent over her anxiously, rubbing her hands and trying to rouse
+her, a single board creaked in the corridor; next moment the gray figure
+entered again, this time quietly and without hurry. The veil was thrown
+back, revealing a well-known face. The hideous death's head was now
+carried in the hand.
+
+"Sorry if I alarmed you, Innocent!" said Grace Wolfe. "What in the name
+of unreason are you doing here?"
+
+"Oh, Grace, she has fainted!" cried Peggy. "Help me! Bring some water,
+do!"
+
+Grace vanished again, and was back in two minutes with water and
+smelling-salts. As they bent over the unconscious girl, bathing her
+temples and holding the salts to her nose, a few hurried sentences were
+exchanged.
+
+"What was it? What have you there, Grace?"
+
+[Illustration: "'OH, GRACE, SHE HAS FAINTED!'"]
+
+"Oh, nothing; merely Colney's skull; not her own, you understand, but
+that of her charmer."
+
+"But--but the eyes glared! I saw them glare, like fire."
+
+"Phosphorus, my sweet babe! Hast no chemistry to thy name? 'Twere well
+to mend thy ways."
+
+"And why--what were you doing, Grace? Oh, see what you have done! Look
+at this poor child, and tell me why you came to play such pranks in her
+room."
+
+Peggy's voice was stern enough. She forgot her love and admiration for
+Grace; she only saw what seemed like wanton cruelty toward a forlorn and
+helpless creature, and her blood was up.
+
+Grace shrugged her shoulders.
+
+"I am sorry," she said. "I am even very sorry, Innocent. What more would
+you have? I didn't mean to come in; indeed, I had no thought of the
+little creature at all. I had a vow that the next time that woman looked
+through my keyhole she should repent it. I think she did. If she does it
+again, I'll shoot her; I've just told her so."
+
+"Why--how did you know? What did she do?"
+
+"Oh, child, I can't always tell you how I know things. I feel them in my
+bones. This is full moon, and it was borne in upon me that she thought I
+would be up to something to-night, and would be upon the watch; so I
+went on the watch, too. I arranged a pretty scene of confusion in my
+room, open window, things all thrown about,--just as it would look if I
+had been having a lark; left the light burning, went and borrowed this
+soulful smiler, and treated it a little,--no, Colney knows nothing about
+it; no use in getting her into trouble; then I took my mosquito-netting
+mantle, and hid in the broom-closet near my door. Sure enough, I hadn't
+been there long when along comes my Puggy, in felt slippers, and looks
+in at my keyhole. I waited, to make sure, then I came gliding past,
+without observing her, you see, corridor being pretty dark. She observed
+me, however, and pursued. I led her quite a pretty dance, till I thought
+her breath would be getting short, and then I turned in here, partly
+because it was handy, partly because--well, I have been in the habit of
+passing through here, when the kid was asleep. See! she's opening her
+eyes. Speak to her, you! She's more used to you."
+
+Peggy lifted Lobelia's head into her lap. "How are you now, dear?" she
+asked, stroking the thin hair affectionately. "Lobelia, it's Peggy! You
+are all right; there's no one here, no one to hurt you. That--that was
+only a trick, Lobelia."
+
+Lobelia moaned, but made no reply. Grace leaned forward. "Peggy is
+right," she said, softly. "It was a trick, Lobelia, and not meant for
+you at all. I--I never thought about you, I'm afraid. Do you feel better
+now? I'm truly sorry, my dear."
+
+There was no answering look of intelligence in Lobelia's face. She lay
+shivering, with wide, frightened eyes.
+
+"Oh, Grace, I'm afraid she's ill!" said Peggy. "See! she doesn't seem to
+know us. What shall we do? Lobelia! Do look at me! Do speak to me! Oh,
+Grace, what shall we do? Where are you going?"
+
+"I am going to call Miss Russell," said Grace.
+
+Miss Russell came presently, and looked very grave when she saw
+Lobelia's face, which was now flushed with fever, her eyes still staring
+wide, as if they saw some dreadful vision.
+
+"What has happened?" she said, briefly. "I must have the truth!"
+
+Grace told her the truth, every word, not keeping back anything: merely
+adding that Peggy had nothing to do with it all.
+
+"And what were you doing here, Peggy?" asked Miss Russell.
+
+Peggy explained. "I meant to tell whatever I found out, to-morrow, Miss
+Russell," she added. "I thought you would want me to discover what--what
+had been going on."
+
+Miss Russell nodded. "Go to your rooms now, girls," was all she said.
+"Or--no; Peggy, ask Miss Cortlandt to send at once for Doctor Hendon.
+Grace, you will remain in your room till I come to you."
+
+Grace tried to rise in obedience; but the sick girl grasped her dress,
+and held it tight. "Don't leave me," she said, in a hardly audible
+whisper.
+
+"You don't want me, you poor thing!" said Grace; and though she spoke
+low, her tone was very bitter. "Let me go, and you shall never see me
+again. Don't trouble about me, Miss Russell. I'll pack my trunk, and be
+off in the morning before any one is awake."
+
+"You will do as I tell you," said Miss Russell, quietly. "Peggy, go
+quickly! Now, my poor child, let me take your hand. Move softly, Grace,
+and I think you can slip away."
+
+Grace tried once more to loosen the hold of the cramped, skinny hand,
+but Lobelia only clutched the tighter; and now, in her delirium, she
+caught Grace's hand with her other one, and held it tight, tight. "Don't
+leave me!" she muttered. "Peggy, Peggy, don't leave me!"
+
+Upon this, Grace looked up at Miss Russell; the hard, defiant look was
+gone, the wild blue eyes were swimming in tears. "Let me stay," she
+murmured. "Miss Russell, let me stay with her. I'll go away after she
+gets well. She thinks I am Peggy, and you know I am a good nurse. Let
+me stay and take care of her, and I will bless you all my life, even if
+I never see you again."
+
+"You shall stay," said Miss Russell. "My poor Grace, this may be the
+hardest and heaviest punishment I could give you. You shall stay, and
+see what your cruel and wilful carelessness has brought to pass. God
+help us and you!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII.
+
+WAITING.
+
+
+In the dreadful days that followed, Grace Wolfe hardly left the sick
+girl's side. The doctor came, and pronounced the trouble a brain fever,
+brought on by fear and worry. A trained nurse came and took charge.
+Lobelia submitted to her care, but her one conscious instinct was that
+of clinging to Grace. Whether, as seemed most probable, she took her for
+Peggy, or whether she simply felt and craved the magnetism of the wild
+girl's touch and presence, they could not tell; but she was never quiet
+save when Grace's hand was resting on her. Her aunt came, her sole
+living relative; and seeing her, poor Lobelia was explained. Prim,
+fussy, and forbidding, her rich dress showing the same utter
+tastelessness that marked that of her niece, Miss Parkins was not the
+woman one would have chosen to be the mother of a girl like Lobelia. She
+looked at the sick girl, and said it was very unfortunate; she was
+always having illnesses, and had given them no end of anxiety.
+
+"She has had everything that money could buy!" she said, over and over.
+"It has never seemed to make any difference; her mother was the same
+sort of person, unreasonable, always wanting what she couldn't have. My
+brother had a great deal of trouble with her, and Lobelia is like her. I
+have tried to do my duty by her. Do you think she will get well,
+doctor?"
+
+"Yes, I do think she will get well!" replied Doctor Hendon, glaring at
+her in a way that made Miss Russell feel alarm for her safety. "I think
+she will get well if she stays here, and has care and tenderness and
+sympathetic treatment. You are her sister?" He turned upon Grace, who
+sat beside the bed, passing her light hand over the sick girl's forehead
+with smooth, regular strokes.
+
+"No," said Miss Russell. "This is one of the pupils, Miss Wolfe.
+She--was in the room when this attack came on, and Lobelia has clung to
+her from the first in a singular manner. I did not dare to remove her,
+and so, as you see, she has simply stayed here, helping the nurse."
+
+"I see!" said the doctor. "I suppose she was--hum! stay close by her!"
+this was to Grace. "You have a touch, I see. Probably you have been kind
+to her,--poor, forlorn, miserable little creature as ever I saw in my
+life!" The last words were hurried out as if they were one, in a gruff,
+not to say savage whisper.
+
+Grace looked up at him. "I am the cause of her illness," she said,
+quietly. "I have never been kind to her, or taken any notice of her. I
+have come through her room, using it for a passage when I was breaking
+bounds, and have frightened her--to death."
+
+The doctor looked at her under his bushy eyebrows. "That may all be so!"
+he said. "All the same, you may now have the chance of saving her life.
+Stay by her, that's all I have to say to you."
+
+"And what have you to say to me, doctor?" asked Miss Parkins. "I have a
+great responsibility. Lobelia will inherit a large fortune if she lives.
+She has had everything that money--"
+
+"You can go home!" said Doctor Hendon, with a sudden movement suggestive
+of biting. "Go home, and stay there--I--mean, have things ready for her
+when she is ready for a change. Good morning! Ya-ouw!" this last was a
+manner of snarl with which he favoured Miss Parkins as he trotted out of
+the room. The lady stared after him. "Is he a little touched?" she
+asked. "He doesn't seem quite sane."
+
+Miss Russell assured her that Doctor Hendon was eminently sane, and got
+her out of the room as soon as possible.
+
+Grace remained, and hour by hour kept her watch at the sick girl's
+pillow, laying her magic touch on the burning brow, singing the soft
+songs that seemed more than anything else to soothe the sufferer. So
+sitting, hour by hour, day after day, the old life seemed to slip away
+from Grace Wolfe. She felt it going, felt the change coming on spirit
+and thought, but made no effort to hinder the change. All the
+restlessness, the wild longing for freedom, the beating her head against
+the friendly bars,--where was it now? She was content to sit here,
+watching with the nurse the changes that came over the face of their
+patient. They talked together in low voices which soothed rather than
+disturbed; one asking, the other relating, the woman of experience and
+the eager girl exchanged thoughts and confidences. Many times in the day
+the girls came to the door, Peggy and the Owls, and now and then an
+anxious, frightened freshman. Peggy had longed to assist in the nursing,
+but she had too heavy a hand, and hers was not the gift. Gertrude
+Merryweather had it, and she sometimes took Grace's place, and sent her
+down for a breath of fresh air and a run with Bertha or Peggy on the
+lawn. Grace went obediently, for she knew she must keep up her strength;
+but she was always back again at the first possible instant, and her
+thoughts never seemed to go with her, but stayed at her post.
+
+"My dear," said Miss Russell once, "I cannot let you wear yourself out.
+Let Gertrude watch to-night while Miss Carter rests!" But Grace only
+said, "I'd give my life if I could, Miss Russell. She's going to get
+well if my life can do it!" and Miss Russell, looking into the blue eyes
+and meeting the spirit of resolution that shone there, could only kiss
+the girl's cheek and pass on.
+
+Lobelia was very ill, and a shadow hung over the whole school. Lessons
+went on as usual, but the girls spoke low in their recitations, and
+there was an unconscious hurry in both teachers and pupils, all anxious
+to get through, to ask and hear the last tidings from the sickroom. In
+those days, too, teachers and pupils learned to know each other as never
+before. The grave women who cared so much--so strangely much, it often
+seemed--whether a lesson were well or ill learned, who made such a fuss
+about trifles, and set such hard tasks, and made such unreasonable
+rules, behold! they were just as anxious and troubled as if Lobelia had
+been one of their own number, instead of the most insignificant
+freshman in the whole school. Miss Boyle was not simply a mathematical
+machine, Rose Barclay found out. She really cared about them, cared
+enough to call them into her room, and want to hear all about that last
+walk, when Peggy had killed the rattlesnake,--oh, how brave Peggy had
+been,--and how poor Lobelia had seen it, too, and with her inborn terror
+of snakes had perhaps got the first panic that, after brooding and
+brooding, and being added to the terror by nights, had ended in this.
+
+Miss Pugsley was gone. Her departure had hardly been noticed, was
+well-nigh forgotten by this time; but Colney Hatch found Miss Mink
+sniffing mouse-like sniffs in a corner, and wept with her, and offered
+her a live bat that she had just caught, by way of consolation. But
+their tears were for Grace, for they hardly knew Lobelia save by sight.
+
+As for Miss Russell and Emily Cortlandt, they were the life and stay of
+the school in these days. Steadfast and cheerful, always hopeful,
+bringing forward every favourable symptom and sharing it with the whole
+school; not a girl of all the seventy-odd who did not feel their
+sympathy and friendship like strong hands ready to take theirs and
+uphold them.
+
+One day, when things were at the worst, Peggy found Viola in her room,
+crying on the divan.
+
+"What is the matter?" she asked, rather briefly. Viola's troubles seemed
+microscopic in this time of heart-wringing anxiety.
+
+Viola raised her head, and her eyes were red with weeping.
+
+"They say she's going to die, Peggy!" she said.
+
+"Nonsense!" said Peggy, gruffly. "Who says so?"
+
+"Oh, all the girls. They say Doctor Hendon shook his head when he went
+out this morning; you know that's a very bad sign. Oh, Peggy, I wish I
+had been good to the poor little thing. You have always been good to
+her. I don't believe you suffered as much as I did from her clothes, but
+I wish I had been good to her all the same. Peggy, if she gets well, I'm
+going to do over her hats for her, and try to make her look different.
+Peggy, where are you going? Don't leave me! Lobelia is going to die, and
+I feel so frightened."
+
+"I don't believe she is going to die," said Peggy. "I am going to the
+study to see Miss Russell; come with me if you like, V."
+
+Viola crept along beside her, cowering in Peggy's shadow as they passed
+the door of the sick-room. Peggy paused to listen. From within came the
+sound of soft singing, and the faint rustle of a wood fire. What was
+Grace singing? one of the quaint French songs that she loved,--
+
+        "Trois anges sont venus ce soir,
+         M'apportaient de bien belles choses;
+         L'un d'eux avaient un encensoir,
+         Le deuxieme un chapelet de roses.
+         Et le troisieme avait en main
+         Une robe toute fleurie,
+         De perles, d'or et de jasmin,
+         Comme en a Madame Marie.
+                 Noel! Noel!
+         Nous venons du ciel,
+         T'apporter ce que tu desires;
+         Car le bon Dieu,
+         Au fond du ciel bleu,
+         A chagrin lorsque tu soupires!"
+
+The two girls crept softly past, Viola wiping the tears from her eyes.
+They went down to the study, and, knocking gently, were bidden to enter.
+Miss Russell and Miss Cortlandt were sitting together, and at their feet
+sat the Snowy and the Fluffy Owls, curled up on two hassocks. Peggy
+looked in timidly.
+
+"Come in, Peggy!" said Miss Russell's cheerful voice. "Who is that with
+you? Oh, Viola? come in, my dear! Do you want anything?"
+
+"No, Miss Russell," said Peggy. "I--I just wanted to come in, that was
+all."
+
+"So did we!" said the Fluffy. "We just came, and we feel so much better.
+Sit down here, Peggy."
+
+She patted the floor beside her, and Peggy and Viola sat down. Peggy
+heaved a sigh of relief. "I thought you would let us come," she said.
+"It's so dreadful not to be able to do anything, isn't it, Miss Russell?
+If we could help in any way, or feel that we were doing anything at
+all, it wouldn't be so bad. I came by the door just now, and Grace was
+singing, and it all sounded so quiet and peaceful. You think it is all
+going well, don't you, Miss Russell? You don't think she is worse
+to-day, do you, Miss Russell?"
+
+Miss Russell put back Peggy's hair, which had fallen into her eyes as
+she looked up eagerly. "Dear," she said, "I was just telling Gertrude
+and Bertha how it is. Doctor Hendon thinks there will be a change
+to-day; he thinks the crisis is coming. It is a time of great danger,
+but he has good hope, and we must have it, too. And, girls, you are all
+longing to help; now, you can help us to-day. You can help very much
+indeed. The house must be kept absolutely quiet this afternoon. The
+girls are in their rooms now; but if you could get them off for a walk,
+some of them, and send the rest to the gymnasium, you would be doing us
+all a service. Miss Cortlandt is going to the gymnasium, and she will
+give them a drill, or let them dance, if they like--you don't think they
+feel like dancing? No more do I! I shall not leave Lobelia's room
+myself till the change comes; I am going back there now, as soon as the
+doctor comes. Ah! there he is now! Remember, dear girls, quiet; and for
+the rest, hope and patience--and trust!"
+
+She kissed them each in turn, quietly and gravely, and was gone. Turning
+to Emily Cortlandt, they saw that her eyes were full of tears; yet she
+spoke cheerfully. "Miss Russell is so wise, girls!" she said. "I am sure
+you will do all you can--it is an anxious time. One thing she forgot to
+say,--I wouldn't let the other girls know, if you can help it, how grave
+the danger is. Some of them are nervous, and might have hysterics, or
+even be ill. Viola, my child, you look very pale. Don't you feel well?"
+
+Viola was trembling all over. She came close to Miss Cortlandt and
+nestled up to her like a little child. "I'm afraid!" she said, simply.
+"I never was near where anybody died. I'm dreadfully afraid, Miss
+Cortlandt."
+
+Very gently Emily Cortlandt spoke then to the frightened child, and to
+the other three girls, whose strong, sensible faces were grave enough,
+but who were able to possess themselves in courage and quiet. She told
+them some of her thoughts, the thoughts of a gentle Christian woman; of
+the hope and love and promise that made death seem to her only the white
+door that led into life, a life toward which we must all look, and for
+which we must shape ourselves as we pass through this world of joy and
+sorrow. She told them of young lives which had seemed cruelly cut off
+here; and of how it was her thought that death had been to them not the
+end, but the beginning; and of the lovely light they had shed behind
+them, of gentleness and hope and love. Then she spoke more brightly, and
+told them how strong, after all, life was in the young, and how one
+could always hope, while even a spark remained. Doctor Hendon had good
+hope, she repeated, and they must have it, too.
+
+"And now," she said, "I must go, and you must go, too. Find the girls
+quietly, and bring them to me, or take them out for one of your good
+walks; and let us, whatever we do, do it cheerfully!"
+
+Faithfully the Owls and Peggy laboured, that November afternoon. First
+they soothed and comforted Viola, finishing the good work that Miss
+Cortlandt had begun; and they induced her to go to the gymnasium and
+take a party with her. Then they went about softly from door to door
+through the corridors, not spreading any alarm, merely saying that Miss
+Russell thought they would all better go out, as the afternoon was so
+fine, and that they were to go quietly, as Lobelia might be asleep.
+Before long, without noise or confusion, the whole school was out,
+either in the gymnasium or on the road. The walkers divided into three
+parties, Peggy leading the freshmen, Gertrude the juniors, while Bertha
+marshalled the sophomores, who came like lambs, half proud, half shy, at
+being under the leadership of the renowned Fluffy. The seniors, of
+course, could be trusted to take care of themselves. They were a small
+class, and somehow--as happens in every school with one class and
+another--had never made themselves a power; they had gone now with the
+rest to the gymnasium.
+
+Peggy, as she walked at the head of her troop, tried to feel her cousin
+Margaret's hand in hers. Always humble, and distrustful of her own
+powers, she tried hard to think what Margaret would do in her place. She
+would tell stories, probably, wonderful stories of heroes and great
+deeds. Ah! but Peggy did not know the stories in the books; they never
+stayed by her. Well, then, she must tell what she did know! She found
+herself talking about her home life, the home on the great Western
+ranch; of her father and brothers, and the many feats in their strong,
+active life. Here, if she had only known it, were stories better than
+any in Margaret's books. How Brother Jim hunted the white wolf for three
+days in the mountains; how Hugh set the trap for the young grizzly, and
+more wonderful, how he tamed him and made him his friend and servant;
+how Father Montfort saved the three men who were snowed up in Desolation
+Gulch, and brought them out one by one on his shoulders, just as their
+last biscuit was gone and they had sat down to die,--on and on went the
+tale, for it was a story without an end. On and on went the girls, too,
+unconscious of their going, forgetting to think they were tired,
+forgetting everything save the joy of listening. The shadows were
+lengthening fast when Peggy, still relating, turned her face homeward,
+wondering with thankfulness, as she noted the position of the sun, how
+she had been able to take them so far without once hearing a groan or a
+sigh of weariness. She looked around, and saw only sparkling eyes and
+rosy cheeks. "A month ago," she thought, "they would have said I had
+almost killed them. They really are hardening, and I'm so glad!"
+
+"Oh, go on, Peggy!" cried Rose Barclay. "You are never going to stop
+there! What became of the one with the wooden leg? We must know!"
+
+On went the story, and on went the girls; the sun sank lower and lower,
+the shadows crept longer and longer, the air grew cool and thin with
+the coming night. The man with the wooden leg had chopped it up for
+fuel, and Father Montfort had brought him and all the others in triumph
+to the ranch, and set them down by the fire, when-- "Oh, dear me!" cried
+Ethel Fair. "What a shame, girls! Here we are at the gate. I say! let's
+go on a little farther, Peggy."
+
+But Peggy was wise, and knew when to stop; besides, now that she was
+near the house again, the anxiety and distress that had been lulled by
+the walk and the story-telling, came back like a flood, and filled her
+heart. They were crossing the lawn; what tidings would greet them at the
+door? Some one was standing there now; Miss Cortlandt, was it? no, Miss
+Russell herself. She was waiting for them with the news; would it be
+good or bad? Peggy hung back for an instant; then she walked steadily
+forward. "Quiet, girls!" was all she said. "I think Miss Russell has
+something to tell us."
+
+They were at the foot of the steps now; and Miss Russell was coming down
+to meet them, running, the grave and stately woman, to meet them, like
+a girl. Her hands were outstretched, her face was all aglow with joy,
+the glad tears ran down her cheeks.
+
+"It is over!" she whispered. "Softly, my dear children. Come softly in.
+The crisis is over, and the child will live! Come with me, and let us
+thank God together!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII.
+
+THE END AND THE BEGINNING.
+
+
+It was a month later. The first snow had fallen, and the lawn was white
+with it, and all the trees and bushes powdered with frost. Coming out of
+the class-room one day, her heart singing of sines and cosines and
+tangents, Peggy found the Snowy and the Fluffy waiting for her at the
+door, with radiant faces.
+
+"Oh, what?" cried Peggy. "A letter?"
+
+"Yes," said Gertrude. "It has just come, though the postmark is two or
+three days ago. Where shall we go to read it? Your room, Peggy? So we
+will; it's nearer than the Nest, and I know you can't wait."
+
+Grace's letters were indeed things to wait for in those days. She had
+gone to Lobelia's home with her; for, on coming to herself, the invalid
+had still clung to her new friend, with a persistency strange in one so
+timid and fearful. Convalescence came, with its unwilling fretfulness,
+its fits of unreason. Still Lobelia clung to Grace, and no one else
+could make her listen and obey. The nurse laughed, and said she might as
+well go, and leave her diploma with Miss Wolfe; yet stayed, for the two
+worked together in pleasant harmony and friendship. At last, Doctor
+Hendon ordered a change of scene, and now, too, Grace must go with her.
+The Parkins mansion was within driving distance of Pentland; the whole
+school had turned out to see the departure, the sick girl lying on
+cushions, her thin face already showing the signs of returning health,
+and really transfigured by the light of love and gratitude that beamed
+from it, as she looked from Grace to Peggy, and back again to Grace. She
+beckoned to Peggy, who pressed to her side and bent over her. "What is
+it, dear?" she whispered.
+
+"Peggy!"
+
+"Yes, Lobelia."
+
+"Peggy, you don't mind?"
+
+"Mind what? I don't mind anything, now that you are getting well."
+
+"You--you were my first friend, the only friend I had. You don't
+mind--that I love her? I couldn't help it, Peggy. She kept me alive, you
+see. Often and often, when I was drifting away, and ready to die, she
+held me, and would not let me go. You are sure you don't mind, Peggy?"
+
+Peggy kissed her heartily, and told her not to talk nonsense. "If you
+didn't love her," she said, "I'd have nothing to do with you, Lobelia
+Parkins. Do you hear that? Nothing! I wouldn't speak to you in the
+street, if I met you."
+
+Lobelia smiled, and leaned back on the cushions with closed eyes and a
+look of absolute content. "You are so funny, Peggy!" she murmured. "She
+is funny, too. I like people who are funny. Good-bye, and thank
+everybody. Everybody is so kind!"
+
+The carriage drove away, and the last thing the girls saw was Grace's
+face, looking down at her charge; grave as ever,--Grace rarely smiled,
+and they hardly knew the sound of her laugh,--but bright as Lobelia's
+own with love and purpose and gladness. So they passed out of sight.
+
+And since then had come letters every week, telling of the child's
+progress; one to Miss Russell always, and one to the Owls or to Peggy.
+It was one of these that Gertrude took from her pocket now and opened,
+as they sat together on Peggy's divan.
+
+"You see, it is dated three days ago; probably been carried in a pocket,
+from the look of it."
+
+        "DEAR SNOWY, ALSO FLUFFY:--Tu whit! She has
+        been gaining so fast this week, we shall soon
+        forget she has been ill at all. She can eat
+        anything she likes, and she likes a great deal.
+        Miss P. keeps exclaiming at her appetite.
+        Apparently the child never ate anything before
+        she went to school. The rule of the house is,
+        or was, one shredded wheat Abomination for
+        breakfast, one chop for dinner, one smoked
+        herring for supper. All this served on huge and
+        hideous silver dishes. This order is changed.
+        Miss Parkins almost fainted when I ordered the
+        first meal. She weeps every day over the
+        butcher's book, but the child fattens apace,
+        and all is well. I had to frighten her--the
+        aunt--a little, though, before things went
+        smoothly.
+
+        "Yesterday we explored the house, the Babe and
+        I. The amazing thing is that she lived at all
+        after she got her eyes open. Apparently every
+        article cost a thousand dollars; most awful old
+        mausoleum you can imagine; you never saw such a
+        place, for there couldn't be two. The bed I
+        sleep in has all-round curtains of apple-green
+        plush, with bead fringe three inches deep. The
+        mantelpiece and table-top and so on are gray
+        marble, and the ornaments are two deformed gilt
+        cherubs holding a slop-jar with a clock-face in
+        the middle of it. Also two unspeakable
+        alabaster jugs, three feet high, and two Parian
+        busts under glass cases. They are supposed to
+        be Luther and Melanchthon; I think they are
+        Lucifer and Mammon. Well, the poor little thing
+        is used to it, and doesn't know what is the
+        matter. Wait till Monday week,--I mean till
+        some future day,--and she shall know, but not
+        now. She doesn't think it a homelike house, she
+        says!
+
+        "I shall be coming back almost any time now, as
+        soon as I can get away. It's dreadful to leave
+        her,--'I'm wae to think upo' yon den, e'en for
+        her sake,'--but I must get back before exams,
+        and she is really all right, only not of course
+        wholly strong yet. She will come back next
+        term; and meanwhile she is to travel with an
+        old servant who was her nurse, and who has some
+        spark of humanity in her composition.
+
+        "I'm coming back, I tell you; at least,
+        something is coming back. I don't say whether
+        it will be the Goat or the Wolf, or what; I'm
+        pretty sure that--
+
+        "'Lawk a mercy on me,
+         This is none of I!'
+
+        "Good-bye, you feathered things! How do
+        feathers feel? How do you get about? There are
+        good points about the creature, I can see that;
+        you can see in the dark--but so could the Wolf!
+        and it would be nice to be able to ruffle up
+        your feathers and put a tongue in every wound
+        of Puggy's--but she is gone, isn't she? Alas!
+        and if you don't know Shakespeare when I talk
+        him, why, you are an ignorant set, and don't
+        deserve your names. This is for the Innocent,
+        too, mind! Give her my love, and tell
+        her--never mind; I'll tell her myself.
+
+        "So no more at present, Respected Fowls, from
+        your most obedient, humble servant,
+
+                                 "THE HYBRID."
+
+The three girls were silent for a moment after Gertrude had folded the
+letter again. Then, "Do you suppose she will really be changed?" asked
+Peggy. "I--I don't think I want Grace to be changed, do you, girls?"
+
+"That depends!" said Bertha, with her chin on her hands, in her
+favourite judicial attitude. "Of course it would be despair if we
+should lose her real, true self. If she could only stay Grace Wolfe, and
+change her point of view, why, then--"
+
+"That is just what she will do, I feel sure of it," said Gertrude,
+earnestly. "She has been through an experience--oh, we can't know what
+it has been, girls, because we are just plain people, you know, and
+Grace is--well, I think she has genius, or something very like it. If
+only the power and the sweetness and brightness are turned into helping,
+you see, instead of hindering--oh, how much she can do! and I believe
+she's going to do it, too. But come, Fluffy, I must go home. Won't you
+come, Peggy? We have half an hour before study-time."
+
+Peggy followed only too gladly along the corridor; it was always a treat
+to spend half an hour in the Owl's Nest. Gertrude was first; she opened
+the door of her room, and paused on the threshold with a low cry. Bertha
+and Peggy hurried forward and looked over her shoulder--to see a strange
+sight.
+
+Something--or somebody--was sitting on the window-seat. Something gray
+and soft. It had a round feathered head, with two feathery horns jutting
+from it; it had round bright eyes, which blinked curiously at the
+astonished girls. Below the head were--arms, were they, or wings? They
+were feathery too, and they drooped over something that might be a
+skirt, though no feet were visible. In the gathering twilight the figure
+sat on the window-seat and blinked, looking like nothing that was in
+heaven or earth; and the three girls stood and stared, holding each
+other's hands. Presently the silence was broken.
+
+"Bubo Virginianus!" said a grave, melodious voice from under the
+feathers. "The Great Horned Owl. Description: Large and strongly
+organised; ear-tufts large, erectile; bill strong, fully curved; wing
+rather long; third quill usually longest; tail short; legs and toes--"
+
+"Grace!" cried Gertrude Merryweather.
+
+"Tu whit!" replied the figure. "I may also in this connection remark, tu
+whoo! This well-known bird is a resident in all the New England
+schools--I should say States--throughout the year. It is not so common
+in Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island as in the other States,
+where, in the vast tracts of forest, it is quite abundant. Samuels. Easy
+there! spare the Plumage!"
+
+The three girls had flung themselves upon the strange figure, which
+flapped its arms for a moment, as if contemplating flight. Then, waving
+them off with one arm, it lifted the feathered head, and gazed at them
+with melancholy blue eyes.
+
+"Tu whit!" repeated the Scapegoat. "I may be allowed, _in_ this
+connection, to repeat, tu whoo! Don't kill me, Innocent; I should be
+less useful dead."
+
+It did seem as if they would hug her to death. They laughed, they cried,
+they questioned, they talked, all in one breath; no one would have
+recognised the sedate Owls or the sensible Peggy. Grace regarded them
+with grave benignity, as she untied the owl's head, and loosed the
+feathered cape from her shoulders.
+
+"Rather neat, I thought?" she said, turning the head around on her hand.
+"The beak is a little wobbly, but the general character--eh?--is pretty
+good? I couldn't manage the toes and claws; there wasn't time, and,
+besides, they would have excited remark, even if the weather had been
+warm enough to make them comfortable for travelling. Well, my Snowy, my
+Fluffy, how is it? Is there room for another Owl in the forest?"
+
+"Oh, Grace!" cried Bertha.
+
+"Oh, my dear!" cried Gertrude; and their arms were around her again,
+while Peggy sat down on the floor and fairly burst into tears.
+
+Grace was silent for a little, her head resting on Gertrude's shoulder.
+When she spoke, her voice had not its usual even flow, but hesitated,
+almost faltered, now and then.
+
+"I am going to try!" she said. "It will take a long time, my Owls, and
+you will have to be very patient with me. I shall probably never be
+wholly domesticated, but--but you will help me, and the Innocent here
+will help me; won't you, Innocent?"
+
+[Illustration: "'WE FOUR AGAINST THE WORLD!'"]
+
+"Oh, Grace, if I only could? but what can I do? I don't see how I can
+ever do anything!"
+
+"You began it all!" said Grace. "The way you looked--that night I made
+you go out, little Peggy. You didn't know, but the face of an Innocent
+can be a terrible thing, and I saw, and knew--things I hadn't known
+before. No need of going back to that now. But--Snowy--Samuels says I
+make an amusing pet in captivity. You'll try me?"
+
+"Won't we!" cried the Snowy Owl. "Grace, dear, we'll all try together.
+Oh, we all have to keep trying, don't we, all our lives long? It
+wouldn't be worth anything if we didn't have to try, to work and fight
+for it. It shall be we three against the world,--the Snowy, the Fluffy,
+and the Horny. No, we four, for what should we do without our Peggy? Get
+up, Peggy, you ridiculous child; stop crying, and come and sit here
+close by us."
+
+"Oh!" cried Peggy. "Isn't there some kind of Owl that I could be? I am
+too stupid, of course, but I might be a screech-owl, don't you think
+so, Snowy?"
+
+Grace held up her hand. "Forbid the thought!" she said, gravely. "Who
+would get us our mice? We must have a Human Being connected with us. I
+think of moving into Bedlam, as Colney has a fine assortment of mice on
+hand generally. I refuse bats, probably on account of the strong musky
+odour, but a mouse dragged across the floor of my cage fills me with
+excitement. Samuels, part of it at least. No, we must have a Human Being
+in the Owlery, and that Human Being must be the Innocent. We Four
+against the World, then! Hands on it, my Owls!"
+
+The four girls stood up, and, joining hands, looked in each other's
+faces. "We Four against the World!" they repeated. "The Snowy, the
+Fluffy, the Horny, and the Innocent; Hurrah for us!" and the shout they
+raised brought the whole corridor running to see what was going on.
+
+
+THE END.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Transcriber's Notes:
+
+Obvious punctuation errors repaired.
+
+Page 5, caption was missing from original. Added from the List of
+Illustrations.
+
+Page 233, "all" changed to "a" (For a reply)
+
+Page 301, "does't" changed to "doesn't" (and doesn't know that)
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Peggy, by Laura E. Richards
+
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