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diff --git a/40403-0.txt b/40403-0.txt index 49ce2c3..e5b0b8c 100644 --- a/40403-0.txt +++ b/40403-0.txt @@ -1,35 +1,4 @@ -Project Gutenberg's Girls of Highland Hall, by Carolyn Watson Rankin - -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: Girls of Highland Hall - Further Adventures of the Dandelion Cottagers - -Author: Carolyn Watson Rankin - -Release Date: August 3, 2012 [EBook #40403] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GIRLS OF HIGHLAND HALL *** - - - - -Produced by Roger Frank and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This book was -produced from images made available by the HathiTrust -Digital Library.) - - - - +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 40403 *** Girls of Highland Hall Carroll Watson Rankin @@ -6144,361 +6113,4 @@ THE END End of Project Gutenberg's Girls of Highland Hall, by Carolyn Watson Rankin -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GIRLS OF HIGHLAND HALL *** - -***** This file should be named 40403-0.txt or 40403-0.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/4/0/4/0/40403/ - -Produced by Roger Frank and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This book was -produced from images made available by the HathiTrust -Digital Library.) - - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions -will be renamed. - -Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no -one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation -(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without -permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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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: Girls of Highland Hall - Further Adventures of the Dandelion Cottagers - -Author: Carolyn Watson Rankin - -Release Date: August 3, 2012 [EBook #40403] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GIRLS OF HIGHLAND HALL *** - - - - -Produced by Roger Frank and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This book was -produced from images made available by the HathiTrust -Digital Library.) - - - - - -Girls of Highland Hall -Carroll Watson Rankin - - - - -CONTENTS - CHAPTER I--ON THE WAY - CHAPTER II--PREPARATIONS - CHAPTER III--LOST - CHAPTER IV--FIRST IMPRESSIONS - CHAPTER V--NEW ACQUAINTANCES - CHAPTER VI--GETTING SETTLED - CHAPTER VII--AN OLD ACQUAINTANCE - CHAPTER VIII--BRAVE VICTORIA - CHAPTER IX--STRANGE DISAPPEARANCES - CHAPTER X--MABEL FINDS A FAMILY - CHAPTER XI--MABEL STAYS HOME - CHAPTER XII--A GROWING GIRL - CHAPTER XIII--MANY SMALL MYSTERIES - CHAPTER XIV--UNPOPULAR MARJORY - CHAPTER XV--A SURPRISING FESTIVAL - CHAPTER XVI--MORE MYSTERIOUS HAPPENINGS - CHAPTER XVII--HENRIETTA IS WORRIED - CHAPTER XVIII--A STRING OF BLUE BEADS - CHAPTER XIX--SALLIE'S STORY - CHAPTER XX--A JOYFUL SURPRISE - CHAPTER XXI--A GIRL LEAVES SCHOOL - CHAPTER XXII--A MYSTERY CLEARED - CHAPTER XXIII--PIG OR PORK? - CHAPTER XXIV--STILL NO NEWS - CHAPTER XXV--AN EXCITING FATHER - CHAPTER XXVI--HENRIETTA IS MYSTERIOUS - CHAPTER XXVII--SALLIE'S PRESENT - - - - -[Illustration: A twin baby carriage containing weary infants, propelled -by a perspiring young person, was coming in the gate] - - - - -CARROLL W. RANKIN - - The Adopting of Rosa Marie - The Castaways of Pete's Patch - The Cinder Pond - The Girls of Gardenville - Dandelion Cottage - Girls of Highland Hall - - - - -GIRLS OF HIGHLAND HALL - -Further Adventures of the Dandelion Cottagers - -BY CARROLL WATSON RANKIN - -Author of "Dandelion Cottage," "The Girls of -Gardenville," "The Cinder Pond," Etc. - -New York -Henry Holt and Company -1921 - - - - -Copyright, 1921 -BY -HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY - -First printing, August, 1921 -Second printing, May, 1922 -Third printing, September, 1925 - - - - -TO -MRS. CELIA K. NORTHROP - -To whom I am indebted for -much friendly encouragement. - - - - -THE PERSONS OF THE STORY - - Bettie Tucker Once of Dandelion Cottage, - Jean Mapes now of Highland Hall. - Marjory Vale - Mabel Bennett - - Henrietta Bedford Their Best Friend. - - Peter Black Bettie's Best Friend. - - The Rhodes Family Of Highland Hall. - - Miss Woodruff A Stern Teacher. - - Maude Wilder Her Most Incorrigible Pupil. - - Miss Blossom A Timely Flower. - - Madame Bolande Who Bathed in Perfume. - - Gladys de Milligan The Daughter of a Foolish Mother. - - Abbie A Sad Example to All Boarding School Orphans. - - Sallie Dickinson A Boarding School Orphan. - - Elisabeth Wilson The Lofty Seniors. - Eleanor Pratt - Beatrice Holmes - - Victoria Webster A Brave Maiden. - - Isabelle Carew Who Is Sentimental. - - Augusta Lemon A Timid Girl. - - Cora Doyle A Growing Girl. - - Various Teachers, Girls and Fathers--Especially Fathers. - - - - -LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS - - A twin baby carriage containing weary infants, propelled by - a perspiring young person, was coming in the gate - - "My beads!" shrieked Hazel, pouncing on the necklace - - It looked very much as if all the mysteries were solved - - "For goodness' sake keep still," growled Mabel - - - - -GIRLS OF HIGHLAND HALL - - - - -CHAPTER I - -ON THE WAY - - -The time was almost noon of a warm September day. The place was State -Street, Chicago. The persons were six, and four of them were seeing -Chicago for the first time. They walked two by two in a little -procession. There were other persons in State Street too, probably -somewhere between a thousand and a million; but we don't need to worry a -great deal about those others, though of course if they hadn't been -there there would have been more room for our friends. - -This small procession was headed by a well-dressed, moderately stout, -smooth-shaven gentleman with touches of white in his black hair and a -kindly, benevolent expression in his dark eyes and about his fine mouth. -A handsome man and a good man, as any one could see. - -His companion was a little girl of perhaps thirteen years of age. She, -too, had big dark eyes with long lashes; and a nicely shaped mouth. Her -complexion was just exactly right and her short hair curled crisply -about the unusually pleasing countenance. Her name was Bettie and it -seemed to be a very good fit. - -The second couple followed close at the heels of the first, presenting a -curious contrast. One of them, whose name was Jean, was instantly -attractive because of the serene loveliness of her expression. One knew -at a glance that she was a person to be trusted. The girl beside her, -all of two years younger, was very much smaller; a little sprite of a -girl, with bright, gray eyes and quantities of fluffy golden hair. She, -also, was a pretty child. Her small features were shapely and she -looked, as indeed she was, an unusually bright child. She was quick and -graceful in her movements and nothing in the shop windows escaped the -eager, birdlike glance of little Marjory Vale. - -The third couple was erratic in its movements. Sometimes it damaged the -heels of Jean and Marjory by crowding too close. Sometimes it lagged so -far behind--the windows were _most_ attractive--that it had to run to -catch up. One of this couple, Mabel Bennett, was not built for running. -Mabel was the youngest and the broadest of the sextette; but her -undeniable plumpness did not detract from her looks. One couldn't help -liking her honest blue eyes, the wholesome red and white of her fine -complexion, her sturdy, childlike figure, her dependable legs and the -rich bronze of her abundant hair. It was braided this morning in a -thick, uneven braid; from which numerous tendrils that curled in large, -loose, rather becoming rings escaped untidily. One guessed that -inexperienced Mabel had been her own decidedly unskilful hairdresser -that morning. Mabel's partner in the procession was a girl of about -fifteen, so unusual in appearance that strangers turned to look at her. -Dark as a gipsy, with glowing crimson cheeks, bright black eyes with -curling lashes, soft black hair that grew naturally in pleasing curls -neatly tied back with a broad black ribbon; a shapely, graceful figure -possessing to an unusual degree an atmosphere of style. The girls were -all well dressed, mostly in blue serge, but this fifth young person, -Henrietta Bedford, wore _her_ clothes with a different air. One realized -that the serge in her smartly cut frock was a degree finer than that in -Mabel's rumpled middy or in Marjory's very brief skirt. Also Henrietta's -scarlet silken tie was broader, more brilliant and of a heavier texture -than those of the other girls. One could easily see that there were -wealth and generations of cultivation back of Henrietta--and adventures -ahead of her. - -One of the adventures was about to begin, but the kindly man who led the -procession was far from suspecting it. It was Mabel who started this -one. - -"If I see another window just bursting with candy I'll _die_," said -Mabel. "I never _saw_ such windows. I wish I hadn't left my money in my -suitcase." - -"Mr. Black has mine," said Henrietta. "All but a dime that happened to -be loose in my pocket. But I tell you what. We'll dart into the next -candy place and spend that--we can easily catch up. Here, come on in -here." - -The clerk, not realizing that the two girls were in a hurry, finished -leisurely with another customer before attending to Henrietta who was -impatiently tapping the counter with her dime. - -"What's all the rush," drawled the young man, carefully weighing the -pink and white buttercups that Henrietta had chosen. "Catching a train?" - -"Yes," snapped Henrietta. "Don't bother to tie it up. Come on, Mabel, we -must run, now, to catch up. That horrid clerk was dreadfully slow." - -They ran. They caught up with and passed a large number of persons but -not with Jean, nor Marjory of the yellow hair, nor Bettie with the -bobbing curls nor Mr. Black, who had innocently imagined himself -perfectly capable of introducing Chicago to five small maidens from the -wilds of Northern Michigan. - -He had now lost two of them. He had missed them almost immediately and -had turned back to look for them, expecting to find them with their -noses against some fascinating window. And now they were well ahead of -him, screened from his view by hundreds of busy shoppers and running -with might and main. - - - - -CHAPTER II - -PREPARATIONS - - -And now, of course, you will want to know why a round half dozen of -Lakeville's most precious inhabitants should be discovered parading the -streets of Chicago and incidentally losing themselves and each other by -the wayside. - -It was this way. The Lakeville schoolhouse had burned down, nobody could -decide where to build a new one and the places used as temporary -substitutes were unsatisfactory to many of the parents. Moreover, -Mabel's father, the village doctor, had long wanted to go to Germany in -order to study certain branches of surgery--this was before the war, of -course. His wife wanted to go with him but she didn't wish to take -Mabel. - -Miss Jane Higgins, otherwise Aunty Jane, had been intrusted with money -to be devoted to the education of her orphaned niece, little Marjory -Vale. Aunty Jane possessed a conscience that would not rest until that -money was spent for that particular purpose. Then there were -accomplishments that Mrs. Mapes desired for her daughter Jean and that -Mrs. Slater wanted for her granddaughter Henrietta that were not, at -that time, procurable in Lakeville. The solution to all these problems -was boarding school, since the girls were much too young for college. - -Of course Bettie Tucker, their inseparable companion, wished to go too. -But her father, a clergyman with a large family and a small salary, -could see no way to afford what seemed to him an unnecessary outlay; -until Mr. Black, an elderly widower with a young heart and a warm -affection for all children and especially for Bettie, offered generously -to pay all expenses connected with Bettie's education. - -Of course the selecting of a proper school had proved a matter of much -importance and thought. The mothers and Aunty Jane had sent for and -received vast numbers of catalogues, each more fascinating than the -last. Aunty Jane was in favor of something near Boston. Mrs. Bennett -preferred Philadelphia, while Mrs. Mapes showed a partiality for Ohio. - -"I think," said Mrs. Tucker, "that we'd better be guided by Mrs. Slater. -She has traveled a great deal and I'm sure she must have a great many -friends whose daughters have been to boarding school. Let's talk to Mrs. -Slater about it." - -"I agree with you," said all the other parents and Aunty Jane. - -Mrs. Slater had, indeed, a great many friends who had had boarding -school daughters. Also, she too had a tall stack of catalogues. Also she -had, in her own mind, already selected a school for Henrietta. - -"In the first place," said she, when her guests were seated in her -handsome house, "we don't want our little girls too far away from us, so -I am in favor of something near Chicago. In the second place I am -greatly inclined toward the school founded by my old friend Doctor -Rhodes in Hiltonburg. A very fine old gentleman, my dears, with high -ideals and beautiful manners. Highland Hall is perhaps rather an old -fashioned school; but the catalogue states that there is a new gymnasium -and new, up-to-date dormitories. The most charming young woman of my -acquaintance attended that school--Ruth Belding, her name was. Dr. -Rhodes, I assure you, is a wonderful man, splendidly educated, highly -cultured and charming in every way. His teachers are chosen with the -greatest care and only really nice girls are admitted to his school. -There are more expensive schools and some cheaper ones--I had been -thinking of consulting you about this very matter." - -"It sounds all right to me," said Mrs. Bennett. - -"I _had_ thought of that Painesville place," said Mrs. Mapes, "but -Hiltonburg is certainly nearer home--though any place is far enough from -Northern Michigan." - -"Of course there's no place like Boston," said Aunty Jane, who had been -born in the East, "but Marjory _could_ get home from this Hiltonburg -place for her Christmas vacation." - -"I haven't any particular choice," said Mrs. Tucker. "Anything that -meets with Mr. Black's approval will be all right for Bettie." - -"Then," said Mrs. Slater, "we'd better write at once to Doctor Rhodes. -He may not have room." - -Doctor Rhodes replied very promptly. There _was_ room and he would be -very glad indeed to enroll five new pupils from Lakeville. The mothers -and Aunty Jane were glad to have the matter settled. It did not occur to -any of them, least of all to Mrs. Slater, that charming Ruth Belding was -no longer a very young woman and that considerable time had elapsed -since she had been graduated from Hiltonburg. - -The five girls had spent a wonderful summer camping in the woods with -Mr. Black and his good old sister, Mrs. Crane. On their return, all the -dressmakers in the village had been kept busy for a bewildering -fortnight outfitting the lively youngsters with suitable garments for -school. From a mountain of catalogues, the busy parents selected and -studied long lists of articles needed by prospective pupils at various -schools. Then they bought trunks and filled them. Jean, Mabel, Marjory -and Henrietta began to prattle of clothes. - -"My silk stockings have come," said Henrietta. "Two pairs for very best -and Grandmother has sent to New York for my hat." - -"I have my first silk petticoat," said Jean. "Mother ordered it from -Chicago." - -"I have two new middy blouses from Detroit," confided Mabel. "The -Chicago ones were not big enough." - -"Aunty Jane sent to Boston for my coat," said Marjory. "It's all lined -with satin." - -Bettie said never a word. - -"Say, Bettie," demanded Mabel, "how's _your_ trunk coming?" - -"It isn't," returned Bettie, soberly. "The baby has been sick and Mother -hasn't been able to do a thing. I've darned two pairs of stockings and -taken the hem out of an old petticoat--and that's all. I'm--I'm getting -worried." - -Suddenly Bettie's lip quivered and Jean noticed it. Now, Jean was -thoughtful beyond her years and she knew that the Tuckers had very -little money to spend for clothes. When she reached home, still -wondering where Bettie's wardrobe was to come from, she found her mother -entertaining Mr. Black's stout middle-aged sister, Mrs. Crane. - -"Well, Jeanie girl," said Mrs. Crane, "I've been admiring your new silk -petticoat. I suppose you are all just about ready for school." - -"Bettie isn't," returned Jean, soberly. "I've been thinking about it all -the way home. Mrs. Tucker never _was_ very smart about Bettie's clothes, -you know, and of course they haven't any money. The things that come out -of missionary boxes never do seem to be just right. I don't see where -Bettie's outfit is coming from." - -"Bless my soul!" cried Mrs. Crane, "I'm just an old idiot. And so is -Peter. Here is this blessed old goose of a brother of mine sending -Bettie off to school for a year and neither of us thinking that she'd -need clothes. What ought she to have, Mrs. Mapes? You make out the list -and I'll get the things. Why! I'd just _love_ to do it." - -Left to herself, it is to be feared that Mrs. Crane would have done -fearful things. Her mind ran to gay plaids with red predominating; and -at first she talked much of materials for pinafores--a species of garment -in vogue in her own remote youth; but with much sound advice from Mrs. -Mapes it was not long before Bettie's wardrobe compared very well with -Jean's. - -Mrs. Crane, however, indulged in a few wild purchases that satisfied her -love for color and greatly amused Henrietta. There was a gay plaid dress -with brass buttons, a pair of bright blue stockings, some red mittens, a -wonderful knitted scarf of many hues, a purple workbag and at least four -strings of gaudy beads. Fortunately, there were plenty of garments -without these and Bettie declared that Mrs. Crane's queer purchases made -the dark depths of her big trunk quite bright and cheerful. - -"As for my trunk," laughed happy Bettie, "it's big enough to live in and -it's all mine forever and ever." - - - - -CHAPTER III - -LOST - - -But it is high time we were returning to Chicago to look after the lost -Lakeville children. - -"I think they might have waited for us," panted Mabel, no longer able to -run. "They might have known we'd get lost." - -"It wasn't their fault," said Henrietta. "I should have asked them to -wait. But that's just like me. I'm always doing things on the spur of -the moment and then wishing I hadn't." - -"If we only knew where they were going to eat--" - -"But we don't. Mr. Black said that as long as our train was late getting -in and we had missed our connection with the Hiltonburg train that we'd -just check our baggage to the other station and walk about until time -for lunch. After that we'd go some place to look at something--I've -forgotten just what--and leave for Hiltonburg at three o'clock." - -"I wish I had my lunch right now," wailed Mabel, dragging her hat into -place and stuffing loose locks under it. "I'm hungry and I'm thirsty and -my new shoes hurt my feet. It's awfully noisy here and I don't like -being lost. I don't _like_ it--" - -"Mabel," warned Henrietta, "if you cry, I'll run away and leave you here -and then you'll be a lot more lost than you are now. I'm just as much -lost as you are, even if I _have_ been in Chicago before. We'll go along -until we see a restaurant with ladies eating in it and _we'll_ go in and -eat--" - -"But we haven't any money," objected Mabel, dismally. - -"If I remember rightly," said Henrietta, after a moment's deep thought, -"they don't ask for your money until _after_ you've eaten. I think I -know of a way to fix it. Wait a minute until I tidy you up a little. -There are three dabs of soot on your face and your hair is all over the -place. Of course we want to look as if we _had_ money." - -"You always do," said Mabel, "but I don't." - -"Still," consoled Henrietta, "you always look as if you'd had meals--as -many as four or five a day." - -"But," questioned Mabel, "are you _sure_ it's all right?" - -"Of course. I told you I knew a way to fix it. Here's a place right -here--not very big but the folks look all right. Stand up straight and -don't look so scared. There, that's better." - -They were inside. The waiter held up two fingers and escorted them to a -table. They sat down and Henrietta leisurely removed her gloves. Mabel's -had been removed--and lost--for some hours. - -"We might as well have a _good_ meal," remarked Henrietta, studying the -_menu_. "Of course, if Mr. Black were paying for it I'd leave the choice -to him; but as long as he isn't we'll choose what we like. Let's begin -with cream of celery soup. Then how would you like chicken _ la king_ -and shrimp salad, creamed cauliflower, French fried potatoes--and ice -cream for dessert?" - -"That's all right for me," agreed Mabel, visibly cheering up, "only I -like the looks of the green corn that man is eating over there; and the -waiter just went by with a big tray of fluffy things--" - -"French pastry. We can have some of that, too." - -They enjoyed their meal. Being lost wasn't half bad when the salad was -so delicious, the chicken so tender, the rolls so delightfully crisp, -the corn so sweet, the service so excellent. Besides her ice cream, -Mabel ate two varieties of French pastry and was sorry that Henrietta -didn't urge her to try more when there were so many kinds. But Henrietta -was putting on her gloves. - -Henrietta picked up the slip, carried it to the cashier's desk and -remarked, calmly: "Charge it, please, to Mrs. Howard Slater." - -"But, my dear girl," objected the cashier, "we don't charge meals. This -is a cash place." - -"Oh, is it?" said Henrietta, flushing slightly. "I'm sorry for that. You -see, we _haven't_ any cash. But if you will send the bill to my -grandmother, of course she will pay it." - -"It's a pretty big bill," remarked the young woman with suspicion. "I -think I'd better call the manager. Mr. Hobbs--Oh, Mr. Hobbs! Step here a -moment please." - -Mr. Hobbs "stepped here." The young woman explained. - -"Mrs. Slater of this city?" he asked. - -"No," returned Henrietta; "of Lakeville, Michigan." - -"How do I know she'll pay this?" - -"Oh, she will," exclaimed both girls at once. "She always does." - -"Well, you look as if she did," said the man, who had taken in all the -details of Henrietta's well made costume. "If you'll give me her address -and write a little note to go with the bill, I'll let you go this time. -This--this isn't a regular performance, is it?" - -"Oh, no," assured Henrietta. "We just happened to get separated from our -friends and they had all the money; but I knew it would be all right." - -"I hope it is," said the manager, a little later, as he addressed an -envelope to Mrs. Slater. "Those children certainly ate a square meal." - -In the meantime, perplexed Mr. Black gathered what remained of his flock -as close to him as possible, looked anxiously up and down the street and -wondered what to do. - -"If we stay right here," said Jean, "they may catch up." - -"If we go back for a couple of blocks," said Marjory, "we may find -them." - -"Perhaps," suggested Bettie, "they passed us when we stopped to look at -those clocks." - -"It's time we were having our lunch," said Mr. Black. "Suppose we walk -back and forth the length of this block--we _must_ find those girls." - -"Couldn't we ask that policeman if he had seen two girls, one fat and -one very dark?" asked Marjory. - -They could and they did, but the policeman hadn't. He looked indeed as -if he had never condescended to see anything below the level of his own -lofty chin. - -"Now what," asked worried Mr. Black, taking off his hat and mopping his -forehead, "would _you_ do, girls, if _you_ were lost?" - -"I'd die," said Marjory. - -"I'd telegraph my father," said Bettie. - -"I'd remember that I was going to Hiltonburg on the three o'clock -train," said Jean, "and I'd ask a policeman how to get to the station." - -"Good," said Mr. Black. "Would either of those girls think of that?" - -"Mabel wouldn't," replied Jean, "but Henrietta might. She has traveled a -lot you know. She's been in London, New York, Paris, San Francisco, -Washington, Boston and even in Chicago--but not for very long. Still, she -knows a lot more about cities than _we_ do. She has stayed in -hotels--perhaps she'll go to one." - -"But--had she any money? Had Mabel?" - -"Mabel's mother didn't give her very much," said Jean. "She always loses -it. What she had she packed in her suitcase." - -"And I have Henrietta's," mourned Mr. Black. "Poor girls! They are -frightened half to death and hungry too. They had an early breakfast, -poor things. I should have kept an eye on them every moment." - -"Just one eye wouldn't have been enough for Henrietta," remarked Bettie. -"She darts about like a humming bird. There's one thing certain. They're -not in this block." - -"We'll walk back and forth for twenty minutes longer," said Mr. Black. -"Then we'll get something to eat. After that we'll go to the station." - -Owing to very slow service, it was almost two o'clock before they -finished their meal. There was another delay when they tried to find a -taxicab. After that they were held up twice by congested traffic and the -anxious girls began to fear that they might be late for the three -o'clock train; but they were not. - -Mr. Black was quite pale and haggard from anxiety when at last they -reached the station. He gave an audible sigh of relief when two girls -seated just inside the waiting room door, hopped up and grabbed his coat -tails to halt his rapid stride through the station. - -"Oh, Mr. Black," squealed Mabel. "We're here. We walked all the way and -we asked a policeman on every corner to make sure we were getting to the -right place. I used to think I ought to run if I saw a policeman but I -guess they're pretty useful if you're good--only I wasn't. It was all my -fault. I went into a store to buy candy." - -"It was mine, too," said Henrietta. "I should have known better. I just -didn't think--I never do. I'm awfully sorry." - -"Well, well," returned Mr. Black, "I'm certainly glad you were capable -enough to get to the right station. Now take hold of hands, all of you, -and Bettie, you hold on to my coat like grim death. We must buy our -tickets, re-check our baggage and get aboard our train." - - - - -CHAPTER IV - -FIRST IMPRESSIONS - - -Even a very unobserving person would have been able to see at a glance -that Highland Hall had begun life as a private residence. Originally a -big square house built of cream colored brick and generously supplied -with large windows and many balconies, it was perched in solitary -grandeur at the top of a broad, grassy knoll; but when it became a -school red brick additions, four stories high, extended toward the north -and west. An enormous and very ugly veranda stretched along the entire -length of one of these additions. From it a broad flight of twelve wide -steps led to the ground. - -Doctor Rhodes and his family lived in part of the old mansion. His -office was there on the ground floor in a room that had once been the -dining room. The original parlor, a huge oblong room with a very high -ceiling, and the dark and rather dingy library back of it were still -unchanged. - -Most of the second, third and fourth floors of the large modern wings -contained bedrooms. The school rooms, music rooms and studio occupied -the ground floor. New pupils always complained that there were miles and -miles of dark hallways and corridors in which to get lost. - -The kitchen, dining hall and laundry were in the basement. - -There were no houses visible from three sides of the school building. -From the fourth side, however, one could see the dark roofs of other -ancient houses falling into decay, each with its huge yard, its -overgrown hedge, its unkempt shrubbery. Beyond that, nearly a mile -distant, the red town of Hiltonburg glistened in the sunshine. - -Somewhere between five and six o'clock that September afternoon, the -station hack stopped on the curved driveway in front of Highland Hall. -Mr. Black and his five charges alighted. This spectacle afforded much -interest to some three dozen maidens clustered in pairs and groups on -the front steps and on the wide veranda. To the embarrassed newcomers -these girls seemed to be all eyes. Never had the children from Lakeville -encountered so many curious eyes. There _couldn't_ have been more than -seventy-two but it seemed more like seventy-two thousand, Bettie said -afterwards. - -Mr. Black addressed one of the nearest groups. "Can you direct me," he -asked, "to Doctor Rhodes?" - -"Yes, Sir," said a little girl with smooth, brown hair, rising promptly -and leading the way inside. "He's probably in the office, but if he -isn't I'll find him for you." - -"Ah," said Doctor Rhodes, who _was_ in his office, rising from his -chair, "the five young ladies from Lakeville, I take it?" - -"Yes," returned Mr. Black. - -"Most of our flock arrived day before yesterday," said Doctor Rhodes, -shaking hands all around, "but you are still in very good season. And -what is better, you are just in time for dinner. If Miss--Ah, I don't -remember your name--" - -"Jane," supplied the little girl. - -"Ah, yes, Miss Jane. If you will inform Mrs. Rhodes she will show the -young ladies their rooms so they can--er--wash up a little if necessary. -You, Mr. Black, may come with me." - -Mrs. Rhodes appeared presently and the girls were introduced. They -didn't like Mrs. Rhodes. She was a tall, very slender, very upright old -woman in an unnatural state of tidiness, with evenly-waved white hair -parted exactly in the middle, a wrinkled white skin and glittering black -eyes set in narrow slits. Her unsmiling mouth, too, was a narrow slit. -Her expression was severe. She was really rather a frosty and -blood-curdling old lady to look at but on this occasion she proved a -good guide, surprisingly nimble for her years. She led them to the -second floor, through a wide arch that led to a long corridor. There -were doors down each side of this and a window at the end. Here she -paused to consult a note book that she had taken from her pocket. - -"Number twenty. Miss Vale, Miss Bedford in here. Miss Tucker, Miss Mapes -in twenty-two. Miss Bennett in twenty-four with Miss Isabelle Carew." - -"Oh!" gasped Mabel, "couldn't I stay with the others?" - -"No," returned Mrs. Rhodes. "I have arranged for you to room with Miss -Carew of Kentucky. I'm quite sure you will like her." - -Half an hour later, the five girls were led to the dining room and -seated at one of several long tables. Mr. Black they perceived at a -distance--a tremendous distance it seemed--at Doctor Rhodes's own table. - -"There's custard pie, tonight," whispered the girl next to Henrietta. -Not a pretty girl, but her face was alive with mischief and Henrietta -liked her at once. "I saw pies and pies cooling in the basement window -when I crawled under the veranda to see what they kept in there. Grand -place to hide. What's your name? Mine's Maude Wilder and I live in -Chicago. My room's in the West Dormitory too, so you'll see a lot of -me." - -"I'm glad of that," said Henrietta. - -"The three girls over there with the fancy hair are Seniors. The other -big girls at that table are Juniors. They don't mix very much with the -rest of us." - -"Won't you have a biscuit?" asked a gentle voice at Bettie's right. "I'm -Sarah Dickinson--Sallie for short." - -Bettie looked at Sallie. She saw a slender girl of about fifteen, with -dark blue, rather sad eyes, light brown hair and a pale skin. Her -shoulders drooped a little and there was something rather pathetic about -her smile. The blue collar of her middy blouse was very much faded. This -was very noticeable because, just at the beginning of the term as it -was, nearly all the garments in sight were brand new. - -"Are you a new girl?" asked Bettie. - -"I'm the _oldest_ girl," returned Sallie. "I've been here, vacations and -all, for five years. I haven't any home of my own." - -Later, Bettie learned more about Sallie. Her mother had died when Sallie -was about nine years old. For a time she had lived alone with her father -but he had decided that she would be better off in a girls' school. An -old man, her grandfather, perhaps, had brought her to Highland Hall, -paying her tuition for one year in advance. Something had happened to -her father. When the school year was finished it was discovered that -Sallie had no home to go to, her relatives having somehow disappeared. -Anne Blodgett, a last year's girl who told Bettie about it, was not very -sure of her facts. Anyway, the housekeeper had allowed her to stay -because the little girl seemed likely to prove useful--there were many -errands to do in a house like that. - -She was still staying and still proving useful; but the kindly -housekeeper had departed and stern Mrs. Rhodes had apparently taken the -housekeeper's place. Sallie was kept busier than ever. She sometimes -seemed a bit dazed and bewildered and just a little bit down-hearted; -but at first she had very little to say about herself. - -Mr. Black departed very soon after dinner. The girls were permitted to -walk to the last corner of the school premises with him. There they -clung to him tearfully and begged him to make a great many business -trips to Chicago in order to visit them at Highland Hall. - -"I know," sobbed Bettie, "that we're going to be homesick. I'm homesick -_now_. It's so _different_. All those strange girls and that awful Mrs. -Rhodes." - -"And me with a strange roommate," wailed Mabel, also in tears. "And I -don't even know what she looks like." - -"You'll be so busy studying that you won't have time to miss Lakeville," -assured Mr. Black. "Now run back like good girls so I can catch my -train. I'll send you a great big box of candy from Chicago tomorrow and -new friends will flock about you like flies." - -Before many hours had passed, Mabel discovered that a strange roommate -was not so bad after all because Isabelle Carew of Kentucky had arrived -two days earlier and knew when to go to bed, when to get up, where to -find the class rooms and most important of all, the dining room. Mabel -thoroughly enjoyed imparting her new knowledge to her Lakeville friends. - -Each day, they discovered, was divided into sections of forty minutes -each, and each section was filled to the brim. A bell rang every forty -minutes--Sallie had to ring it. - -"And my goodness!" said weary Mabel, during visiting hour, when the five -friends were stretched at length across Henrietta's narrow bed, "it's -just awful to jump up and do something different every time that bell -rings." - -"Never mind," soothed Henrietta, "we don't have to do a single thing -from three in the afternoon until six, except on walking days. We don't -have to go to gym from two to three unless we want to. We don't have to -study evenings unless we like but except on dancing nights we have to -stay in our own rooms and keep quiet in case anybody _does_ want to -study." - -"Or rest," groaned Mabel. - -"There's kind of a woodsy grove over that way--south, I guess," said -Jean. "We can go as far as the road, Cora says. She's that thin girl -with freckles--an old girl. Sometimes you can find nuts; and, in the -spring, there are lots of wild flowers." - -"Spring will never get here," groaned Marjory. - -"We aren't allowed to go to town at all," said Jean, "except sometimes -to lectures and concerts at the Theological Seminary, and there's a -regular shopping day sometimes. Cora says it isn't a bit like it was -here last year--a great many things have been changed. All the teachers, -for one thing. There's a secret. Something happened, but she says that -Doctor Rhodes took all the old girls into his office as soon as they -came and made them promise not to tell the new girls--or anybody." - -"The teachers," said Henrietta, "are a bunch of freaks and as near as I -can make out most of them are related to Doctor Rhodes. I had physical -geography from his poor old cousin, Emily Rhodes; and a music lesson -from his daughter, Julia Rhodes." - -"His daughter-in-law, Mrs. Henry Rhodes, teaches painting and -needlework," said Jean. "She's rather pleasant, _I_ think." - -"Anyway," said Mabel, "that French teacher isn't related. And I don't -think Miss Woodruff is." - -Marjory sat up suddenly and giggled. - -"What's the joke?" demanded Henrietta. - -"Mabel made friends with Miss Woodruff this morning in mathematics. She -is just about the tallest and stoutest person you ever did see. Mabel -asked her if she hadn't been teaching a great many years. Miss Woodruff -said, 'Why, no; how old do you think I am?' Mabel looked her up and down -carefully and said: 'About seventy-five.'" - -"Oh, Mabel!" - -"Well," confessed Mabel, "I honestly didn't see how anybody _could_ grow -to such a size in _less_ than seventy-five years. Why! She's the very -biggest woman I _ever_ saw." - -"She'll have it in for you," laughed Henrietta. - -"I like Sallie Dickinson," said Bettie. "But I'm sort of sorry for her, -too. She has to give out all the mail because she's the only person who -never gets any and she has to help in the kitchen sometimes, cleaning -silver and things like that. And ringing that horrid bell. It isn't any -wonder her legs are so thin--always running up and down stairs and -through all those long halls." - -"I like Maude Wilder," said Jean. "She's full of fun and she throws -stones just like a boy." - -"I don't care about Isabelle," confessed Mabel. "She says she's -_engaged_." - -"Engaged!" squealed Marjory. "How old is she?" - -"About fifteen. She says southern girls are _always_ engaged. She talked -about nothing but boys last night and she says she's afraid she's -falling in love with the history teacher--Mr. James Carter." - -"I saw him," said Henrietta. "I should think if _any_ man were perfectly -safe from being fallen in love with, he _was_. He's an ugly, -near-sighted little brute with black whiskers and shabby shoes--another -relative of Doctor Rhodes, Maude says. I guess Isabelle is just -naturally sentimental like a silly maid Grandmother had once. She'll -have a sweet time getting sympathy out of Mabel, won't she?" - -"She's writing sort of a continued letter to her Clarence," laughed -unsentimental Mabel. "He's a silly looking thing, too. I saw his picture -in her locket. She wears it night and day." - -"I suppose," teased Henrietta, "you're going to write to Laddie -Lombard?" - -"Of course I am, but that's different. He's just a regular boy--not a -_beau_." - -"It's time we were dressing for dinner," said Jean, prodding her lazy -companions. "We should have been outdoors all this time." - -"I'm worried about dinner," confessed Mabel. "Sallie says that beginning -with tonight we have to ask for everything in French and I don't know -enough French to ask for a stewed prune." - -"You don't have to," laughed Bettie, "we have those for breakfast." - -"It's all right anyway," said Marjory. "Cora says that the girls at our -table have a secret code--Maude invented it as soon as she heard about -the French. This is it. You punch your next door neighbor once for -bread, twice for butter, three times for pickles, four times for -potatoes. One pinch means sugar and two pinches for cream. We never get -any more meat anyway so there isn't anything for that. Of course you -mustn't get your pinches and punches mixed up. But isn't that a grand -scheme for beginners in French?" - -"Ye-es," admitted Mabel, doubtfully, "but you see, I sit next to Miss -Woodruff. What if I forget and punch her?" - - - - -CHAPTER V - -NEW ACQUAINTANCES - - -The French teacher, Madame Celeste Bolande, was easily the most -interesting of all the teachers. She afforded the girls a vast deal of -amusement as well as much annoyance. As a topic of conversation she was -inexhaustible. She was truly wonderful to look at but the snapshots that -the Miller girls took of her failed to do her justice. - -"Doctor Rhodes must have ordered her by mail," said Cora Doyle, after -her first French lesson with the new teacher. "Phew! I'm glad to get -outdoors. She was fairly drenched with perfume." - -"Yes," agreed Debbie Clark. "Doctor Rhodes couldn't have seen her first -or he never would have taken her. What's that stuff about a pig in a -poke? Well, that's how he got her. I'm sure _she_ isn't a relative, even -by marriage." - -Madame Bolande was really amazing to look at and if the girls spoke of -her disrespectfully it was not surprising. No properly brought up little -girl _could_ have respected that astonishing lady. Nature had been kind -to her; she might have been entirely pleasing to the eye, but for -several reasons she was not. She had quantities of black hair, -apparently all her own, but it was always greasy and untidy as if it -were never washed or brushed or combed. It hung about her face in oily -loops that had a way of breaking loose at odd moments, at which times -Madame would pin them carelessly in place and go on with the lesson. - -Sometimes she wore so-called laced shoes, sometimes buttoned ones. -However, most of the time they were neither laced nor buttoned. Whether -she wore black stockings with large holes in them or soiled white ones, -they were constantly coming down. It was a perpetual joy to the girls to -see her reach down, casually, to haul the slipping stocking back into -place. As Madame sat at a small table in the center of the class room, -with the girls on a long bench against the wall, this amusing operation, -though it took place beneath the table, was always plainly visible. - -Buttons were missing from her tight-fitting black frock, showing many -hued undergarments not supposed to be seen. Bits of ragged petticoats -always dangled below the bottom of her skirt. Her neck, her ears and her -finger nails were visibly dirty. - -Madame's face, however, was quite a different matter. Her shapely -countenance, from ear to ear, from brow to chin, was carefully plastered -with powder, her cheeks and lips were rouged and a dab of blue decorated -each eyelid. But, with the exception of her rather handsome face, her -whole person was woefully neglected. - -As a horrible example, Madame proved decidedly useful. No girl _could_ -look upon that lady and fail to bathe. No girl _could_ note that lady's -dangling petticoats of green or cerise silk or soiled white cotton with -torn lace and fail to fasten her own neat underskirt securely into -place. Even Mabel, it was noticed, began at once to take pains to braid -her own troublesome locks more tidily. - -"It isn't because she's _poor_," said Henrietta. "I've seen lots of poor -people right in France and most of them are just as neat as wax; and so -clever about making the most of what they have. And it isn't because she -doesn't have _time_ to mend her clothes or to bathe or wash her hair. -She has all her afternoons and evenings, except when she has papers to -correct--_that_ doesn't take so very much of her time." - -"She's just naturally that way," said Anne Blodgett, sagely. - -"She bathes in perfume," explained Sallie. - -"It's the one thing she does bathe in," breathed Anne. - -"Well," laughed Sallie, "she has enough to fill a _small_ bathtub. There -are ten bottles on her dresser and you know how horribly she smells of -the stuff. Isn't she just awful! She never makes her bed or hangs up her -clothes and she smokes cigarettes--they're all over the place. She -doesn't even do that like a lady." - -"Oh, she _isn't_ a lady," said Henrietta. "Was she here last year?" - -"No," returned Sallie, "she's as new as you are." - -Henrietta and the French teacher were enemies from the beginning. -Henrietta, having lived in France and having had an excellent French -governess for a number of years, could chatter in French like a little -magpie. Madame chattered too and Henrietta made a discovery. Madame's -French was ungrammatical. Madame was distinctly uneducated and decidedly -lower class--no fit instructor for a girls' school. Yet at first Madame -behaved circumspectly; although she told fascinating tales of life in -Paris, there was much that she did not tell. She barely hinted at -romantic incidents in her own life. Her husband had been a milliner. -They had come to the States where after two years death had descended -upon her so noble Alphonse, and it had become necessary for Madame to -teach "in some pig of a school" in order to earn money so that she might -in time return to her so beautiful France. - -Madame Bolande knew that Henrietta was aware of all her shortcomings as -a teacher; for Henrietta frequently pointed out Madame's sometimes -laughable errors. Naturally, the Frenchwoman both hated and feared "That -so bad Mees Henrietta," and that young person was quite unable to -respect her teacher; so there were lively sessions in class when mocking -Henrietta goaded Madame so nearly to frenzy that Madame fairly shrieked -with rage. All this resulted in exceedingly bad marks for Henrietta, who -really deserved good ones for her French and very bad ones for her -conduct; but Madame did not discriminate. She gave her the very blackest -marks she could fish from the depths of her ink bottle. - -Miss Woodruff, on the other hand, bathed frequently in real water, wore -her smooth hair in the neatest of knobs and was undoubtedly a well -educated woman; and, in some ways, an excellent teacher. She taught -English and mathematics, for instance, in a way to inspire respect for -her deep knowledge; but her manner of doing it was frequently -unpleasant. The girls frankly hated her at times because she heaped -ridicule upon them when they failed. She was often cold and cuttingly -sarcastic when a little sympathy would perhaps have accomplished more. - -Day after day, Bettie, who was stupid anyway in mathematics, quailed -under the large lady's biting sarcasm and grew more and more confused as -to numbers; until, as she put it afterwards, she didn't know whether she -was shingling a ceiling or plastering a roof with nineteen quarts of ice -cream picked from twenty-seven apple trees, at three cents a yard. - -Maude Wilder, who liked Bettie, and who had suffered considerably on her -own account, eyed Miss Woodruff balefully and plotted revenge. - -The girls loved Maude. She wasn't a pretty girl, but her pale brown eyes -with amber lights in them twinkled delightfully and the corners of her -mouth crinkled easily into whimsical smiles. Almost anything amused -Maude and she was quite apt to become amused at the wrong moment. Also -she was able to amuse other persons. - -The pupils at Highland Hall were supposed to respond to roll call each -morning with a French phrase--a different one each day. Miss Woodruff -stood at her desk on the platform, listening intently; while all the -pupils sat demurely at _their_ desks, also listening. - -Maude had one phrase--and _only_ one. She made it do the work of a great -many. With a twinkle in her eye, day after day, Maude folded her hands -demurely and responded blandly: "_Nous avons des raisins blancs et noirs -mais pas de cerises._" (We have white and black grapes but no cherries.) - -"But, Maude," Miss Woodruff would say, "that is very good but I shall -expect a different phrase tomorrow. You've used that one long enough." - -"Yes, Ma'am," Maude would reply, meekly. - -But the next morning, to the unfailing delight of all the pupils, this -incorrigible young imp would respond seriously and even more blandly -with the same timeworn and utterly foolish phrase. - -If Maude ever learned another word of French no one ever discovered it. -Indeed, Maude was so busy being funny that she had little time for -study. - -It was Maude, too, who daily stole a pie from the pantry window sill -under the front porch. Maude having discovered a hole in the lattice -work near the steps, crawled in one day to investigate. She found -numerous pies cooling on the broad sill. She ate one hurriedly and it -made her ill. One pie, a large pie at that, was plainly too much for one -girl. After that she always took a companion under the porch with her -and generously divided the stolen pie. Sometimes the companion was -Henrietta; sometimes it was Marjory, once it was Bettie--but Bettie's -conscience troubled her and she wouldn't go again. Unhappily, the only -time that one could be sure of capturing a pie was during the morning -recess, a matter of only fifteen minutes. As the pies were always red -hot at that time it required courage to bolt them. The mince pies were -especially trying, for there is nothing much hotter than a hot raisin. - -Maude never was discovered; but long afterwards the girls wondered if -she hadn't made some secret arrangement with the cook. She was quite -capable of it for Maude was nothing if not resourceful. And the cook was -a good natured person. - - - - -CHAPTER VI - -GETTING SETTLED - - -After the first busy and exciting weeks when everything was new and a -little terrifying, the girls settled down to regular work and, at times -to a rather dull life, so sometimes very small events loomed quite large -to their young eyes. Of course there were letters from home. And there -was no more thrilling moment in the day than that in which Sallie -Dickinson appeared on the school platform, at the close of the two -o'clock session, with the old brown mail bag under her arm. - -Sallie's blouses were old and faded and her skirt had seen better days -but little Jane Pool declared that the post-girl always looked just like -an angel when she stepped in through the doorway with that dingy bag. - -And of course the girls wrote letters, large numbers of them, to the -persons on their writing lists. Some of them liked to write letters and -wrote very fat ones. Some of them, like Mabel for instance, hated to -write letters and wrote very thin ones. One rainy afternoon, the -freckled girl, Cora Doyle, regaled her friends with a distressing tale. - -"Do you know," said she, from her perch on Jean's window sill, "I -believe Dr. Rhodes _reads_ our letters before he sends them. Mine are -always late getting to my folks and I've seen heaps of letters stacked -up in his office for days at a time. And one evening I went in to ask -for a piece of courtplaster for Ruth Dennis's thumb and all those Rhodes -people were around a table doing something to a lot of mail." - -"Perhaps," said Jean, who knew that Cora was apt to make mountains out -of molehills, "they were just looking to see if they were stamped or -properly addressed. You know they have to bring them back to us -sometimes for reasons like that." - -"I don't know," returned Cora. "Things are queer and different this -year. I'd like to, but I can't tell you why." - -"_Do_ tell us," begged Henrietta. - -"No, I can't. I promised not to." - -"There's one thing," said Jean, "that surprises me. Doctor Rhodes isn't -a bit like a school teacher. And when he talks to us in the school room -as he sometimes does when he has anything to announce like new rules or -a lecture or a concert in the village, he often uses the wrong word or -mispronounces a word, as if--well, as if he weren't used to making -speeches in very good English." - -"I think he gets rattled," said little Jane Pool, sagely. - -"Somehow," said Marjory, "I don't exactly like Doctor Rhodes. I don't -exactly _believe_ in him." - -"I don't quite like him, either," declared Henrietta, who had washed her -wonderful mop of hair and was drying it with a large bathtowel. "I'm -surprised at my Grandmother for saying such nice things about him. When -there are visitors he seems so oily and so smooth; and it seems to me -that he is extra polite to those Miller girls--all the world uses their -father's soap, you know--but when he asks Sallie to do errands he doesn't -even say please. And Mrs. Rhodes is always gliding about like the ghost -of Hamlet's Father. She looks as if she were listening with all her -features. But she never _says_ a thing to us, even when she catches us -slipping around through the corridors after lights are out." - -"I'm glad she doesn't," said Marjory. "She _looks_ all the things she -doesn't say." - -"After all," said Jean, sagely, "they might be a lot worse." - -The next day was Sunday and Sundays were quite different from all the -other days. In the morning the girls always marched two by two to church -a long mile away, where they sat in the front pews with their eyes fixed -upon the clergyman. This often proved a trying ordeal for that gentleman -because this particular church had no regular rector. Instead, each -Sunday, a student from the Theological Seminary just north of the -village offered up home made prayers and stammered forth his first -sermon before the long suffering members of that little church. Each -successive student, it seemed, was more bashful than the last; and if -any one of those blushing young preachers had ever learned to deliver a -sermon, he promptly forgot all he knew, when, for the first time, he -faced a congregation. There was one thing, however, that all these -stuttering young men _could_ do and that was to perspire copiously and -continuously. No matter how many impressive gestures the preacher might -have practised at home beforehand, he used only one while he occupied -that pulpit. With handkerchief clutched firmly in his shaking right -hand, he mopped and mopped and mopped his dripping brow. - -While the girls couldn't help being amused, they were always sorry for -the tortured youths. - -"You wouldn't think," said Cora, after one of these painful ordeals, -"that they'd be afraid to face thirty or forty girls but they always -are. Just as soon as their eyes light on those ten pews full of Highland -Hall girls, their carefully prepared words take flight, and I guess -_they'd_ like to, too." - -"They seem to find it almost as hard to pass the plate," laughed -Henrietta. "When they get to us their knees begin to wobble." - -"It's because we stare at those poor creatures so unmercifully," said -Jean. "Even a real minister would be embarrassed, I should think." - -"I'm sorry for them, too," said Bettie, "but they _are_ funny. Of course -they have to learn to preach if they're going to be ministers, but it -seems cruel to make them do it that way." - -"Just like dumping puppies into cold water to teach them to swim," said -Marjory. - -"It isn't very much like our kind of church," complained Bettie. "It's -too entertaining. We're Episcopalians and _our_ ministers don't _have_ -to learn how to make their own prayers--the folks that make them know -how." - -"Yes," said Jean, "we're all getting lonesome for our own kind of -services. That's one thing we miss." - -"Well, then," said Sallie Dickinson, "I have some good news for you. In -about four weeks more the new Episcopal Church will be ready for use and -you can go there. Miss Woodruff and Mrs. Henry Rhodes are Episcopalians, -so perhaps we'll _all_ go. We used to go to the old church before it was -torn down." - -"I think," said Henrietta, demurely, "we ought to come back to this -church once in a while just to keep those poor Theologs perspiring. Miss -Woodruff says perspiring is necessary to good health." - -The Sunday dinners were apt to be rather good; there was usually -chicken. - -"But," complained Mabel, after one of these chicken dinners, "I don't -see why I have to get all the lizzers and gizzers." - -"What!" gasped Maude. - -"Givers and lizzers; no, gizzers and lizards," sputtered Mabel. "I -_always_ get them." - -"She means livers and gizzards," explained Jean. - -Sunday afternoons dragged. The girls could walk within bounds but that -was not particularly exciting. On week days they usually gathered nuts -in the grove--if one threw enough sticks it was possible to knock down a -hickory nut or two most any day; or explored an ancient garden in which -there were old apple trees. But in Sunday frocks and Sunday shoes it was -wiser to stick to the sidewalks, so the girls strolled about and -gossiped. It was truly surprising how much they found to talk about. - -Sometimes on rainy Sunday afternoons, Henrietta gathered a flock of the -younger girls about her on the wide front staircase, a dim, spooky, -black walnutty place with a vast dark space overhead, and told thrilling -tales. That was one thing that Henrietta could do to perfection. - -But Sunday evenings at Highland Hall were almost invariably harrowing. -The girls gathered about the piano in the big, chilly drawing room and -sang familiar hymns and wept. - -Sallie Dickinson wept because she hadn't any home. The rest of them wept -because they had. Still, Sunday after Sunday evening they sang the same -sorrowful hymns because it seemed the proper thing to do, and then -retired sniffling and snuffling to their narrow, single beds. - -"They _like_ it," declared Mrs. Henry Rhodes. "Boarding school girls -always do it, and they wouldn't do it if they didn't enjoy it." - -There was one Sunday evening, however, when the gloom was somewhat -lightened; and when giggles supplanted sobs. Stout Miss Woodruff, clad -in her smooth gray serge gown, with its white vest for Sunday use only, -usually sat in a large arm-chair at the end of the room, in order to -lend dignity to the meeting. But on this occasion she was absent and had -asked Abbie to take her place. Poor scatter-brained Abbie had forgotten -all about it so the chair was vacant. But not for long. - -The chief ornament of the high mantel shelf was a large stuffed bird--a -penguin. When it became evident to the waiting girls that no one was -coming to occupy that vacant chair, Maude Wilder, always resourceful, -climbed upon a chair, seized the stately penguin and placed him in the -chair. With his dignity, his mildly disapproving eye and his smooth gray -and white plumage, his resemblance to stern Miss Woodruff--vest and -all--was so striking and so amusing that the astonished girls burst forth -with a chorus of giggles instead of words when Mrs. Henry Rhodes, at the -piano, played the opening notes of the first hymn. - -Of course Mrs. Henry turned around to see what caused this most unusual -hilarity. When she saw the solemn penguin doing his birdlike best to be -human and succeeding so admirably in filling Miss Woodruff's place, Mrs. -Henry not only giggled but laughed outright; and all the pupils, -including the lofty Seniors, joined in. For the rest of the evening, -even the saddest hymns failed to bring on a single case of homesickness. - -"But," warned Mrs. Henry, restoring the bird to his lofty perch when the -singing was finished, "we must never do this again. We've all been very -bad." - -"I love that lady," said Maude, on the way upstairs. "If _she_ were my -teacher I'd be good all the time." - -"I hope," giggled Sallie Dickinson, "I won't forget and call Miss -Woodruff 'Miss Penguin.' I shall never be able to dust that bird again -without thinking of her." - - - - -CHAPTER VII - -AN OLD ACQUAINTANCE - - -One morning, late in October, there was great excitement at Highland -Hall. It was just at recess time and all the girls (except Maude Wilder -and Debbie Clark who were under the porch foraging for pie) were on the -veranda or the graveled walk. Two new pupils were arriving. They were -not together for they came in separate hacks. The first was a large girl -of fourteen who, followed by a small, meek father, marched fearlessly up -the steps and looked each girl straight in the eye until she reached -Sallie Dickinson, who stood in the doorway, smiling a welcome. - -"I'm Victoria Webster of Iowa," said she, "and I've come here to school. -Where's Doctor What d'ye-callum? I've come here after an education and I -want it right away." - -And then Victoria deliberately turned and winked at the Miller girls; a -real wink, with one bold blue eye wide open, the other shut. Victoria, -the surprised girls perceived, was as fresh as a breeze from her own -prairie, and they were instantly prepared to enjoy her. - -The other hack disgorged its contents. An overdressed woman in -ridiculous shoes stepped out; an overdressed girl in even more -ridiculous shoes followed her. The girl, fair-haired and exceedingly -fluffy was almost as violently perfumed as Madame Bolande herself. - -Jean, Marjory, Bettie and Mabel glanced casually at this second young -person and suddenly gasped. They had received a jolt. Then they looked -inquiringly at one another and back again at the girl. They couldn't -quite believe their eyes. - -"What's her name?" demanded Marjory, when Sallie, who had escorted the -last newcomers inside returned to the porch. - -"Gladys de Milligan, of Milwaukee," returned Sallie, holding her nose. -"Her father must be a perfume factory." - -The Lakeville girls looked at one another again. - -"Gladys de Milligan," breathed Marjory. - -"Laura Milligan!" gasped Mabel. "Of all things, Laura Milligan!" - -"Hush," warned Jean, a finger on her lips. "Come down on the lawn. We'll -have to talk this over by ourselves." - -"It's Laura all right," said Bettie. "Her hair's a lot lighter than it -used to be and she's taller and much more elegant; but it's the same -turned up nose and the same twisty shoulders and the same small eyes, -too close together." - -"And the same horrid mother," said Mabel. "What shall we do?" - -"Let's not do anything," counseled wise Jean. "Let's wait and see if she -recognizes us." - -"Perhaps anybody as grand as that," offered Marjory, hopefully, -"wouldn't _want_ to know plain blue serge folks like us. Of course we -wouldn't exactly want the Highland Hall girls to think she was an old -friend of ours--" - -"She _wasn't_," said Mabel, emphatically. - -"Well," argued Jean, "perhaps Laura has changed--certainly she has -changed her name. It wouldn't be quite fair or kind for us to tell the -other girls the things we know about her. We can wait until we have her -by herself before we seem to recognize her. And maybe she has improved--" - -"She needed to," said Marjory, sagely. "Shan't we even tell Henrietta?" - -"I don't believe we need to," returned Jean. "Henrietta won't like her -anyway. She's too--well, too cheap. She isn't Henrietta's kind, you -know." - -"The Milligans must have made money," said Marjory. "They hadn't any -such clothes in Lakeville." - -"Lakeville would have dropped dead if they had," giggled Bettie. - -At first "Gladys" pretended not to recognize the little girls with whom -she had once played in Lakeville; but, needing some one to show her the -way to a class room, she waylaid Marjory in the hall and called her by -name. - -"Now, listen," warned Gladys, shifting her gum to the other side of her -mouth. "Don't let anybody hear you calling me Laura. It isn't my name -any more. I always hated that name and Milligan, too. Mother calls me -Gladys--Gladys Evelyn de Milligan." - -"What's the 'D' for," asked honest Marjory. - -"That's French," explained Laura. "It's d e, _de_." - -"But Milligan isn't French." - -"It's more elegant that way," explained Laura, shifting her gum again. -"We're society people now. It looks better in print when Mother's 'Among -those present.' Now listen. Now that you know my name, see that you -remember it. And tell those other Lakeville girls they can do the same -thing." - -Although the Miller girls' father supplied the world with soap, although -three continents ate the breakfast food that Hazel Benton's uncle -manufactured, no one at Highland Hall paraded her wealth and her -so-called "Social standing" as vulgar little Gladys de Milligan paraded -hers. She was always painted and powdered and overdressed; she was -reckless with her spending money, snobbish and artificial to the very -final degree; yet, fortunately for gum-chewing Laura, there were girls -who seemed to like her. - -Most of the girls, however, liked Victoria Webster much better. To be -sure Victoria had her faults, but they were pleasanter faults than -Laura's. Every one of the youngsters admired and tried to imitate -Victoria's marvelously perfect wink. Maude came the nearest to achieving -success; and little Lillian Thwaite failed the most dismally. - -"Don't try it on a cold day," warned Victoria, "you might freeze that -way, Lillian, with your mouth half way up your cheek and your nose in a -knot." - -It was a joy to see Victoria and Maude play ball. They went at it -precisely like a pair of boys. And Victoria shared Maude's affection for -pie. - -Madame Bolande liked Gladys Evelyn de Milligan but sarcastic Miss -Woodruff did not. When she called upon that young person in class, she -frequently pretended that she had forgotten her name, so that one day, -to the great amusement of her classmates, Laura would be called Ambrosia -Nectarine and the next Miss Woodruff would address her as Verbena -Heliotrope, Gladiolus Violet or Lucretia Calliopsis or something else -equally ridiculous; but a new one for every occasion. This, of course, -wasn't exactly kind or even quite courteous; but it is safe to say that -Gladys Evelyn began to regret having changed and embellished her plain -if not beautiful name. Perhaps, before Miss Woodruff had entirely -exhausted her supply of fancy names, poor Gladys Evelyn may have envied -little Jane Pool. No one ever forgot or pretended to forget Jane's very -brief and very plain name, except Doctor Rhodes, who forgot everybody's. - -Jane was a small girl with a very bright, eager face, smooth brown hair -and a great deal of character. Just about everybody liked Jane. - -"Are you related to those grand Chicago Pools?" asked Gladys Evelyn one -day, as she peeled a fresh stick of gum. - -"Mercy, no," returned Jane, who had listened for a weary half hour to -Laura's tales about her own wonderful people. "There's nothing grand -about _us_--we're just plain Pools--little common Pools like mud puddles. -No limousines, no diamonds, no ancestors. Just three meals a day and a -bed at night. We're just folks--the commonest kind." - -And Gladys, not noticing the twinkle in Jane's bright black eye, -believed the little rascal, only to learn later that Jane's father was -accounted one of the wealthiest men in the state of Wisconsin. But you -never would have known it from Jane. - -"I wish," complained Henrietta, one day, "we hadn't been two days late -in getting to this school. All the girls engaged their walking partners -before we came. I like to walk with Victoria--she steps right off like a -man--but Gladys Evelyn de Milligan--phew! With all those heels and that -tight skirt she _can't_ walk. But I'll say one thing for Gladys. She -_can_ chew gum." - -"We didn't mean to leave you out when we four paired off," assured Jean. -"But Marjory asked me and Mabel asked Bettie--why, of course we can -switch off sometimes. The _old_ girls engaged their partners last year." - -These walks occurred three times a week. On Sundays, when the entire -school walked two by two to church. On Tuesday, when the girls were -taken, again in twos, to the village to shop; and on Fridays when they -went to the cemetery. The only reason they went to the cemetery was -because a walk of a mile and a half straight west ended there. - -Sallie Dickinson usually walked with poor old Abbie Smith, the chaperon. -Abbie was a forlorn creature, neither old nor young. She had a long red -nose, a retreating chin, drooping shoulders and a rounded back. -Colorless, straggling hair and pale eyes. A spineless, unpleasant -person. Like Sallie Dickinson, she was an orphan. Like Sallie, poor old -Abbie had been left penniless at Highland Hall, but at an earlier date. -It was said that Abbie's stepfather had deliberately abandoned her; and, -looking at Abbie, it seemed not unlikely. One would have supposed that -twenty years of school life would have _educated_ Abbie but they hadn't. -Abbie was incapable of acquiring an education. - -"When I look at Abbie," confided Sallie, one day, as she laid an armful -of freshly laundered garments on Jean's bed, "it makes me just sick. Am -_I_ going to be like that twenty years from now?" - -"Of course you're not," consoled Jean, "You're ever so bright in school -and you--why, Sallie! It's all in your own hands. If you learn every -blessed thing you can, some day you'll be smart enough to teach. And -then, probably, they'd be glad enough to have you teach right here. And -if they wouldn't, you could go some place else. Don't ever _think_ that -you have to stay here and be a stupid, downtrodden servant like poor old -Abbie." - -"Well, do you know," said Sallie, visibly brightening, "I _did_ think -just exactly that. I wake up nights and worry about it. Oh, Jean! I do -wish you'd poke me up once in awhile, whenever you see me losing my -backbone or looking like Abbie--" - -"You _don't_ look like Abbie--you _couldn't_. Abbie never was pretty or -bright and you _are_. Wait, I want to give you these history notes I dug -up--I know they kept you busy all study hour sorting the clean clothes so -of course you didn't have time to look anything up. You'll just _have_ -to have splendid marks from now on." - -"You're a darling!" cried Sallie, rubbing her cheek against Jean's. "I -wish you'd reached Hiltonburg a whole lot sooner. I _needed_ you." - - - - -CHAPTER VIII - -BRAVE VICTORIA - - -Almost at once, there was one very curious and amusing result of Madame -Bolande's friendship for "Gladys de Milligan." Madame, who apparently -took no interest in her own hair, professed great admiration for that of -the new pupil and offered to teach her a new and even fancier way of -arranging it. - -One night, to that end, Madame mixed an exceedingly sticky something in -a cup--quince seed and water, Laura explained afterwards--and applied it -to Laura's pale yellow locks. After plastering them down in large wet -rings all over Laura's foolish head, Madame fished the remnant of an old -green veil from her untidy bureau drawer and tied it firmly over the -slippery mass. Her intentions were perfectly good but the result was -surprising. - -By morning, the quince seed was dry and it was possible to brush the -stuff, in a powdery shower of white particles, from the mass of loose -curls. But alas! A shocking thing had happened. The dye in the green -veil had proved anything but permanent. It had spent the night -_running_. Poor Gladys Evelyn appeared late for breakfast with red eyes -and bright green hair. It was at least a month before her tangled locks -lost their verdant hue. - -"Never mind, Gladys," soothed Grace Allen. "Mermaids have green hair and -you know how beautiful _they_ are." - -Oddly enough, this curious mishap made several new friends for Gladys -among the girls, whose ready sympathy was aroused for an unfortunate -maiden who had to go about with pale green hair. Augusta Lemon was one -of those tender hearted young persons, Lillian Thwaite another. About -this time, too, Grace Allen began to wander about, arm in arm, with -Gladys. - -Cora Doyle, to whom the Lakeville girls were greatly indebted for much -of the past history of Highland Hall, proved a likeable girl, after one -learned not to believe all that she said. Cora just naturally -exaggerated. When she was cold she was absolutely frozen. When she was -warm, she was positively boiled. If she possessed one black and blue -spot she _knew_ she had ten thousand and if she were slightly indisposed -she was positive she was dying. In short, she called "Wolf, Wolf," when -the wolf was conspicuously absent. - -This trait of Cora's was beginning to lead to embarrassing consequences. -Cora's wild statements in school were always taken with a grain of salt. -Worse than that, her own people wouldn't believe her. Even when she -outgrew her shoes and wrote home for larger ones, they were sure she -only meant more stylish ones; so poor Cora limped about in short shoes -and acquired a corn. And now she had a new trouble. Whether it was -basketball or the extra pie that she ate under the porch with Maude, no -one knew, but Cora began suddenly to grow very rapidly. Her sleeves and -her skirts were visibly retreating and she was showing more wrist and -more stocking than was considered becoming. - -"My folks won't _believe_ me," wailed Cora, reading her letter from -home. "I've _told_ them that my knees show and my sleeves are up to my -elbows and they won't _believe_ me." - -"But your skirts _aren't_ up to your knees," laughed Marjory. - -"Anyway, they're getting there and I have to stay up nights letting out -hems." - -"Never mind," consoled Jean, "your folks will see for themselves, when -you go home for Christmas. Of course you may have to go in a paper bag--" - -"That's just the trouble. I _don't_ go home for Christmas--I live too far -away. I'm going to visit Maude in Chicago--and it's _her_ folks that will -see for themselves how many miles of legs and wrists I'm showing." - -"That's what you get for stretching things," laughed Henrietta. "Your -arms and legs have caught it." - -"_I_ didn't get any letter at all," grumbled Mabel. "Anybody gets more -than I do." - -"Cheer up," said Jean. "Perhaps you'll have two tomorrow. In the -meantime you can read mine--there's quite a lot of Lakeville news in it." - -"Wait a minute, girls," called Helen Miller, climbing up on the platform -beside Sallie. "Have any of you seen my amethyst pendant? I _thought_ I -left it in a little box on my dresser, but I _may_ have worn it out and -dropped it. Anyway, if you find one, it's mine." - -Several of the girls looked at one another significantly. - -Queer things were happening at Highland Hall. There were mysterious -disappearances; but whether they were due to carelessness or whether -they were due to theft, no one could say. The fact remained. Various -things of more or less value had vanished; and their owners were both -puzzled and distressed. Hazel Benton had somehow lost her wrist watch, -Ruth Dennis mourned a gold pencil that usually dangled from a ribbon -about her neck, Mabel's sentimental roommate, Isabelle, could not find -the large gold locket containing Clarence's picture--_that_ vanished, -Isabelle declared, while she was taking a bath, the _only_ time she -didn't have it on. - -Then, one morning, there was a scene in the dining room, where the girls -and the teachers were eating their breakfast rolls and the two neat -maids were passing the coffee. Madame Bolande, all excitement, and with -her black dress face-powdered from collar to hem and her hair even -wilder than usual, rushed into the dining room and declared volubly that -two ten dollar bills had disappeared from the stocking under her bed. - -"And," declared Madame, balefully, "eet ees zat Mees Henrietta zat have -taken zem. She ees the most baddest Mademoiselle zat I have een my -class." - -At this point, just when things were getting really interesting, Doctor -and Mrs. Rhodes rose hastily from their chairs, seized Madame by the -elbows and escorted her quite neatly from the public gaze. The girls -would have been glad to hear more. - -Fortunately no one believed Madame's accusation of Henrietta because all -the girls knew how little love was lost between that lively girl and the -untidy French woman. Madame always blamed Henrietta for anything that -happened. Occasionally she was right, because Henrietta was a young -bundle of mischief, with no respect whatsoever for Madame Bolande; but -the girls knew that Henrietta was no thief. And Henrietta, far from -appearing downcast at Madame's outrageous words, giggled cheerfully and -considered it a joke. - -And then something else happened that turned even Madame's unjust -suspicion away from Henrietta. There was a burglar scare, a _real_ -burglar scare, in Hiltonburg. It lasted three weeks, during which time -suddenly intimidated householders locked _all_ their doors instead of -just a few, bought catches for every one of their windows and caused -themselves agonies of discomfort by putting their valuables away in -supposedly burglar-proof spots overnight. Whether or not there really -was a burglar at the bottom of this alarm nobody was able to discover; -but the scare was certainly big enough and genuine enough while it -lasted to upset the entire community. It started in the heart of the -village, worked itself gradually along the State road, and, by the time -it was a week or ten days old, crept through the hedge that surrounded -Highland Hall and right into the house itself. - -For days the girls talked of nothing else. Of course the different girls -were affected in different ways. The three Seniors moved into one room -and slept three in a bed, with their valuables under the mattress. -Little Lillian Thwaite couldn't think of the burglar without turning -faint. Alice Bailey's big black eyes grew so much bigger and blacker at -mention of him that the sight always sent Augusta Lemon, who was -particularly sympathetic, into spasms of fear. Bettie refused to walk -through the corridors alone, even by broad daylight. - -Victoria Webster was of different fiber. "Victoria," as everybody knows, -means "A Conqueror." It certainly seemed as if this particular bearer of -the name had conquered fear. At any rate she was not afraid. Moreover, -she was not only courageous but she bragged about it until the other -girls were just a little tired of it. - -"I'd like to see the burglar I'd be afraid of," boasted Victoria. "See -here, Lillian, if you and Augusta and Bettie are afraid, I'll move into -the West Dormitory and take care of you." - -"I wish to goodness you would," declared Lillian. "Bettie's all right, -but Augusta and I are all alone in number twenty-six." - -"Do move in today," pleaded Augusta. "There's a vacant bed--really, -that's one reason why the room is so scary. It's bad enough to have to -look under one's own bed without having that extra one--we've been taking -turns. Let's go and ask Miss Woodruff to let you come--she's the matron -in our corridor, you know." - -"I was about to suggest that very thing," replied Miss Woodruff, -regarding burglar-proof Victoria with a quizzical eye. "If this brave -Victoria can instill some of her surplus courage into this quaking -Lillian and this shuddering Augusta, by all means let her do it." - -"Victoria is really almost too courageous," remarked Mrs. Henry Rhodes, -when the girls had left the school room. "She just bristles with -bravery. I'd like to frighten her just once. She'd have made a fine boy, -wouldn't she, with those broad, sturdy shoulders!" - -"She'd have made a blustering one. I suspect that if she _had_ been one, -every other boy that knew her would have been tempted to put her bravery -to the test. I don't think that boys take as kindly to braggarts as -girls do." - -But even the girls, with the exception of timid Lillian and terrified -Augusta, began to grow tired of Victoria's boasting; for, braced by the -admiring devotion of her roommates, Victoria could talk of nothing but -her own bravery. - -"If a burglar came," Victoria would brag, "I'd look him straight in the -eye and say: 'See here, Mr. Burglar, I want to talk to you as man to -man. I take it you're a man of sense. Your time is valuable. You're -wasting it here. We've only thirty cents a week pocket money. If you -were mean enough to take it all you wouldn't get much. Our jewels came -from the five and ten cent store; so just run along to a place where -they really _have_ money.'" - -"Would you _really_?" demanded Augusta. - -"Yes, I would. I've never seen the time yet when I've really been afraid -of anything." - -"They say," quavered Lillian, "that they found footsteps--yes, Marjory, I -meant foot-prints--under the Browns' dining room window last Friday--only -three houses from this one. Oh, I'm so scared I can't eat my meals." - -"Don't be alarmed," said Victoria. "You have _me_." - -Victoria had bragged all day. She was still bragging when she climbed -into bed, with Lillian's cot at her left, Augusta's at her right. - -An hour later, the west corridor was wrapped in silence; or it would -have been if nine girls had not assembled in Henrietta's room to whisper -excitedly in one another's ears. Inadvertently, they whispered too in -Miss Woodruff's, as she stood listening just outside the door. Miss -Woodruff was not a prying person. She was merely assuring herself that -the noises that she couldn't help hearing were made by girls, not -burglars. - -"Good!" whispered the pleased teacher as she gathered the gist of this -animated buzzing. "It's a thing I'd love to do myself. Victoria had it -coming to her. I shall aid and abet those merry plotters by staying very -sound asleep for the next hour." - -Whereupon Miss Woodruff very gently closed her own door and to all -appearances had finished her matronly duties for the night. - -Ten minutes later, a small white scout slipped noiselessly down the dark -corridor toward the room in which Victoria was sleeping. Presently she -slipped back into Henrietta's. - -"All three are sound asleep," reported Jane. "You could stick pins into -Victoria and she wouldn't know it. Now's the time for action. Don't -waste a minute. She'll never be sounder asleep than she is now." - -"Jane," whispered Henrietta, "you and Marjory must get into those two -empty beds in the room directly across the hall from Victoria's and -_stay_ in them long enough to get them warmed up, so we can move those -other two girls into them. We'll wait fifteen minutes longer. But if -Lillian and Augusta _should_ wake up, we'll just have to whisk them into -a closet and clap our hands over their mouths." - -For perhaps three quarters of an hour that night, Miss Woodruff heard -the light patter of bare feet on the corridor matting, the subdued -whisperings of girlish voices, the quickly hushed clattering of wood -against wood, of metal against crockery, the dragging of bulky objects -through narrow doorways. These sounds were punctuated by little gusts of -stifled laughter, followed each time by brief periods of absolute -silence. - -"I do hope," she whispered, "they'll succeed. Victoria certainly needs -taking down. Dear me, how Marjory giggles! She was never designed for a -career of successful burglary." - -After a time the slight brushing of exploring hands and fluttering -garments against the corridor walls, told of the otherwise silent flight -of nine girlish forms down the long, dark hallway. Then Henrietta's door -closed with a tiny click and for fully fifteen minutes afterwards sounds -of suppressed mirth sifted back to Miss Woodruff's patient but approving -ears. - -The house was silent when the great clock in the lower hall boomed -"One." Victoria, who had been dreaming in an entirely unprecedented -manner, suddenly awoke, to experience a curious sense of physical -discomfort. Something was wrong. She groped for the bedclothes. They -were gone. She stretched out both hands and her groping fingers came in -contact with a firm, level, cold surface not unlike hardwood floor. She -moved her fingers--it _was_ floor. No other polished surface had those -regularly recurring cracks, Victoria, much alarmed, crept on hands and -knees, about the empty room. The window was open, the door closed. With -a little gasp of relief, she opened it. - -"Thank goodness!" breathed tremulous Victoria, groping about in the -hallway, "I'm not locked in. But where in the world am I? Here's another -door." - -It opened. Here, window shades were up and puzzled Victoria made out the -outlines of three beds. Her bare toes touched the big fur rug that she -knew belonged to Anne Blodgett, her opposite neighbor. The feel of a -familiar object in this world of uncertainties was a comforting -sensation. - -"Anne!" gasped chattering Victoria, plunging bodily into Anne's bed. -"I'm frightened to pieces! If that was my room that I've just come out -of there isn't a thing left in it. My bed--even Lillian and Augusta have -been stolen. Burglars--or something--carried off every single thing but -me. I suppose I was too heavy. I found the window open." - -Anne giggled. There were giggles from the other beds. Victoria guessed -the truth. Then having much good sense back of her shortcomings she -giggled too. - -"Well," she laughed, "that was a great joke on me, all right. I might be -brave enough if I happened to be awake; but what's the use of courage -when a burglar with any enterprise at all could carry me right off to -the next county without waking me up." - -"Did you _really_ think it was a sure enough burglar?" asked Anne. - -"Yes, I did," returned honest Victoria, snuggling closer to Anne's warm -body, "and I was simply scared pink. When I found that window wide open -instead of just a few inches I was _sure_ somebody had climbed in and -carried off everything but _me_--and I wasn't sure he _hadn't_ taken me -as well. I could just _see_ a great big black burglar going up and down -a long ladder, with bundles on his back, and a partner down below to -help him with the heavy ones." - -"We didn't mean to scare you as much as _that_," said Anne, "but you -certainly are a fine sleeper. We pulled you around a lot." - -"My mother always said I could outsleep the sleepiest of the 'Seven -Sleepers' and I guess she was right. But I'm not the _only_ one, Where's -Miss Woodruff all this time? I thought she _never_ slept." - -"Well, she did tonight," said Anne, supposing she was telling the truth. -"And it's lucky for us that she did." - -"But how did you ever move Lillian and Augusta without waking them?" - -"We _didn't_. Lillian jumped up the minute we touched her but Jane told -her what we were doing so she pitched right in and helped. But Augusta -woke right up in the middle of the corridor and began to bleat like the -lost sheep of Israel so Henrietta stuffed a stocking in her mouth--one of -your thick woolen ones--and jammed her into the clothes press. We had -quite a time explaining that we were _not_ the burglar. We handed her -Jane's flashlight so she could _see_ it was us; but she turned it on -herself and that frightened her more than ever. She shivered and made -queer noises, so Maude had to sit beside her on a lot of shoes and hold -her hand for the longest time--and you know Maude hates to hold hands; -but Augusta's all right now. Now move over, Vicky, and take another of -your famous naps. You're welcome to half of my bed as long as you don't -take your half out of the middle." - -The burglar scare subsided gradually and Victoria returned to her own -corridor to room with Gladys de Milligan. - -"I wouldn't have picked _her_ out," sighed Victoria, "but Gladys -_wanted_ me--I'm sure I can't see why." - -"_I_ should have thought," said Marjory, "she'd like a more wide awake -roommate so she could _talk_ all night. Gladys does love to talk." - -"Not at night," returned Victoria. "She lets me go to sleep at nine -o'clock sharp and that's the last I hear of her until morning." - - - - -CHAPTER IX - -STRANGE DISAPPEARANCES - - -The very next day after that Maude Wilder's weekly allowance of thirty -cents was missing from the purse that she had carelessly left on her -table and Ruth Dennis's gold beads were nowhere to be found. - -And now the opinion of the school was divided. The more excitable girls -were convinced that the burglar had actually gotten in, but there were -other girls who were quite as certain that some one inside the house was -the thief. But who? - -The servants seemed trustworthy; Nora, the fat, good natured cook, Annie -and Mary, the two neat maids, the two middle aged laundresses who came -in from outside, several days a week; and Charles, the man servant who -might be seen each evening walking out with Annie and Mary beside him. -It was said that Charles divided his attentions so equally between the -two neat maids that if he _had_ been the thief, he would have been -obliged to steal everything in pairs in order to divide them with -absolute fairness between his two friends; so, of course, that let -Charles out. Besides, except when there were trunks to be carried up, -Charles never entered the upstairs rooms. - -"Of course it isn't old Abbie," said Maude, who was under the front -porch with Henrietta, bolting hot apple pie. "She's too much of a -rabbit. It's true she hasn't any money; but she wouldn't have gumption -enough to steal pennies from a baby's bank." - -"Do you think it might be Madame Bolande?" asked Henrietta. "She's so -fearfully untruthful and so--so unwashed." - -"I wouldn't put it past her," said Maude. "Her room is stuffed with -clothes and things; and you know Helen Miller has lost her pleated -skirt." - -"Oh, _Cora_ took that last Sunday. She said she just wouldn't go to -church in her short one. Besides, she had ripped the hem out and hadn't -had time to put in a new one. The Miller girls had gone downstairs and -Cora was late, so she just rushed in, grabbed up Helen's skirt and -scrambled into it. I'll tell her to put it back--she's just forgotten -it." - -At the same moment Gladys Evelyn de Milligan and Augusta were marching -up and down the long porch over Maude's head and Gladys was saying: - -"I used to know Marjory Vale in Michigan and I can tell you one thing. -She was a horrid little girl, always telling fibs and taking things that -didn't belong to her--her aunt couldn't keep a thing in her ice box. And -Mabel wasn't anybody at all in Lakeville. And goodness knows how the -Tuckers got money enough to send Bettie to school. They're as poor as -church mice and have ragged little boys running all over the place." - -"I wonder that you ever knew such people," said Augusta, always a little -dazzled by Gladys's magnificence. - -"Oh, I didn't," denied Gladys, hastily. "I--well, we used to give our old -clothes to the Tuckers." - -This was not true, but as Augusta always believed anything she heard, -she now believed this and many more of Gladys's unpleasant tales about -the little girls from Upper Michigan and passed them on to her own -particular friends; so, in the course of time, Jean, Mabel, Marjory, -Bettie; and even Henrietta, whom Gladys had _not_ known in Lakeville, -were puzzled and grieved by the odd, unfriendly ways of some of their -once cordial schoolmates. - -Isabelle Carew, for instance, snubbed Mabel quite heartlessly at times. -Attractive little Grace Allen no longer spent her leisure moments with -her classmate Marjory; but chummed instead with Ruth Dennis. Alice -Bailey no longer wept on Jean's shoulder during the Sunday night hymns -but transferred her tears to Hazel Benton's convenient collar bone. - -As for Augusta Lemon, convinced that the Lakeville girls were no fit -associates for any really _nice_ girl, she avoided them as much as -possible and became more and more friendly with gum-chewing Gladys. And, -as usual, Lillian Thwaite always followed as closely as possible in -Augusta's footsteps. - -Losing Augusta and Lillian was not exactly a calamity. Augusta was -rather an insipid maiden, with no sense of humor, and the bright little -girls from Lakeville had considered her something of a bore. And Lillian -was just a silly little person of no great consequence. Still, it was -disconcerting and not quite pleasant to be dropped so suddenly, as -Marjory said, "even by a sheep like Augusta or a goose like Lillian." - -Fortunately, Sallie Dickinson, Maude Wilder, Cora Doyle, Victoria -Webster and little Jane Pool, none of whom admired Gladys, were still -friendly; and there were others. - -Just now, too, one of the Lakeville girls was having another trouble. As -you know, mail time for Sallie Dickinson was always rather a trying -time. If Charles returned from the post-office early enough, Sallie -opened the bag in the school room and read aloud the name on each -envelope as she passed it down to its owner. If Charles happened to be -late, Sallie delivered the letters at the girls' doors. - -In either case, there were no letters for Sallie, no little packages -from home--because she had no home--no little surprises like those that -brought delighted squeals from her more fortunate schoolmates. Many of -the more selfish older girls seemed to take Sallie's letterless -condition very much for granted but the Lakeville girls were decidedly -sorry for her. At times, indeed, their tender hearts quite ached for -Sallie. - -But now Sallie was not the only sufferer for lack of mail. For weeks and -weeks and weeks--eight of them to be exact--Mabel had had no letter from -her father and mother who were in Germany. There had been postals from -along the way and one announcing their arrival in Berlin and that was -all. - -Mabel possessed a dangerous imagination. It was now hard at work. She -looked at poor old Abbie and at Sallie of the wistful eyes and -shuddered. Was she, too, in danger of becoming a boarding school orphan? -Would she have to wear faded old garments discarded and left behind by -departed schoolmates? Would _she_ grow to look just like Abbie--bent and -hopeless--with a retreating chin and scant, hay-colored hair and a -whining voice? - -She asked these harrowing questions and many others of her sympathizing -friends. - -"Don't worry," soothed Henrietta. "It's a good four months since I've -heard a single word from _my_ father. If he isn't lost on one of his -exploring expeditions in the heart of India or Africa or Asia, he's been -arrested for digging up somebody's old tomb. That's why I live with my -grandmother, you know. Whenever Father hears of anything interesting to -dig, no matter where it is, he just rushes off to dig it. And of course -he couldn't do that if he had me tied to his--his suspenders." - -"But you have your grandmother and so much money of your own that you -wouldn't _need_ to be a school orphan like--like Abbie." - -"Mabel, before I'd let you be like Abbie--and you'd have to shrink an -awful lot to do it and change color besides--I'd adopt you myself. It's a -promise. If anything _should_ happen to your people, I'll adopt you, so -there! But don't worry. Nothing _is_ going to happen." - -While these assurances were cheering, Mabel still looked disconsolately -at Abbie and at Sallie. - - - - -CHAPTER X - -MABEL FINDS A FAMILY - - -Mabel, with a long afternoon before her and tempted by the pleasant day, -decided to take a walk in the grove. Perhaps she could find a hickory -nut. On the veranda she overtook little Lillian Thwaite, obviously -waiting for some one to walk with. - -"Come on, Lill," said Mabel. "Let's go down to the grove." - -"Can't," returned Lillian, shrugging her small shoulders. "I'm going in -to practise my duet." - -"Then why did you put your things on?" demanded Mabel, suspiciously. - -"Just for instance," returned Lillian, pertly. - -Mabel discovered Grace Allen poking among the leaves in the grove. - -"Hello, Grace!" said she, hopefully. "What are you doing?" - -"Nothing. I'm going back to the house in a minute." - -"Come along with me--it's nice out." - -"Don't care to," returned Grace, snippishly. - -Mabel found the deserted grove rather gloomy and uninteresting. Beyond -it the sunny prairie stretched for miles and miles with just one visible -break--a small house with a tumble-down fence far off toward the south. -It was out of bounds of course. Still, the girls _had_ wandered out on -the prairie and not one of the Rhodes family had said a word. It looked -like an entirely safe and harmless place. Mabel looked speculatively at -the faraway little house. - -"I wonder if I couldn't walk there and back before it gets dark. I'd -have something to tell the girls. It would be fun to peek over that -fence. Perhaps there are nuts under those trees by the gate. I wish -Marjory and Bettie were here, but they had letters to read and this is -Jean's day at the gym. Maude's too. Anyhow, I'm going a _little_ way." - -It proved a splendid day for walking. Mabel's brown eyes brightened, a -fine color glowed in her cheeks and, for the moment, all her troubles -evaporated. She even forgot her danger of becoming a boarding school -orphan. Presently she looked back and was pleased to find herself quite -a distance from Highland Hall. The school looked quite imposing, on top -of its own little hill. - -"I can get to that cottage quite easily," said Mabel, trudging along -cheerfully. "Perhaps there are chickens and things in the yard--I hope -there isn't a goat. Too bad the ground is all brown. There isn't -anything left to pick." - -The trees, when Mabel reached them, were apple trees; but all the apples -were gone except a withered one. There _were_ chickens in the yard; and -a woman who was peering anxiously down the road that began at her -gateway and wandered off toward the southwest. - -"Say," said she, catching sight of Mabel. "Would you mind coming in and -staying with my children until Lizzie McCall gets here? She's due any -minute and I've got to get over to the trolley--I'm late now. I have a -job cleaning cars over at the Centerville Station, this time every day, -and Lizzie always stays with the kids--they'd tear the house down if I -left them alone." - -"If you're sure Lizzie is coming--" - -"Oh, yes, she's never missed yet. Just go in and see that they don't -meddle with the fire. Lizzie'll be right along." - -The woman hastened away. She looked what she was, an honest working -woman with many family cares. Mabel went inside. Four small children -stared at Mabel, as she entered. A boy of four, two small girls -evidently twins, aged three, and a toddling baby of perhaps a year and a -half. A delightful family to take care of for ten minutes but certainly -not the kind of family to leave for very long to its own devices; for -the twins were reaching for the sugar bowl and the boy had already -discovered the poker and was poking the fire. - -"Let's all watch out the window for Lizzie," suggested Mabel. "Stand on -these two chairs." - -Watching for Lizzie proved more of an occupation than Mabel had counted -on. They watched and watched with all their eyes but no Lizzie appeared. -Ten minutes, twenty minutes, thirty minutes. No Lizzie. - -"Does Lizzie _always_ come?" queried Mabel, now decidedly uneasy. - -"Sure," replied the small boy. - -"Where is your father?" - -"Haven't any. Him all gone on choo choo cars. Far away." - -"Does your mother come home to supper?" - -"No. Lizzie makes our supper. Lizzie puts Tommy to bed and Susy to bed -and Sairy to bed and Jackie to bed." - -"Well," remarked Mabel, crossly, "I wish she'd come right now and _do_ -it. I ought to be a mile from here this very minute. I shouldn't have -come in. And now I don't know _what_ to do. It isn't right for you to be -left by yourselves and it isn't right for me to stay. Now what does -_anybody_ do in a case like that? I must be back by six o'clock; but I'd -be wicked if I went away--and it's awfully wrong of me not to go." - -"_Don't_ go," wheedled Tommy. "You is nicer than Lizzie." - -"Nicer 'an 'Izzie," echoed Susy. - -"Nicer 'an 'Izzie," echoed Sairy. - -Mabel peered anxiously down the road. The days were short and already it -was growing darker. For another half hour Mabel, pressing closer and -closer to the window, watched the road. By that time it was really dark. -There was a lamp with oil in it on the kitchen table; Mabel discovered -matches on the shelf and managed to light it. - -"What do you have for supper?" asked Mabel. "I suppose I'll have to feed -you." - -"Oatmeal," said Tommy. "It's in the kettle on the stove. And milk--in the -cupboard. And bread." - -"What do you have for breakfast?" - -"Oatmeal and milk and bread." - -"Where do you get them?" - -"My muvver cooks 'em." - -"Hum," said Mabel, investigating the cupboard, "there's just about -enough bread for two meals so I guess I'd better not eat very much if I -have to stay to supper; but I hope I don't." - -But she did. Lizzie still remained mysteriously absent; and before long -the children began to beg for food. Mabel arranged their simple supper -under Tommy's directions and the friendly infants appeared pleased with -their new nurse. - -It was lonely in the solitary little house; but Mabel didn't mind that -as long as the children were awake. But very soon after supper they -began to nod. Tommy, very sweet and drowsy himself, showed Mabel where -the other little people were to sleep. The baby was fretful; he had -eaten very little supper and now his heavy head felt hot against Mabel's -cheek as she rocked him to quiet his complaining little cry. Presently -he was asleep, so she tucked him very tenderly into the old -clothes-basket that Tommy assured her was the baby's bed. Then the -chubby, yawning twins were tucked into their crib, for which they were a -tight fit; and in two minutes, _they_ were asleep. After that, Tommy -removed all his clothes except his shirt and climbed into the double -bed. - -"You can sleep by me," invited Tommy, "until my muvver comes. Lizzie -does sometimes, after she washes the dishes." - -That at least was something for a worried and lonely young person to do. -Mabel washed the tin spoons and thick saucers and put them neatly away. -By this time it was exceedingly dark outside. - -"Even if Lizzie were to come," said Mabel, "I'd be afraid to go home -alone. Dear me, I suppose I'll have to stay all night. By this time -everybody will know I've been out of bounds and goodness only knows what -Doctor Rhodes will say to me. But I'll skip home as soon as it's -daylight and ask that nice fat cook to let me in at the kitchen door." - -The bed was not particularly inviting but at last Mabel locked the outer -door and climbed in beside Tommy, who was fast asleep. She hoped that -the baby was all right; he seemed restless and made little moaning -noises and tossed uneasily in his basket. She was sure that she herself -wouldn't be able to sleep for a moment in that strange place, so far -away from her own friends; but presently she was slumbering quite -peacefully. It was broad daylight when she awoke. - -And still no Lizzie. - -"Tommy," demanded Mabel, sitting up in bed, "when does your mother get -home? Who cooks your breakfast every day?" - -"My muvver does. Where is my muvver?" - -"Well, that's what I'd like to know. I suppose I _could_ take you all -over to the school--no, I couldn't carry that heavy baby all that way -even if the twins could manage to walk so far. If it was just _you_, -Tommy, I know we could do it. And I _don't_ like that baby's looks." - -"He's getting another toof," said Tommy, wisely. - -The baby was sick, there was no doubt about that. There was barely -enough food for breakfast, there was no doubt about that, either. To be -sure there were potatoes, turnips and cabbages in the cellar. Thanks to -her play-housekeeping in Dandelion Cottage, Mabel knew how to boil -potatoes but she also knew that potatoes were hardly a proper food for a -sick infant. - -By noon the children were hungry so Mabel fed them potatoes and gave the -baby a drink of water; but the supply of wood was getting low and Mabel -could see no way of replenishing it. - -"I suppose," said she, bitterly, "that woman just wanted to get rid of -all these children; and here I am! Four of them on my hands and nothing -to eat. One of them sick and getting teeth! It's just my luck. I'll keep -away from strange houses after this. I don't believe there ever _was_ a -Lizzie. But we must have a fire--perhaps there's something in that shed -that will fit that stove." - -There wasn't, but there _was_ a large and clumsy baby carriage. - -Mabel examined it hopefully. - -Two hours later, at least half of the inmates of Highland Hall, greatly -exercised over Mabel's mysterious disappearance, beheld a strange sight. -A twin baby carriage, containing three infants and propelled by a plump, -sturdy and perspiring young person, was rolling up the broad walk toward -the school. A small boy trudged along behind. - -"It's Mabel!" gasped Jean. - -"It's Mabel!" shrieked Marjory. - -"Mabel, Mabel, Mabel," cried Bettie, Maude and Jane Pool. Mabel's -friends rushed down to greet her. The girls who were not her friends and -who had been saying unkind things about her hung back; but they looked -and listened. - -"We might have known," said Bettie, "that she'd bring _something_ home -with her--she always does." - -"But this time," laughed Jean, "she's outdone herself." - -Doctor Rhodes, stern and disapproving, eyed Mabel, coldly. To say the -least it was unusual for a pupil to vanish for twenty-four hours and -then turn up unexpectedly with a family of four. It certainly needed -explaining. - -Mabel, however, was too much out of breath to do any explaining. She -beamed at the girls--it _was_ pleasant to see them again after that long, -anxious absence--and then glanced at Doctor Rhodes. - -Horrors! How was anybody to explain things to a man who glared like -that! Mabel stood still, her smile frozen on her plump, perspiring -countenance. - -"Leave those children right where they are," said Doctor Rhodes, -sternly, "and go into my office. I want to know what this conduct -means." - -"Ye--yes, Sir," faltered Mabel, toiling up the steps. Marjory skipped -along beside her, to impart a bit of news. - -"We missed you at supper time," breathed Marjory, in an undertone; "but -Doctor Rhodes didn't know until about an hour ago that you were lost. We -knew _you_ so we were sure you'd do some queer thing like this and would -get home all right if we just gave you a chance, so we kept still. If -you'd only come just a little sooner we could have kept the secret. Miss -Woodruff got after us and found out. I must skip, now--he's coming." - -"Now," demanded Doctor Rhodes, "where have you been?" - -"I went for a walk," said Mabel, dropping into the chair that was -reserved for culprits. "I--I've always had the habit of bringing things -home with me--cats, dogs and once an Indian baby. But--but this is the -worst I've done yet." - -Doctor Rhodes turned suddenly to look out the window. The disappearance -of a pupil from the school was a serious matter; but there was something -about Mabel's rueful countenance, her dejected attitude and her -apologetic tone that was provocative of laughter. - -"There was a woman," pursued Mabel, earnestly, "and she _said_ there was -a Lizzie. I believed her at first but now I don't. She asked me to stay -with her children until Lizzie came and Lizzie _didn't_ come. I _had_ to -stay. It wasn't safe to leave them with a fire in the stove. Today there -wasn't any fresh milk for the baby and I couldn't split the wood. But -there _was_ a twin baby carriage and it's taken us more than two hours -to get here." - -"Where was that house? In the village?" - -"Oh, no," returned Mabel, wearily, waving her hand toward the south. -"Way over that way across the prairie." - -"What! that small house that we can just see from the upper veranda? -What were you doing away over there?" - -"Just taking a walk--I thought I'd be back by six. I knew I was going -pretty far; but my feet just kept going." - -"And what do you propose doing with all those children?" - -"I thought we'd feed them," said Mabel, "and then find somebody that -knows them. There's a vacant room across from mine. I'll take care of -them for the night. The baby is getting a tooth." - -"A teething baby!" - -"And twins!" added Mabel. "And a boy named Tommy. But I got them all -here alive and that was something." - -"Of course I shall have to punish you for going out of bounds. But the -rest of your--your behavior is so unusual that I don't know just how to -meet it. I'll have to think about it awhile. Now take those children to -the room you mentioned and I'll have one of the maids send up some -supper--" - -"Milk and oatmeal and bread," pleaded Mabel, wearily. - -An hour later, the mother of the forsaken children appeared at the -kitchen door. She had followed the wheels of the baby carriage all the -way to Highland Hall. - -Charles was peeling potatoes, the two neat maids were helping him. At -sight of the woman in the doorway, Charles rose suddenly to his feet, -dropped his pan of potatoes and turned as if to flee. But the visitor -rushed across the room and threw her arms about his neck. - -And then tall, lanky Charles, with a sheepish glance at the two -astonished maids, returned her kiss. - -"He's my husband," said the woman. "I thought he'd gone to Detroit to -get work. And here he is, not three miles from home!" - -Charles explained blushingly that he had temporarily deserted his wife -because he found it so pleasant to be considered a bachelor. - -"The ladies," said Charles, waving a hand toward the fat cook and the -two neat maids "make so much of a single man. And I _like_ being made -much of--any man does." - -"And where," demanded Mrs. Charles, "are my children?" - -The neat maid who had carried the milk upstairs was able to lead her to -her family; and Mabel learned that Lizzie had sent a note explaining -that she couldn't come; but the messenger had failed to deliver the -note. Mrs. Charles had been later than usual in starting her cleaning -work on the train and the train had started, carrying her to Chicago. - -"And I thought," said she, "I might as well make the most of a free ride -while I was about it; so I went all the way, bought my provisions in -town and got the noon train back." - -Charles hitched the school horse to the school wagon. With his sharp -elbows sticking out and his sandy hair on end, he perched on the front -seat and drove his family home that evening. He remained in the employ -of Doctor Rhodes, but the two neat maids no longer "made much of him." -As for the fat cook, she told him exactly what she thought of a man who -deserted a good wife and four fine children for the sake of flattering -attentions from other ladies. And crestfallen Charles promised to mend -his ways. - - - - -CHAPTER XI - -MABEL STAYS HOME - - -The girls teased Mabel considerably for the next few days. One afternoon -she went to her room and was decidedly startled to find a dozen almost -human objects seated on the floor, their backs braced against the wall. -They were pillows stuffed into middy blouses. A large placard held forth -by two stuffed sleeves read: "We are orphans. Please stay with us until -Lizzie comes." - -A night or two afterwards she found her bed occupied by four more almost -human middy blouse orphans, and one morning a lovely picture of a very -stout young person pushing a wide baby carriage full of plump infants -appeared on the assembly room blackboard. Under it was printed "Missing: -One Lizzie." - -Mabel suspected that Henrietta and Maude Wilder were at the bottom of -these outrages; and her suspicions were probably correct. But there were -other offenders. Whenever little Jane Pool met her in the corridor she -would cock a wicked black eye at her and say: "Hello, Lizzie," or "How's -Lizzie today?" - -Even one of the lofty seniors condescended to notice her long enough to -ask: "Found any more orphans to adopt yet?" - -Even tender hearted Bettie could not refrain sometimes from saying: -"Anne, Sister Anne, do you see anybody coming?" - -Mabel, who was feeling a bit doleful these days, took all this teasing -in good part. Indeed, she was glad to be amused. After days of suspense -her punishment for going out of bounds had been meted out to her; and -she felt that she was indeed being punished. On Wednesday evening there -was to be a concert at the Theological Seminary, with ice cream -afterwards. Now, the students might and did scramble their prayers and -make hash of their sermons; but they _could_ sing, so it was always a -joy to hear them. And "Ice cream afterwards" sounded wonderfully good to -Mabel. But for Mabel there was to be no music and no ice cream. She was -to stay at home with poor old Abbie. It was not until Wednesday -afternoon that Mabel learned that Maude also was to stay at home. - -"Miss Woodruff did it," explained Maude, her amber eyes twinkling -merrily. "Just after 'Lights out' last night I thought I'd like to drop -a cold wet washcloth down Dorothy Miller's neck. It's a long way over to -the North corridor, you know, and the hall doors all squeak; but I -thought I could get away with it. Well, what did I do but run slap bang -into Miss Woodruff!" - -"Goodness!" gasped Mabel. "What _did_ you do?" - -"Well," continued Maude, "I never said a word. I just stared straight -ahead with my eyes wide open and pretended I was walking in my sleep, -with that silly washcloth dripping from my outstretched hand. And I had -her fooled. But just as I reached my own door I just absent-mindedly -turned around and stuck my tongue out at her--you know I always _do_ -stick my tongue out at her when she isn't looking--but this time I got -caught. Mean old thing! She switched the light on just in time to get -full benefit, so it was all up with little Maude." - -"What did she do then?" - -"Oh, she said a lot of awfully cutting things. She's a good teacher and -I _do_ respect her for that; but she doesn't have to be so sarcastic -when folks--well, stick out their tongues. I think it's a mean shame to -make me lose that concert and all that ice cream just for a little thing -like that. Cora says they sing _funny_ songs and there's always cake -with the ice cream. I'm going to get even with Miss Woodruff, see if I -don't. Well, cheer up, Mabel. I'll see you later." - -Evening found the two girls with their noses pressed against their -bedroom windows watching the long procession of girls and teachers out -of sight down the moonlit road. As usual, the Seniors led and the -younger girls brought up the rear. Mabel looked at the place beside -Marjory that should have been hers and sighed. She thought of that ice -cream and a large tear rolled down her cheek. - -Maude, wasting no tears, tiptoed to a room on the fourth floor. A key -clicked in a lock and in two minutes more, naughty Maude was bouncing -gleefully on Mabel's bed. - -"I've locked poor old Abbie in her bedroom," announced Maude. "And now -look at this!" - -Maude hurled a large scarlet bundle at Mabel's head. Fortunately, it was -a soft bundle. - -"Spread it out on the floor," directed Maude. "It's Miss Woodruff's -nightgown. Somebody told her that red flannel was a sure cure for -rheumatism, so she _wears_ that thing. It's perfectly enormous--it would -have to be or it wouldn't fit. Now, let's look in all the Lakeville -girls' sewing baskets for large white buttons and white tape--they won't -mind. We'll just embellish that nightie with a few nice pictures and -tack it up on Miss Woodruff's door--the girls will love it. We'll sew -those buttons on tight, too." - -Against the brilliant background, the naughty pair outlined grinning -faces with the white tape, making eyes and other features with the large -white buttons. A blazing sun adorned each wide front and Maude -accomplished a daring caricature of Miss Woodruff herself in the very -center of the broad scarlet back. Ordinarily, both Maude and Mabel hated -to sew on buttons; but now they fell upon the task with glee. - -"I've thought of something else," announced Maude, when this task was -finished. "Miss Woodruff hates tobacco smoke. There are several packages -of horrible cigarettes in Madame Bolande's room. You get the tin pail -that stands on the back porch. After awhile I'll build a tiny fire in -that and burn a bunch of those cigarettes just inside Miss Woodruff's -door." - -"Oh Maude--" - -"We've been so bad now that we might as well keep on," said Maude, -recklessly. "There's one thing sure; the next time they punish us they -won't leave us home--they won't _dare_. We'll have to keep Abbie locked -in until the very last minute so she won't undo any of our work. Now -I'll get a pitcher of water so we can keep the fire in our pail from -doing any harm; and anyway a little dampness will make that tobacco -smell worse." - -Maude and Mabel were in their beds and very sound asleep when the school -returned. Miss Woodruff went to the library to find a book before -ascending to her room; so most of the West Corridor girls had a fine -chance to see the strange and ludicrous object nailed to the poor lady's -door. Such a shout of laughter went up that Mrs. Rhodes hurried to the -corridor and Doctor Rhodes, startled at the unusual sound, followed -after. Poor Miss Woodruff arrived a moment later to find even Doctor -Rhodes convulsed with mirth. - -In one of his brief speeches to the school, Doctor Rhodes had once said -"Incapatiated" when he meant "Incapacitated." Perhaps he was remembering -the superior manner in which Miss Woodruff had corrected him. At any -rate, he now seemed able to enjoy a joke on that rather severe lady. - -Maude spent the next day in solitary confinement in the big lonely room -at the end of the North Corridor, far away from all her friends. She was -to stay there until she apologized. For some reason, Doctor Rhodes -failed to connect Mabel with the wicked doings of the previous night; it -is possible that Maude had shouldered all the blame; but when the second -day dawned, with Maude still obdurate, Mabel, without consulting any of -her friends, marched down to Doctor Rhodes's office. - -"Doctor Rhodes," said she, "I think you ought to know--that is, I think I -ought to _tell_ you--that _I_ sewed just as many buttons on that red -nightgown as Maude did; and I ought to be punished just as much." - -"Did _you_ take Miss Woodruff's silver cardcase?" - -"Why, no!" returned Mabel, indignantly. "Of _course_ I didn't." - -"Or Madame's cigarettes?" - -"No." - -"Or five dollars out of Madame's everyday hat?" - -"Oh, _no_. And Maude didn't touch the money or the card case. I'm sure -of that." - -"What about the cigarettes?" - -"She did take those and we both took the buttons and the tape; but -nothing else." - -"And you think you ought to be punished?" - -"Yes, Sir." - -"Perhaps you could suggest a suitable penalty?" - -"You might put me in solitary confinement in that room with Maude." - -Doctor Rhodes laughed and Mabel wondered why. - -"You'd better look up the meaning of the word 'Solitary,'" said he. "I -fear there are other reasons why your plan wouldn't work. You and Maude -are a pretty lively team. I think,"--with a shrewd glance at Mabel's -plump figure--"that this is a better punishment for you. No dessert for -dinner for a whole week." - -"Yes, Sir," said Mabel, looking as if a week seemed a pretty long time. - -"And you must apologize to Miss Woodruff." - -"I don't mind that," said Mabel. "I'm always having to apologize to -somebody, so I've had lots of practice." - -"That's an honest youngster," said Doctor Rhodes to himself when the -door had closed behind Mabel. "I'm sure she didn't take either that -cardcase or that money. And I don't believe that naughty Wilder girl did -either. Mabel is just a cheerful blunderer and Maude is just frankly -willful. They're both honest. But I'd give something to know who it is -that isn't--with all this smoke there must be _some_ fire." - -After Maude had spent two long days in the North Corridor bedroom, Miss -Woodruff thinking it was time for repentance to set in, tapped at the -door. Maude, supposing it was Annie or Mary with her supper tray, hopped -into the large black walnut wardrobe that stood against the wall and -drew the door shut, meaning to spring forth at the right moment and say -"Boo!"--but not until the tray was safe on the table. - -The room was dimly lighted. Miss Woodruff, thinking that the dark shadow -in the corner was Maude, stepped into the room and said, with dignity: -"Maude, I am ready to accept your apology." - -This, of course, was rather sudden. The culprit had no apology at her -tongue's end. Still, she had _something_--irrepressible Maude was never -_entirely_ at a loss. She opened the wardrobe door, smiled sweetly at -Miss Woodruff and said: - -"_Nous avons les raisins blancs et noirs mais pas de cerises._" - -Apparently Miss Woodruff didn't care whether there were cherries or not. -She went out and slammed the door. - - - - -CHAPTER XII - -A GROWING GIRL - - -After her third day of solitary confinement, Maude promised to apologize -properly to Miss Woodruff the next morning, immediately after prayers. - -"Miss Woodruff," said Maude, standing very slim and straight at her own -desk in the Assembly room, "I apologize for the things I did to -your--your _clothes_ the other night. I'm sorry it was necessary to do -them." - -"That will do," said Dr. Rhodes, raising his hand, hastily--for there was -no knowing how far irrepressible Maude might go, with all those other -girls ready to applaud. "I'm sure Miss Woodruff accepts your apology." - -"I do," replied Miss Woodruff, coldly, "but I should also like to have -my silver cardcase returned at once. I have always kept it on the right -hand side of my dresser, exactly six inches from my pincushion." - -"_Sacr bleu! Quel prcision!_" breathed untidy Madame Bolande. - -"When I went to your closet to get that red--well, that red _garment_," -replied Maude, "I noticed that the top of your dresser was perfectly -neat and tidy. But I _didn't_ see any cardcase. It might have _been_ -there but I didn't notice it. I certainly didn't take it." - -"Very well," said Miss Woodruff. "You may now be seated. Classes -please." - -Mabel, the other culprit, was now behaving very well indeed. She was -learning her lessons, and, under the patient tuition of Miss Emily -Rhodes, was improving her naturally untidy penmanship. She was also -meekly, conscientiously and courageously going without dessert; and -never--it seemed to always hungry Mabel--had there been so very many -entrancing varieties of pie, so many choice puddings; and, of all weeks -of the year, that was the one that the fat cook chose for the -introduction of a brand new custardy affair that every one of the girls -declared "simply scrumptious." - -Usually, there was much swapping of food at meal time. Grace Allen -didn't like butter but Ruth Dennis did; and was glad to give her tapioca -pudding to Grace in exchange for Grace's daily butter. Augusta disliked -celery but adored pickles so she and Cora carried on an equally -gratifying exchange. Mabel always traded her lima beans for Alice -Bailey's cocoanut pie--Alice hated cocoanut--and of course, during that -dessertless week Mabel was obliged to refuse not only her own pie but -Alice's. But everybody liked the new custard. - -"Taste mine," tempted little Jane Pool. "It's just licking good. Come -on, nobody's looking." - -"No," sighed Mabel, "it wouldn't be honest. I _said_ I'd go without so -I'll go all the way--one week can't last forever." - -"Never mind, Mabel," comforted Maude, "I'll ask Nora to make this kind -_often_ next week and I'll give you my share just once so you can catch -up. Besides, I owe you that much--I led you into this scrape, you know." - -Going without dessert, however, was a small trouble compared with -mysteriously losing two full grown parents. Mabel's were still missing. -As she had no address except Berlin, she wasn't at all sure that her own -letters were reaching _them_. She and each of the other Lakeville girls -had had several brief, boyish letters from their friend and -fellow-camper, Laddie Lombard, the shipwrecked boy they had rescued at -Pete's Patch; but from her parents, not a word for so many weeks that it -made Mabel shiver to count them. - -Her thoughts, nowadays, were gloomy ones. What if she had to stay at -Highland Hall until she was faded and forty like poor old Abbie. What if -her skirts kept getting shorter and shorter (or what was more likely, -narrower and narrower) like Cora's. What if her middy blouses faded and -frayed like Sallie's, with no prospects of new ones. And what if she -_never_ saw her dear parents again--that was the worst thought of all. -Her plump easy-going mother, her kind, pleasant father. - -Yes, that was the worst thought of all. It weighed Mabel down. No matter -what else she might be doing at the moment, Mabel couldn't quite escape -from the steadily increasing weight of that puzzling trouble. - -"I'd give all four of my letters from Laddie," said Mabel, wistfully, -"for just a postal card with one little word on it from my mother." - -"Well," declared Gladys de Milligan, who also was watching the mail bag, -expectantly, "if I had a daughter as clumsy as you are I'd chuck her -into a boarding school and leave her there _forever_. I'd be _glad_ to -forget about her." - -"Anyhow," declared Mabel, crossly, "you don't need to chew gum in my -ear, even if you _would_ be that kind of a mother." - -The Lakeville girls tried to cheer troubled Mabel but she could see that -they, too, were becoming anxious. Indeed, Bettie had secretly written to -Mr. Black about it. Mr. Black, Bettie firmly believed, could fix -_anything_. - -"My goodness!" said Cora, one evening, when the girls were waiting for -Henrietta to come and tell them ghost stories on the spooky front -stairs, "here are the Christmas holidays coming right along and I don't -know what I'm ever going to _do_. I've written and written to my people -about the way I'm growing--told 'em I was seven feet tall if I was an -inch--and they won't _believe_ me. They think I'm _exaggerating_! Here I -am, growing a mile a minute; but my clothes, alas! are standing still. -I'm going home with Maude, to visit her perfectly scrumptious family, -and I haven't one single dud that's big enough either lengthwise or -sidewise." - -"Didn't the photographs work?" asked Helen Miller. For the Miller girls, -at Cora's request, had taken a number of snapshots of the growing girl -to be sent to her doubting parents. Perhaps Cora had grown a little at -the very moment in which she was snapped. At any rate the pictures were -slightly hazy as to outline; yet, to the girls, they looked convincingly -like Cora. - -"No," returned Cora, mournfully. "They didn't believe that it _was_ a -picture of me." - -"What are you going to try next?" asked little Jane Pool. - -"Nothing. I've given up. I've half a mind to stay right here for the -holidays." - -"Nonsense!" said Maude. "You can wear _my_ clothes--I've several things -that are too big for me--that new navy blue taffeta, for instance." - -"I _couldn't_ do that," said Cora, blushing until her freckles -disappeared. "Your people would know they were yours. I'd feel ashamed." - -"Yes, that wouldn't do," agreed Jean. - -"I know what to do," said Henrietta, who had arrived and was perched on -the substantial newel post. "We'll _all_ lend you things. You can take -that new white blouse of mine--it will have to shrink before _I_ can wear -it." - -"I'll lend you my pleated skirt," said Helen Miller, "you have it most -of the time, anyway." - -"I have a petticoat that would go with it," said Dorothy. - -"Please--please take my new umbrella," pleaded little Jane Pool, -earnestly. "I want to lend you _something_ and that's the only thing I -have that's big enough." - -"You're a bunch of darlings," said Cora, hugging them all by turns, "and -I'll be _glad_ to borrow your things." - -"Of course it's too late to be of any use for vacation," said Jean, "but -I have an idea. Why don't you ask Doctor Rhodes to write to your people -and tell them the horrible truth about your inches. Have Mrs. Henry -Rhodes measure you. Figures, you know, never--well, exaggerate. They may -believe Doctor Rhodes." - -"Angel child!" cried Cora, "I'll do just that. You've found the answer." - -Perhaps Jean had, for Doctor Rhodes, both amused and impressed by Cora's -remarkable plight, _did_ write to her people and the response was a -large box that arrived soon after Cora returned from Maude's. - -"And my goodness!" said exaggerating Cora, "there are tucks a mile wide -and hems a mile deep and a whole acre of cloth in _everything_." - -Three days after the evening on the stairs, the girls were all in the -school room when Sallie, a little late, came in with the mail bag. There -was a pleasing plumpness about the bag that day; and, as usual, all the -girls crowded into the space just below the rostrum, so that Sallie, the -post girl, looked down upon a small sea of eager, upturned faces. - -Sallie reached into the bag, as was her habit, and pulled out a letter. - -"Miss Eleanor Pratt," she read. One of the Seniors accepted it, calmly. - -"Miss Anne Blodgett, Miss Isabelle Carew, Miss Ruth Dennis, Miss Debbie -Clark, Miss Hazel Benton, Miss Gladys de Milligan, Miss Bettie Tucker, -Miss Augusta Lemon, Miss Beatrice Holmes--" Another Senior strolled -leisurely forward and condescended to accept a letter. Really, those -older girls were annoying; they were so _blas_ about their mail. - -"Miss Mabel Bennett," called Sallie, in her clear, strong voice. - -Mabel seized her letter and waved it, gleefully. "It's from _Mother_!" -she cried. "Hip, Hip, Hooray!" (There was nothing _blas_ about Mabel.) - -Sallie, beaming sympathetically, pulled another letter from the bag. - -"Miss Mabel Bennett," she announced. - -"It's from Mother," Mabel shrieked again. - -But when the third letter proved to be Mabel's, too, Mabel was too -breathless with excitement to do more than gasp. When she had received -five letters and four postal cards and a package containing thick, -remarkably substantial German handkerchiefs, one for herself and one for -each of her Lakeville friends, it was almost a relief to hear Sallie -read a different name; for even the lofty Seniors were staring at her in -astonishment. - -"It wasn't my _people_ that were lost," explained Mabel, after she had -read all this accumulation of mail. "For quite a long time Mother mailed -her letters in an old post-box that wasn't used any more for that -purpose. She didn't understand enough German when somebody told her that -wasn't the right one. But Father found out about it; and, after a long -time, they succeeded in getting the German postmaster to open the old -box and send her letters. So I'm not an orphan after all. And this week -I'm going to buy something lovely with every penny of my thirty cents -for Sallie, because she is." - - - - -CHAPTER XIII - -MANY SMALL MYSTERIES - - -Shortly before Christmas, Jean's father, Mr. Mapes, turned up just in -time to whisk the Lakeville youngsters aboard their train. The girls -were so glad to see a friend from home that they all but wept tears of -joy. Quiet Mr. Mapes was quite pleased and embarrassed at their -rapturous greeting--even Henrietta having surprised him with a kiss. - -"We'd be glad to see even a beggar from _home_," explained Mabel -earnestly and with her usual frankness--and wondered why Mr. Mapes -laughed. - -Mabel was to visit among her friends for the holidays. All the other -Highland Hall girls except homeless Sallie, Virginia Mason (a quiet girl -from far away Oregon) and poor old Abbie, who wasn't exactly a girl, -departed to their homes for a two weeks' vacation. - -It wouldn't be possible to describe _all_ the Christmas gifts that the -happy Lakeville girls received; but some of the more unusual ones -deserve mention. From Germany, Mrs. Bennett sent to each of the five -girls a lovely little Dresden pin of exquisite enamel. Mrs. Lombard, the -grateful mother of Laddie, the rescued castaway, presented to each a -beautiful gold locket containing a pleasing picture of her attractive -boy. Mrs. Slater had selected an interesting book for each of -Henrietta's chums; and from Mr. Black, each girl received a beautiful -leather writing case "with a place for stamps and everything," as Bettie -said joyfully. Mrs. Crane gave each girl a five dollar gold piece. But -Henrietta's father had sent nothing to his family. This was both -puzzling and alarming. He had never before failed to send wonderful -gifts at Christmas time. - -Of course the Lakeville girls had dispatched parcels to Sallie and had -written to her; so for once the post-girl had been able to deliver much -pleasant mail to herself. - -There was only one trouble with that vacation. It didn't last long -enough. - -"Dear me!" said Henrietta, when Mr. Black had returned them all safely -to Highland Hall, "those were the shortest two weeks that ever -happened." - -This second coming to Highland Hall, however, was quite different from -the first; and much pleasanter. The early arrivals greeted the late -comers warmly and there was much hugging and kissing in the corridors. -With one exception, all the girls and all the teachers had returned. The -exception was Madame Bolande. - -"I'm pretty sure she was fired," confided Sallie, inelegantly. "She was -in a furious temper when she packed her trunk the day after you left. -And I wish you could have seen her room afterwards. Dust and powder and -rouge all over the place--I had to help Abbie clean up. She wore her -stockings until the feet were gone and then threw them under the bed." - -"I knew she was too awful to last," said Hazel Benton. "But I did think -they'd be obliged to keep her for a whole year. I'm so glad they -didn't." - -At first there was no regular French teacher. Elisabeth Wilson, one of -the Seniors, attempted to carry on the classes; but found it difficult -to undo Madame's faulty work. Then one of the Theological students was -engaged temporarily; but so many extra girls among the day pupils -decided suddenly to take French that the young Theologian fell ill from -overwork. Then Henrietta offered to tide the classes over until Doctor -Rhodes should hear from the agency that was to supply the new teacher. - -The three Seniors were regarded by the rest of the pupils with -considerable awe, and it is time that you were hearing more about them. -In the first place they were quite old--sixteen or perhaps as much as -seventeen; but as Seniors sometimes do, they kept their ages a dark -secret. The other girls were permitted to spend only thirty cents a week -for candy and other eatables. Not so the Seniors. They could spend all -the money they liked, provided their parents supplied it, and they did. -They could even send to Chicago for large boxes of candy or cream puffs -or Angel's food cake and eat these delectable things at any hour of the -day or night, without interference. In the matter of clothes they were -not restricted to middies. They could wear what they liked and they did, -Eleanor Pratt was exceedingly dressy. Elisabeth Wilson was a walking -fashion plate and Beatrice Holmes of Indiana, managed to out-dress them -both. Occasionally, one or another of these superior young persons would -condescend to pass her box of chocolates to some of the younger girls; -but, for the most part, the proud and lofty Seniors, as Sallie said, -flocked by themselves and were not always polite when some thoughtless -young person from the lower forms "butted in." - -Their rooms were in the older part of the house and were much grander -than those of the other pupils. It meant a great deal to be a Senior--you -always spelled it with a very large S--at Highland Hall. - -But being a Senior did not exempt Miss Pratt, Miss Wilson or Miss -Holmes--never did any other pupil venture to address them as Eleanor, -Elisabeth or Beatrice--from losing certain, small belongings. - -Two weeks after the holidays, Miss Wilson reported the loss of a small -crescent pin, set with diamonds. Miss Holmes had searched her room in -vain for a valuable bracelet and Miss Pratt had broken a ten dollar bill -in order to buy a quarter's worth of stamps--and the change had vanished -from her purse. Yes, she _had_ been careless to leave it in the pocket -of her coat in the cloak room; but that was no reason why any one should -have taken it. - -"Anyway," said Sallie, "we know now that it isn't Madame Bolande who is -doing it; and that's something." - -"Of course," ventured Henrietta, "it couldn't be one of the Rhodes -family. I know there is some sort of a mystery about them. They all have -sort of a queer, shifty look about them; and they all shut right up like -clams when you ask questions. You can't even pry into poor old Miss -Emily's past without frightening her. This is an old school; but except -for Miss Julia I can't believe that the Rhodes people have been here -very long. Now _have_ they, Sallie?" - -"I can't tell you a thing," declared Sallie. "I promised not to and I -can't. There _is_ a sort of secret. It isn't anything _very_ bad. It's -just something that Doctor Rhodes thinks might make a difference in the -attendance if it were known--Goodness! I've told you more now than I -meant to. Please don't talk about it, Henrietta." - -"Of course I won't," promised Henrietta, "but I'm just as curious as I -can be and I'm going to pump poor old Abbie." - -But poor old Abbie showed unexpected strength of mind; she put her -fingers into her ears and refused to listen to Henrietta's -blandishments. - -"It ain't for me," said Abbie, "livin' here like I be, to be givin' -things away to prying young persons like you and that Jane Pool child -that's always pesterin' me about my past. I know what I know but you -ain't goin' to. What you don't know can't hurt you." - -Every week, some time between three and five o'clock on Saturday -afternoon, every pupil, not excepting even the lofty Seniors, was -expected to visit the huge attic above the older portion of Highland -Hall. Here, arranged in a neat border all around the big room, were the -girls' trunks. Only on Saturdays were the girls permitted to visit -them--it seemed, Bettie said, almost like getting back home to see them -again each week. - -Near the windows were benches and numerous brushes and boxes of -blacking. It was here that the girls blacked their shoes, or whitened -them, according to their needs. Saturday, likewise, was the day for -that. - -The third Saturday after Christmas, Mabel, always a little awkward, lost -her balance and fell backward into an open trunk. In her efforts to save -herself she clutched things as she crashed through the flimsy tray. She -came up with a ribbon belt in her hand. There was an odd buckle on the -belt. Mabel looked at it curiously. Bettie, polishing one of her best -black shoes glanced at it too. Then she looked at Mabel and lifted an -inquiring eyebrow. Then both girls stooped to look at the name on the -trunk. It was there in plain letters, "Gladys E. De Milligan." - -And then Gladys herself appeared suddenly at the top of the stairs with -a second armful of clothing to store in her trunk. She flew at surprised -Mabel like a small whirlwind and snatched the belt from her hand. - -"What do you mean," she stormed, "prying in my trunk! And taking my -things. I caught you doing it--I'll tell all the girls." - -"I _didn't_ pry in your trunk," protested Mabel. "I just _fell_ in. -Goodness knows I didn't _want_ to skin my shoulder on your old trunk; -and that belt is just what I got when I grabbed." - -"That's the truth," added Bettie. - -Gladys locked her trunk ostentatiously, pocketed the key and marched -downstairs. Mabel looked at Bettie, Bettie looked at Mabel. - -"The buckle on that belt looks a lot like the one that Helen Miller made -such a fuss about last fall," said Mabel. - -"I know it does." - -"Do you think we'd better say anything about it to the girls?" - -"Let's ask Jean." - -Now Jean was the kindest soul imaginable. Although she had known many -things to Gladys's disadvantage, she had kept silence herself and had -influenced her little friends to keep silence likewise. - -"Gladys may have found that buckle," said Jean, "and of course it's -possible that she and Helen had buckles just alike. I don't _like_ -Laura--I mean Gladys--but I don't believe we'd better say anything against -her to the other girls." - -"She says things against us," said Mabel. "She told Sallie that my -father was just a corn doctor and that all Bettie's clothes came out of -missionary boxes and that Marjory's Aunty Jane took in washing--and I -shan't tell you what she said about _your_ folks but it was just awful." - -"Well, let's not worry about it. The girls that we like best aren't -going back on us for anything Gladys can tell them and we don't have to -be mean just because _she_ is." - -"I suppose it is hard luck," said Bettie, "to be born the kind of person -Laura is. I agree with Jean. Let's forget her and think of pleasant -things." - -Laura was a clever girl in many ways. Naturally bright, she learned -easily. Naturally rather a forward child, not easily embarrassed, she -recited readily--in spite of her gum--and acquired good marks. She broke -very few rules. Even that rule that _every_ boarding school girl -breaks--the one about remaining in one's own bed from the time the bell -rings for "Lights Out" until it rings again for rising, even that rule -was seemingly unbroken by Laura. At any rate, no one ever caught her -breaking it. She was rooming now with Victoria Webster in the North -Corridor, Victoria having returned thither after the burglar scare was -over. - -Mrs. Henry Rhodes was matron of the North Corridor, where the Miller -girls, Ruth Dennis, Alice Bailey, Hazel Benton, quiet Virginia Mason and -some of the older girls roomed. Mrs. Henry, as the girls called her, was -easily the most attractive member of the Rhodes family. Quite a young -woman, she was both pretty and stylish in a quiet, very pleasing way. -Her abundant light brown hair was coiled neatly and becomingly about her -small head--she was slender--and not very tall--and Hazel Benton said that -she had an aristocratic nose. Most of the girls liked and admired her. - -She was not particularly severe or exacting in her duties as matron--Miss -Cassandra Woodruff was made of much sterner stuff, as the West Corridor -girls knew to their sorrow. Mrs. Henry had once been a boarding school -girl herself, likewise a college girl, and her sympathies were with her -charges. It was suspected that she didn't consider it a crime for -Dorothy Miller to slip across the hall into Ruth Dennis's bed to giggle -over some joke, or for Hazel Benton to slide into Alice Bailey's room -for a cough drop, or even for half a dozen of the girls to assemble in -Dora Burl's room for a smuggled in, midnight spread of cream puffs; so -it is possible that Mrs. Henry didn't listen, very hard when her charges -prowled about at night. - -In addition to being a popular matron, she had proved an excellent -drawing teacher. Also her needlework classes were turning out good work. -She had been married only a short time when her husband died; and, as -Cora put it, looked more like a young lady than a widow. - -"I wish," groaned Maude, the day after Miss Woodruff had caught her -after "Lights Out" on her way to Cora's room with a large box of cream -puffs under her arm, "that we could swap matrons with the North -Corridor. Mrs. Henry _knows_ that cream puffs have to be eaten fresh." - -"Yes," agreed Cora, "it was certainly a crime about those cream puffs. -Four dozen of them at sixty cents, besides what we gave Charles for -smuggling them in. Eight of us chipped in with our whole week's -allowance. And what did old Woodsy do but keep them in her warm room all -night, and then, after every last one of them had soured beyond hope, -she ordered them served for the whole school for lunch." - - - - -CHAPTER XIV - -UNPOPULAR MARJORY - - -Twice a week, from half past seven to nine, there was dancing in the -dining room. The tables were pushed back and the floor waxed. Sallie -Dickinson had to help with that, so, though she loved to dance, she was -usually too tired to do it. Miss Julia Rhodes and the three Seniors took -turns at the piano. Miss Julia played "The Blue Danube," and other -sentimental waltzes left over from her own rather remote girlhood. The -Seniors were much more modern. They played Sousa's rousing marches with -so much vigor that even Mabel, who had never really learned to dance, -felt simply compelled to get up and two-step. And when _two_ of the -Seniors, at separate pianos, pounded out "The Washington Post," stout -Miss Woodruff, who had been brought up to believe that it was wicked to -dance, kept time so vigorously with her feet that (in spite of her -hectic nightwear) she always suffered next day from rheumatism in her -plump ankles. - -Mabel's sense of rhythm was good and, for a heavy child, she proved -surprisingly light on her feet. At the same time she was clumsy and was -continually bumping into other dancers or getting in their way and being -bumped. Jean and Bettie danced only moderately well. Inexperienced Jean -was a trifle stiff as to knees and elbows and Bettie was not stiff -enough. Marjory was like a bit of thistledown, here, there and -everywhere, so that Jane Pool and little Lillian Thwaite were the only -persons sufficiently nimble to keep step with her. - -Henrietta danced very well indeed. She had had several terms of dancing -lessons and was, besides, naturally graceful. As a partner, Henrietta -was in great demand. In the early months of the school year, all five of -the Lakeville girls had been fairly popular, but now, since soon after -the Christmas holidays, something was wrong. Except for the girls from -her own town, no one but Sallie, Maude Wilder and Jane Pool asked -Marjory to dance. Little Lillian Thwaite had even gone so far as to -refuse Marjory's invitations. - -"I'm engaged for _all_ the dances," fibbed Lillian, glibly. - -Marjory might have believed her if she had not later heard Lillian -asking Gladys for the next two-step. For some reason Marjory was -becoming more and more unpopular and the little girl was quite troubled -about it. Any little girl _would_ have been. - -Gladys danced almost as well as Henrietta did; but Henrietta was the -pleasanter dancer to look at. She carried herself prettily, her clothes -seemed always just exactly right and Henrietta herself, with her -sparkling eyes, her vivid coloring, her dark, becoming curls, was always -an attractive sight. Gladys was invariably overdressed for these -occasions. Her hair was over-done and her complexion entirely unnatural. -She arched her back in an artificial way, crooked her elbows at curious -angles and managed to stick her left little finger out in a most -peculiar and quite ridiculous manner. Added to this, she invariably -chewed gum quite as industriously as she danced. - -"It wouldn't be so bad," commented Mrs. Henry Rhodes, viewing this -spectacle with amusement, "if Gladys chewed in time to the music; but -she doesn't." - -Even the frozen countenance of the older Mrs. Rhodes thawed into -something like a smile when Gladys danced and chewed. Still, apparently -many of the girls liked to dance with Gladys; but those who did held -aloof from the four Lakeville girls and more particularly from Marjory -and Mabel. - -"I know what I think," said Marjory, confiding in Mabel one evening when -they were the only girls who had not been asked by some one else to -waltz. "Laura Milligan has been saying things about us again, and more -and more of the girls are believing what she says. It gets a little -worse every dancing night. It's terrible to be _unpopular_." - -"I know it," agreed Mabel. "The only friends we have in this school now -are the girls that won't associate with Laura. Maude just hates her and -so does Sallie. Jane Pool does, too. And I don't think Victoria Webster -likes her any too well, even if she _does_ room with her." - -"The Seniors make fun of her," said Marjory; "I've seen them do it. Miss -Wilson imitates the way she chews gum and Miss Pratt sticks her little -finger out the way Laura does. If Augusta wasn't just a silly goose -herself she'd never waste a minute on Laura. And the Miller girls and -Isabelle haven't as many brains in their three heads as little Jane Pool -has in her one--I heard Miss Woodruff tell them that in school yesterday. -And Grace Allen hasn't any mind of her own at all. She just thinks what -Laura _wants_ her to think, and then passes it on." - -"The friends we have are _nice_ girls," returned Mabel. "Maude, Cora, -Sallie and the others. Just the same it makes me just mad to be snubbed -and cold shouldered and left out by _anybody_." - -"Me too," said Marjory. "I know you can't waltz, but let's get up and do -it anyway. We don't need to _look_ like wallflowers even if we are." - -There was another evidence of Marjory's growing unpopularity. Once in -two weeks there was a general spell down in the Assembly room. Some of -the girls loved it, some of them hated it, according to their ability to -spell; but they all quivered with excitement while it was going on. - -Two of the Seniors marched importantly to the far corners of the room -from which point, turn and turn about, they chose sides; and of course -it was considered an honor to be among the first called--and a disgrace -to be among the last. - -Jean and Marjory spelled very well indeed and were usually among the -first to be chosen. Mabel spelled just about as badly as anybody could -and was always the last. She _expected_ to be. She had grown accustomed -to her place at the end of the line and felt as if it belonged to her. -Bettie, Grace Allen, Augusta Lemon and Cora were easily downed; but -sometimes survived the first word. Isabelle Carew could spell if she -kept her mind on it, but once Miss Woodruff had given her the word -"Claritude," and she had gone to dreaming in the middle of it. She -spelled it "Clar_ence_." Of course, after that, everybody knew that -Isabelle could not be considered a dependable speller. - -But Marjory was. Her ears were keen and she liked to spell. It was a -difficult matter to spell her down. Sometimes _both_ Seniors, in their -eagerness to get her, called her name in the same breath and then -squabbled just like ordinary girls over which should have her. But now, -for some undiscoverable reason, Marjory was being left with Mabel until -the very last moment--until every other possible girl had been chosen. -And this dreadful thing had happened _twice_. - -The first time this happened, Marjory was so disconcerted that she -almost forgot how to spell the very easy word that fell to her lot. The -second time she was glad to hide behind tall Isabelle, who stood beside -her; for there was a large lump in her throat, tears in her gray eyes -and a tell-tale pink flush dyeing her small fair face from brow to chin. - -Truly it was a terrible thing to be an unpopular person. Marjory wished -she could sink through the floor, even if she landed, as she thought she -_might_, in the laundry tubs beneath. - - - - -CHAPTER XV - -A SURPRISING FESTIVAL - - -It was a dark afternoon outside and in. Sallie and the Lakeville girls -were darning stockings in Henrietta's room and the light was really too -poor for so gloomy an occupation. They were glad when Maude dropped in, -swept the stockings from the table and seated herself thereon. A few -moments later Cora and little Jane Pool strolled in, followed shortly by -Debbie Clark. - -"Come on in, girls," said Maude. "'_Nous avons les raisins blancs et -noirs mais pas de cerises._' In other words, there are no chairs but -help yourselves to the floor. You're just in time. Here's Mabel cross as -two sticks, Marjory terribly doleful for some unknown reason and -Henrietta sulking every day at mail time and for hours afterwards. Such -a grouchy bunch! What shall I do to cheer you up?" - -"It is rather dark just now," admitted Jean, "but you know we're all -going to the ice cream festival in the basement of the Baptist church -tonight. That ought to cheer most anybody." - -"Except Augusta Lemon," said Cora. - -"Why?" asked Henrietta. "Because we have to go early and get away from -there before the Theologs arrive on the scene at eight thirty?" - -"No, but she's torn a great jagged hole in the front of her best dress -and spilled ink on her second best frock. Since she's been going with -Gladys, she feels as if she _had_ to be dressy." - -"We ought to help her out," said kind-hearted Jean. - -"So we ought," said Maude, a wicked light beginning to dance in her -golden brown eyes. "I have a beautiful idea. I think we ought to help -her out a whole lot." - -"How?" asked Marjory. - -"Well, you know what a goose she is--how easy it is to make her do what -you want her to do--" - -"Yes," said Cora, "she hasn't any backbone." - -"Not a particle," agreed Sallie. - -"Well, then, I'll persuade her to let me dress her up for tonight. Let's -borrow the very gayest things we can find. Let's see how far we can go. -Let's make her look perfectly awful." - -"Oh, no," pleaded Jean. - -"Now be good, Jean, and don't spoil our fun," begged Maude. "We just -want to cheer these gloomy children up. I know Augusta will be a -cheerful sight when we get her all dolled up." - -"I'll do her hair," laughed Cora. "I'll _curl_ it." - -"You _couldn't_," declared Marjory. "It's the straightest hair that ever -grew." - -"I'll try, anyway. But where are the gay clothes coming from?" - -"There's that fearful sport skirt of Hazel Benton's," suggested Sallie. -"The one with the very wide green and white stripes. You might borrow -that, Maude." - -"And my bright pink sweater," offered Debbie Clark. - -"Dorothy Miller has a pair of awfully pink silk stockings," said little -Jane Pool. "And Augusta herself has a pair of those silly high heeled -pumps like Gladys's. Wouldn't it be fun to put pink bows on them!" - -"Ruth Dennis has some on her lamp shade," offered Sallie. "And her -curtains are tied back with pink ribbons. They'd do for her hair." - -"Good," laughed Maude. "Now there ought to be a blouse--who has the -gayest one?" - -"Isabelle has," said Mabel. "That robin's egg blue one." - -"Good," said Maude. "Now I'll go and gather in all those duds and dump -them in here. And then Cora and I will call on Augusta. After we get her -talked over, you can help dress her, Henrietta. The rest of you giggle -too easily--you'd give the show away. But you can peek in one at a time -through the transom if you're very careful." - -"I can provide a gorgeous string of bright red beads," offered -Henrietta. "And I know where I can get a pair of earrings. She'll be a -perfect scream." - -Augusta was not at all a pretty girl. She had a large, rather stupid -face (Henrietta said she looked like a sheep) a meager amount of very -stiff and very straight taffy colored hair, her complexion was pale and -pasty and her figure was bad; mostly because she was not careful to -stand nicely. She proved as easily led as Maude had predicted. She -accepted the girls' offer of assistance with alacrity. - -"You'd be lovely with curls," persuaded Cora, wickedly. "I happen to -have a curling iron and an alcohol lamp in my pocket right now. I was -just carrying them around--well, just carrying them around, you know. -Matches too. Well now, we'll just light up the little lamp--like that--and -we'll try a little curl--like this. Sit still so I won't burn your -ears--they stick out a good deal so I have to be careful. Here's -Henrietta--she'll tell us a lovely story while I curl. You're going to be -so beautiful that nobody will know which is you and which is the ice -cream." - -"Here's this adorable skirt," said Maude, returning with a gay armful of -garments. "But you ought to have a bath." - -"I had one last night," said Augusta. - -"Then I'll dress your feet," said Henrietta, grabbing the pink silk -stockings and flopping down on the floor. - -"But they're _pink_," objected Augusta, - -"They are Dorothy Miller's very newest ones," persuaded Maude, not -disclosing the fact that a color-blind aunt had given them to Dorothy -for Christmas. "She got them because--because her aunt read in 'The Well -Dressed Woman' that pink silk stockings should always be worn to ice -cream festivals." - -"Did she really?" demanded round-eyed Augusta. - -"Pink and green," declared Maude, hastily holding up the starched skirt -to hide her own smiling countenance, "are complementary colors, Mrs. -Henry says. You wear them together. The pink brings out the green and -the green brings out the pink. And robin's egg blue--that's your soul -color, Augusta." - -"It doesn't match the skirt," objected Augusta. - -"It matches your _eyes_," said Maude. "Oh, Henrietta! Her feet are -beautiful! Yes, I _like_ the bows on her pumps." - -"Ouch!" gasped Augusta, "you _did_ burn my ear." - -"I'll be more careful," promised Cora, whose shoulders were shaking. -"Just two more lovely curls and I'll be done--you never saw such adorable -curls. _Much_ nicer than Gladys's." - -"Now the pink sweater," said Henrietta. - -Suddenly there was a crash outside the door, a sound of giggling and of -swift scurrying. It was Mabel's turn at the transom; and the chair had -tipped over. Her friends hustled her across the hall along with the -chair and examined them both. There were bruises but nothing broken. - -"What was that?" gasped Augusta. "Something hit my door." - -"Nothing there," said Cora, peering into the hall. "The corridor's -perfectly empty. It was probably Miss Woodruff rising from her nap." - -"Wouldn't it be better," suggested Maude, thoughtfully eying gorgeous -Augusta, "if she were to wear her everyday dress over these things when -she goes down to dinner!" - -"Yes, indeed," agreed Henrietta. "I'll tell you what, Augusta. Let's -keep this a lovely surprise for the girls tonight. Not the curls. We'll -just slick those down a bit with a wide black ribbon. But we'll pull -some black stockings over the pink ones and cover your skirt and blouse. -The first minute after dinner we'll rush right up and peel you and put -on the pink bows and beads and things. _This_ is just sort of a dress -rehearsal." - -"The Highland Hall girls simply won't know you when they see you at the -festival," assured Maude, when Augusta had agreed to keep the secret -until her arrival at the church parlors. Poor Augusta was not accustomed -to so much attention from Maude, Henrietta and Cora, all of whom she had -admired from a distance, and it pleased her. And, in their hilarious -state over the success of their joke, the three naughty girls failed to -realize that in making a laughing stock of poor silly Augusta they were -not playing fair. - -It is true that they suffered a few twinges during dinner time when -pleased Augusta beamed at them with a new friendliness and insisted on -dividing her dessert among them; but when the proper time came, they -peeled her remorselessly, bedecked her with the ridiculous pink bows and -smuggled her into the procession without giving the secret away. - -The girls not in the secret _were_ surprised; but after all, it was the -plotters themselves who were the most completely astonished. - -Augusta in all her pinkness--not to mention her blueness and -greenness--was a conspicuous object; she was visible from any place in -the big room. Now, the Theological students were not to arrive until -much later; but the younger boys from Hiltonburg were there in full -force. There was an expectant flutter among the Highland Hall girls. On -a similar occasion, introduced by some of the day pupils, these same -boys had treated several of them to ice cream. Perhaps they'd do it now. -Extra ice cream would be very welcome for they had all spent their -weekly pocket money and Doctor Rhodes felt that he was sufficiently -generous when he provided one helping apiece for his large flock. - -But now, with one accord, all the boys at the festival, attracted by -Augusta's brilliant attire and not yet of an age to be critical, were -seized with a yearning to treat gorgeous Augusta to ice cream. They -begged to be introduced. They begged to be allowed to offer Augusta ice -cream and yet more ice cream. And cake and yet more cake. - -The wondering girls, staring at blushing Augusta, were amazed to see -that she was actually pretty, in spite of her outrageous clothes, for -her curled hair fell tenderly and becomingly about her glowing face, her -eyes were like stars and she fairly radiated happiness as she ate dish -after dish of ice cream. There seemed to be no limit to her capacity. - -"And here _we_ are," breathed Henrietta, "sitting in a long row like so -many sheep--" - -"And only one dish apiece," groaned Maude. "Next time I'll pin all the -pink bows on _myself_." - - - - -CHAPTER XVI - -MORE MYSTERIOUS HAPPENINGS - - -Very soon after this surprising occasion, there was another social event -and another surprise for our young friends; but not a _pleasant_ -surprise for anybody. A disgraceful thing happened. Miss Julia Rhodes's -music pupils gave a public concert in the Assembly room. It was not the -concert that was disgraceful; though, owing to the embarrassment of most -of the performers, the music was bad enough; and Hazel and Cora felt -that they had completely wrecked the occasion when, in stooping to draw -out the bench on which they were to sit while playing their duet, they -unexpectedly bumped heads, much to the amusement of the audience and to -the detriment of their duet. - -No, bad as it was, it wasn't the concert but what happened while it was -going on, that publicly disgraced Highland Hall. A number of the village -people were invited to the concert and the day pupils, of whom there -were perhaps a score, had been asked to bring their parents and friends. - -All these guests had hung their wraps in the lower hall, where -ordinarily the day pupils hung theirs. Several of the women had -carelessly left their purses in their pockets. When they attempted to -pay their carfare on the way home, not one of them had a single penny. -Some pilfering person had taken every scrap of cash from every purse, -and in some cases even the purses were missing. - -The principal losers wrote indignant notes to Doctor Rhodes, who -naturally was anything but pleased. - -Right after prayers the next morning, Doctor Rhodes called the school to -order. His face was sterner than usual and his voice was unusually -harsh. He told the girls what had occurred, and what a disgrace it was -to any school to have such very unpleasant things happen to its trusting -guests. - -"Moreover," said he, "many losses of jewelry and money by the pupils in -our own dormitories have been reported to me from time to time; and, -while it would have been possible, night before last, for a thief to -have slipped into that lower hall from outside, I have a feeling that -there is some one right in our own school who isn't--well, to put it -plainly--quite as honest as she might be. I don't like to say this or to -think it. I am sorry for the necessity. - -"It has been suggested that the person taking these various things might -save herself trouble if she were to leave them on the table in the -library some time during the day. That room is never occupied during -school hours; so the repentant thief would be entirely safe from -observation. I am giving some one a very good chance to get out of an -unpleasant predicament. I hope she will take advantage of it and mend -her ways from this time forward." - -Of course after that, even a very stupid person could have guessed the -topic of conversation wherever little groups of girls gathered together. -Oh, how their tongues did wag! Oh, how they whispered and nodded their -heads! And oh, how many more young persons had lost things that they -hadn't hitherto mentioned. Of course they wondered all day long what was -happening in the library. But the day passed and the library table was -still empty. Nothing had been returned. - -Jean and Bettie were dressing for dinner the next night when Sallie, in -a most unusual state of excitement, burst into their room, and flung -herself upon Jean's bed. - -"I'm--I'm so mad I could scream," sobbed Sallie, thumping the pillow with -her clenched fist and lashing the air with her feet. "I could kill all -that Rhodes family. I--I--I--" - -But now Sallie's words were drowned in sobs. - -"Goodness, Sallie, don't cry so," said Jean. "You're in an awful state." - -"Who _wouldn't_ be in an awful state if--if--" More sobs. - -"There, there," comforted Jean, patting the heaving shoulders. "Get a -glass of water for her, Bettie. That's right. Now take a little drink, -Sallie." - -"If--if it were anybody but you," said Sallie, suddenly jerking herself -upright, "I'd throw that water straight in your face! I'm so _mad_!" - -But Sallie clawed the wet hair from her own face, drank the water and -handed the glass to Bettie. - -"There, now," said she. "I guess I can talk. You know where I room up on -the top floor with Abbie? Well, _you_ know and everybody else knows that -Abbie has no money; and that I have just about as much as Abbie has -which is just none at all. We are the only people in this school who -have _no_ spending money. The other Doctor Rhodes used to give--" - -"The _other_ Doctor Rhodes," gasped Bettie. - -"I didn't mean to say that," returned Sallie, quickly. "What I mean is -just this. I have no money and everybody knows it. Very well, then. I'm -the very person that would steal money. And jewelry. I--or poor old -Abbie." - -"But you wouldn't," soothed Jean. - -"But--but some folks _think_ I would. Now, a real paying pupil would get -mad and go home if Mrs. Rhodes searched her bureau drawers, wouldn't -she?" - -"I should say so," agreed Jean. - -"Well, Mrs. Rhodes and Mrs. Henry Rhodes searched mine and Abbie's." - -"But they didn't _find_ anything," comforted Bettie, "so you don't need -to care." - -"But they _did_. There was a pocketbook under the pin cushion. Mrs. -Drayton's calling cards were in it. She lost hers here the other night, -you know--and that wasn't the worst. There was money in it--more than two -dollars." - -"Were you right in the room all the time?" queried horrified Bettie. - -"No, I happened to go upstairs quietly and there they were looking in -all our bureau drawers and under our mattresses and even in the pockets -of our clothes. They had already found the purse." - -"Was Abbie there?" - -"No, she was down in the kitchen. Doctor Rhodes sent for me and for -Abbie to go to the office. He asked us which of us took that pocketbook -and I could see that poor old Abbie was just as surprised as I was--you -know you can always see just what she thinks. And, oh! Abbie thought _I_ -took it. She gave me _such_ a suspicious look. - -"And then, Doctor Rhodes asked her if she had ever known of my stealing -anything before that. Oh, _think_ of him asking that! And Abbie--well, -you know Abbie is never very positive about anything. She said 'I don't -know. I don't guess I ever did.' But I could just see that she thought I -_had_ taken that miserable purse. She's so simple minded that she -believes anything you tell her. She could see that those Rhodes people -were accusing me, so she believes, of course, they were right." - -"But _we_ don't," Jean and Bettie assured her. - -"But other people will. I don't know what to do. I'd run away if I had -any place to run to." - -"If you ran away," said Jean, wisely, "they'd be _sure_ you had done it. -It's braver to stay right here and go on just as usual. _We_ know you -didn't do it--why, we _know_ you didn't. And tomorrow when I have my -drawing lesson I'll tell Mrs. Henry Rhodes that you told me all about it -and I'll let her see that Bettie and I believe in you. And she'll tell -Doctor and Mrs. Rhodes--I'll ask her to. Mrs. Henry understands girls; -and she always helps us when we ask her to." - -"Don't worry," comforted Bettie. "It'll come out all right--I know it -will. Things always do if you just wait long enough." - -"I wonder," said Isabelle's fretful voice in the hall, "what's happened -to dinner--it's ten minutes past the time." - -"My goodness!" cried Sallie, "I forgot all about that bell." - -"I wish," said Jean, after Sallie had scurried away down the corridor, -"that Sallie wasn't a boarding school orphan. She's much too nice. I -like her ever so much." - -"Yes," agreed Bettie, "she's one of the sweetest girls in this school -even if she hasn't any clothes or pocket money or anything. And I'd -believe in her even if they found a bushel of strange purses under her -pin cushion." - - - - -CHAPTER XVII - -HENRIETTA IS WORRIED - - -"I used to think I _liked_ to get letters," said Henrietta, walking up -and down the long veranda, arm in arm with Hazel Benton and Jean, "but -now I don't. My sweet old grandmother doesn't say much but I can see -that she's worried to death because she doesn't hear from my father--she -always asks if _I've_ heard. We haven't either of us had a word since -last June. Of course, often it is two or three months between letters -because he gets into such unget-at-able places; and when there, gets so -interested in what he is doing that he doesn't realize how the time is -getting away, and quite often there are no postoffices that he can -possibly reach. But he does try to write often enough to keep us from -worrying. Then there are some people in England who look after his money -and other business matters for him. Well, grandmother says _they_ -haven't heard from him; and she thought perhaps I'd brought my last -letter from him with me--it had the name of a place that he _might_ have -gone to in it. But I left it in Lakeville--I think I can tell her just -where to look for it--in one of those lovely little boxes that he sent me -from India." - -"It must be lovely," breathed Hazel, "to get presents from India." - -"It is--when I'm getting them. But now I don't like any of Grandmother's -letters. I just hate to open them. She's trying not to frighten me and -at the same time she's just scaring me to pieces. I didn't think much -about it before I left home last fall, but when I didn't get a single -thing from him at Christmas time (he _always_ sends me things for -Christmas) I was sure there was something wrong. And then, of course, I -began to think of all the things that _might_ happen to a man that looks -at a map and then plunges right into it, whether it's wet or dry, the -way Daddy does. And goodness! It's a wonder there's a man left on this -earth. I can imagine such _awful_ things. I wake up in the night and -worry for hours." - -"What does your father do for a living?" asked Hazel. - -"He doesn't do anything for a _living_," explained Henrietta, who for -some time had been wearing a worried expression that was new to her. "He -just does what he does because he's perfectly crazy about digging up -things--like tombs and buried cities and old marble statues. He'd rather -find the nick that came out of a prehistoric platter than to own a brand -new set of dishes." - -"He must be quite handy with a shovel by this time," said Hazel. - -"Oh, he doesn't do the digging _himself_," explained Henrietta. "He -hires folks--natives mostly. They do the actual digging but he is always -right there to make sure that they work carefully. Otherwise they'd -smash valuable finds and that would be worse than not digging them up at -all. He knows a wonderful lot about pottery and old metals and marbles -and--just loads of things. He's an archologist." - -"No wonder you were able to spell the whole school down on that word, -yesterday," said Hazel. "It must be wonderful to have a father like -that." - -"It would be," returned Henrietta, soberly, "if he didn't have to take -such dreadful risks." - -"He has been lost several times," comforted Jean, "and he has always -turned up again all right." - -"Yes, but once he was sick and almost died of a horrible fever; and -another time some Arabs robbed him and kept him for three months in a -perfectly dreadful prison, and another time his guides got frightened -and deserted him and he had to buy himself back from the folks that -captured him." - -"No wonder you can tell us stories on the front stairs," exclaimed -Hazel. "But isn't there any way to search for him?" - -"Well, there's this about it. If Mr. Henshaw, in London, gets really -worried, he'll send a relief expedition to hunt him up. They did it once -before." - -"Well," said Hazel, "I hope they'll find him. And that reminds -me--speaking of lost things and things that you dig up--my precious lapis -lazuli beads are gone. I wore them to church two Sundays ago; and I -_know_ I put them back in their case, in my bureau drawer. When I opened -it this morning, the case was empty. I reported it to Doctor Rhodes at -once and it's on the bulletin board right now. Those beads don't look -like so very much but they cost a young fortune. They're _good_. You -see, I have a daughterless aunt who gives me lovely things--except when -she goes alone to pick them out as she did those pink stockings; she's -color-blind, unfortunately. Never anything useful, you know, just -luxuries. Mother says Aunt Annabel hasn't a sensible idea in her head." - -Jean laughed suddenly. Then she explained the cause of her mirth. - -"I had a funny thought," said she. "If Hazel's aunt and Marjory's Aunty -Jane were shaken up in a bag, it might make two average aunts, mightn't -it, Henrietta? Marjory's aunt doesn't believe in luxuries--" - -"Then," interrupted Hazel, with an odd, searching look at Jean, "Marjory -doesn't have very many?" - -"None at all," returned Jean. "She's really an abused child. But I'm -sure her aunt thinks all the world of her." - -"Marjory was crazy about those blue beads of mine," said Hazel. "I let -her wear them once in awhile before Christmas." - -"That's so," said Henrietta. "You and Marjory were quite chummy for -awhile, weren't you? Why aren't you chummy now, if a lady may ask?" - -"I don't know," returned Hazel, evasively. "That is, I don't care to -say. We just aren't friends." - -"If it's anything that Gladys de Milligan has said," offered Henrietta, -"you don't need to believe it. That girl has tried to say mean things to -me about every girl in this school. She's a wretched little beast and I -detest her." - -"I don't _like_ her," said Hazel, "and I don't listen to her when I can -help it, but some of the things she's said have been _true_." - -"That's the worst of Gladys," said Jean. "She always manages to mix a -little truth in with her yarns; and that makes people believe them." - -"Mercy!" whispered Henrietta, a few minutes later. "How long have Gladys -and Grace been walking just behind us? How much do you suppose they -heard?" - - - - -CHAPTER XVIII - -A STRING OF BLUE BEADS - - -That very night, during the dancing hour, Marjory Vale was one of a -group of girls clustered about Henrietta, who was demonstrating a new -dance, that later became exceedingly popular. - -Marjory, in the middle of the floor, was plainly visible when she pulled -her handkerchief from her pocket. Something came with it--a long string -of dull blue beads. The metal clasp had been caught in the hemstitching -of the handkerchief but now came loose, allowing the heavy beads to land -noisily on the hardwood floor. Marjory gazed at them for a long moment. - -"For goodness' sakes!" gasped Marjory, genuinely surprised. "How did I -do that?" - -"My beads!" shrieked Hazel, springing from her chair and pouncing on the -necklace. "Marjory Vale! _You_ took those beads out of my drawer." - -[Illustration: "My beads!" shrieked Hazel, pouncing on the necklace] - -"I never did," said astonished Marjory, turning crimson and looking the -very picture of guilt. "I noticed those beads on your neck the night of -the ice cream festival--I haven't seen them from that moment to this. I -don't know how they got in my pocket. Just before dinner time I rushed -up and got into this dress--I always dance in this one, you know, and had -laid it out on my bed before I went to walk. We were late getting back -and I had to hurry into my clothes. And this is the first time I've -taken my handkerchief out tonight." - -"I suppose it _is_ your handkerchief," said Hazel, rather unpleasantly. - -"Why, no," said Marjory, "it isn't. It has Dorothy Miller's name on it." - -"Then you couldn't have gotten it by accident," said Hazel. "The North -Corridor washing comes up on a different day from yours." - -"I don't _know_ how I got it," said Marjory, two large tears rolling -down her cheeks. "But I--I think you're just _mean_ to me, Hazel. And I -_liked_ you." - -"Come and sit down," said Sallie, slipping an arm about Marjory. "I know -just how you feel." - -A curious thing had happened just after those heavy beads crashed to the -floor. The older Mrs. Rhodes, seated near the wall to watch the dancing, -turned her glittering black eyes toward Mrs. Henry Rhodes and the two -women exchanged a most peculiar look. Then, with one accord, they rose -and left the room. - -Five minutes later, Mrs. Henry had taken a curious bundle from the very -back corner of Marjory's bureau drawer. She placed it on the bed and the -two women proceeded to untie a large handkerchief, such as most of the -girls wore with their middies. - -The bundle contained two of the purses lost on the night of the concert -but they were now empty, a ring that Mrs. Rhodes herself had lost, a -wrist watch belonging to one of the Seniors, a number of handkerchiefs -marked with other girls' names, a silk sweater that belonged -unmistakably to Augusta and various other small but incriminating -objects. Nearly everything still bore its former owner's name. - -"So it's Marjory Vale!" said Mrs. Rhodes. - -"It looks that way," said Mrs. Henry, "but--" - -"Tell Doctor Rhodes to come right up here," ordered the older woman. -"Then you tell the Vale girl that she's wanted in her room." - -Marjory found the Rhodes family standing beside her bed and pointing -accusingly at the opened bundle. - -"What have you to say to this?" demanded Doctor Rhodes. - -"What _is_ it?" asked Marjory. - -"Don't try to brazen it out," said Mrs. Rhodes, in her most terrible -manner. "You know very well what it is. We found this bundle in your -bureau drawer hidden under your clothes. Whose sweater is this?" - -"It looks very much like Augusta's," returned Marjory. - -"Whose watch is that?" - -"I don't know. It isn't mine." - -"Is this your ring?" - -"Not any of those things are mine. Those handkerchiefs seem to be Miss -Wilson's. There's a name on them." - -"Where is the money that was in these pocketbooks? Mrs. Bryan lost seven -dollars and Mrs. Brown lost five--their cards are still in their purses." - -"I'm sure I don't know. I've had my thirty cents a week and that's all. -If you really found those things in my drawer, somebody else must have -put them there. I didn't." - -The Rhodes family didn't know exactly what to think. Marjory was -sometimes thoughtlessly just a little bit impertinent, sometimes -inclined to giggle when the occasion demanded sobriety, sometimes -fidgety when quietness would have seemed more fitting; but Mrs. Henry -Rhodes who, of the three, knew her best, had never known her to attempt -to lie. If anything, indeed, she could recall times when Marjory had -seemed almost too truthful. - -"I think," said Mrs. Henry, with a kind hand on Marjory's shoulder, "we -had better let this matter rest a little until something else comes up. -There is something very queer about it. That pocketbook in Sallie's room -and now this. And everything so clearly marked." - -"But I don't _want_ this matter to rest," protested Marjory. "I want it -cleared up right away tonight. My goodness! This is just awful. I do -love those beads of Hazel's; but I didn't take them. And, oh dear! There -_are_ girls that are going to believe I did unless you clear things up -at once. I don't _want_ folks to think things like that about me." - -"Of course we'll do what we can," assured Mrs. Henry, "but it may take a -little time. You must be patient for a little while, even if you have to -rest under a suspicion that you don't deserve. Shall I take these things -away?" - -"Please do." - -"And you know nothing at all about them?" asked the older Mrs. Rhodes. -"You're not keeping them for Sallie Dickinson?" - -"For Sallie? Oh, _no_. Sallie wouldn't have taken them--I'm sure of -that." - -"What about your roommate?" - -"Henrietta? Why! Henrietta wouldn't either." - -"Don't worry too much," advised Mrs. Henry. "You'd better go to bed and -forget your troubles for tonight." - -When Henrietta went to her room almost an hour later, she found poor -little Marjory huddled in a small heap on her cot, weeping bitterly. -Between sobs she told Henrietta what had happened. - -"Cheer up," said Henrietta, kissing Marjory's hot ear because that was -the only dry spot in sight. "We wanted to come sooner but we didn't -dare; you know it's against the rules to go to our rooms during a social -evening; but Jean is going to slip in after 'Lights Out' and cuddle you -a little. That's a good deal for Jean to do, you know, when she always -behaves as well as she can. And it isn't as bad as you think. I believe -in you--that's one. The rest of the Lakeville girls believe in you--that's -four more. You believe in yourself, that's six. Sallie and little Jane -Pool adore you, Maude swears by you and there are others--" - -"It's the others that worry me," sighed Marjory. "They're going to be -just beastly to me, I know." - -Marjory was right. If several of the girls were not "Just beastly" they -were pretty close to it. One of Hazel's beads had been broken and that -fact made Hazel more unforgiving than she might have been. Before long, -too, the story of the black bundle found in the little girl's room -leaked out (no one knew just how), and many were the scornful glances -cast at poor Marjory. If she had been unpopular before, she was -considerably worse than unpopular now. She seemed to shrink visibly -under the scathing looks of her schoolmates. She even began, it was -noticed, to wear a guilty look that proved exasperating to Henrietta. - -"Hold your head up," Henrietta would say, vigorously shaking her little -friend. "You haven't a thing to be ashamed of. For mercy's sake, look -folks right in the eye as you used to. You're not half as bad as you -_look_. You're a _good_ child. Well, then, _look_ like a good child." - -"I can't help wondering," confessed poor Marjory, "if I took those -things in my sleep. Those blue beads--I just loved them." - -"And that horrible magenta sweater of Augusta's--I suppose you loved that -too." - -"Well, of course, I'd _have_ to be asleep to take that. But _do_ you -think I _could_ have taken those things in my sleep?" - -"Of course you didn't, Marjory. You didn't take them at all. It was some -kind of an accident. I've thought sometimes that poor old Abbie wasn't -quite right. You know how absent minded she is. I don't think she'd -steal anything; but she goes around in sort of a daze and her hands keep -plucking at things, as if her mind were in one room and her body in -another, like the time she set the dining room clock back and then -accused everybody else of doing it. She's always doing things like that. -And you know she's always had to do such a lot of picking up after years -and years of careless girls--well, perhaps she's gotten the habit of -picking up things unconsciously and putting them in places where they -don't belong." - -"Well, anyway," pleaded Marjory, "do watch me. If you catch me taking -things in my sleep I hope you'll be able to prove that I _am_ asleep. -And let's all of us keep an eye on poor old Abbie daytimes. You _might_ -be right about her." - -"A letter for Miss Henrietta Bedford," said Sallie's voice at the door. -"Charles was late again today. Hope it's a nice one, Henrietta." - -Henrietta ripped her letter open hastily and read it. - -"It _isn't_ a nice one. It's from my grandmother. That London man that -looks after Father's affairs has started for China to hunt for him. Mr. -Henshaw thinks he went to Shanghai but isn't sure. You see, girls, there -really _is_ cause for alarm. I'd like to go right over there and help -search for him; but of course I couldn't. And it's awfully hard to have -nothing to do but wait." - - - - -CHAPTER XIX - -SALLIE'S STORY - - -During the dark days when Marjory and Sallie were under a cloud of -suspicion; when Henrietta was worried and unhappy about her much loved -and missing father and when Maude was again in disgrace with Miss -Woodruff, it was natural that this little group of warm friends should -spend the leisure moments of the long afternoons together. And of course -Cora, Jane Pool, Jean, Mabel and Bettie, always loyal, no matter what -happened, stayed with them. But, in spite of the fact that these were -the unhappiest days that these particular girls had ever spent, they -were not without some brighter moments. And Maude Wilder, you may be -sure, managed to provide some of the brightest. - -On one of these afternoons, Maude found it necessary to explain to -Sallie (who slept on the upper floor and had therefore missed the fun) -the cause of her present disgrace. - -"Of course I ought not to have done it," said Maude. "But you know they -took us to the movies Saturday afternoon to see 'Treasure Island.'" - -"Yes," said Sallie. "I had to stay home to clean the silver--Annie had a -sore finger." - -"And you know how sad we all were over the hymns Sunday night?" - -"We always are," returned Sallie. - -"Well, when we were all trailing sadly up the front stairs to bed, -afterwards, I had a lovely idea. I thought it would be fun to dress up -just like one of those lovely 'Treasure Island' pirates so I did -it--bloomers, sash, black eyebrows, whiskers, black hat with sweeping -plume and everything. I was a bold buccaneer all right, wasn't I, -girls?" - -"Yes," assured Cora, "she looked the part, provided you didn't examine -her too closely." - -"Of course, after I was all fixed up, I wanted other folks to enjoy the -fun too; so I started out in this corridor. I had a lovely time. I poked -my head in at one door after another and growled in a deep bass voice: - - "'Fifteen men on the dead man's chest-- - Yo-ho-ho, and a bottle of rum! - Drink and the devil had done for the rest-- - Yo-ho-ho, and a bottle of rum!' - -"Of course Isabelle shrieked and Augusta screamed and Lillian yelped -like a puppy and Marjory squealed; and altogether this corridor was full -of lovely noises when I slipped out of it. I got across the square hall -all right and into the North Corridor. I had a lovely time there, too. -Victoria just laughed, but Gladys gasped like a fish and pretended to -faint and the Miller girls fell into each other's arms and bleated. It -was just heavenly. And then suddenly it was all over. The bell rang for -'Lights Out,' and there was I at the far end of the North Corridor. All -that long way from my own room." - -"What _did_ you do?" asked Sallie. - -"Well, you know a swarthy pirate doesn't light up very well in the dark; -so, knowing that I was no longer a fearsome sight, I started to sneak -back to my own room. I _started_ all right, but just then Mrs. Henry's -door opened and Miss Woodruff came out. I'd have been all right even -then, but as luck would have it, the hairbrush that I had thrust into my -manly belt dropped with a horrid clatter on the hardwood floor. - -"But I was right near the vacant room at the end of the North Corridor. -The door was open and I slipped in. And slid under the bed. And, my -goodness! You could hear my heart beat all over the place; and you know -what ears our dear Miss Woodruff has. - -"What did she do but come into that room and sit on the very bed I was -under and _listen_. It was awful. She sat and sat and sat and listened. -And I knew that Mrs. Henry was standing just outside her own door -listening too. I didn't dare breathe, but my heart kept right on -thumping like a brass knocker on a front door. It was moonlight outside, -the shade was up part way and she was sitting on the side next the -window. Her skirt was pulled up a little way at the back so I could see -her thick ankles very plainly and a little of her fatted calf above -them. - -"Girls, I just couldn't help it. I _had_ to pinch her leg. I _had_ to do -it. I know it was crazy. I know it was the very last thing I _should_ -have done; but my thumb and finger went right out and did it. - -"She let out the grandest shriek you ever _did_ hear, and streaked out -of there as if a whole regiment of pirates were at her heels. Mrs. Henry -switched on all the lights and came on a run; and all the North Corridor -girls popped out of their rooms and Miss Woodruff came back. And there -was I, a crushed and humiliated pirate, crawling out on all fours; but -Miss Woodruff looked so funny that I just looked up at her and said as -sadly as I could: '_Nous avons les raisins blancs et noirs mais pas de -cerises._' And of course all the North Corridor girls roared. I knew -they would." - -"What _did_ she do to you?" asked Sallie, when the girls' shrieks of -mirth had finally subsided. They loved Maude's tales of her own dreadful -doings quite as well as Maude loved to tell them. - -"She said I was a bad influence to you younger girls--" - -"You're not," said Henrietta. "Not one of us would attempt to follow in -your wild footsteps. We wouldn't dare." - -"And she said that I ought not to give way to my wicked impulses--" - -"They're, not really wicked," said Jean. "At least you never do anything -sneaky and you always tell the truth." - -"And," finished Maude, "I'm perfectly incorrigible and I shall never -grow up to be a lady." - -"I think you will," laughed Henrietta. "The _good_ die young, you know." - -"Didn't she punish you?" asked Sallie. - -"_Didn't_ she?" returned Maude. "I have to learn and recite a whole -Chapter of American History. Prose, mind you. And she picked out the -very dullest chapter in the whole book." - -"I'll say this for Miss Woodruff," laughed Henrietta. "Sometimes she -shows remarkable ingenuity in her punishments. That one will keep Maude -out of mischief for some time." - -"I wanted dreadfully to go to that movie," confessed Sallie. "I read -that book last vacation and I loved it. But Mrs. Rhodes keeps finding -more and more things for me to do Saturdays and I just can't get through -in time to go any place." - -"Tell us about your own people," pleaded Jean. "You know you always -promised to." - -"Yes," begged Bettie, "begin way back at the very beginning and tell us -how it all happened. Perhaps our friend Mr. Black might tell us what to -do in a case like that--we write to him every week you know. He might -know how to find some of your lost people." - -"I'm sure it's too late to do any good," said Sallie, soberly. "But I'll -tell you about it. To begin with, I was about nine years old when my -mother died. We were living then in a little bit of a town in Wisconsin. -We had always moved about a great deal. You see, my father was always -trying new things and new places--he used to say that he was a rolling -stone; and then my mother would say: 'Never mind, John, you'll roll to -the right spot some day.' - -"Well, after my mother was gone, we went to Chicago and lived for a -little while in a big apartment house. The only person that we knew very -well was an old man that everybody called 'Grandpa' but he wasn't really -my grandfather--or anybody's that I know of. He had a couple of rooms -next to ours. I think he must have done some sort of writing for a -living--copying perhaps--but I'm not very sure about that part of it. -Anyway, he used to carry written papers away in an old black portfolio -and come home with it empty. And when he wasn't doing that, he was bent -over his desk writing. He was very absent minded--always hunting for his -spectacles when they were on top of his head and often putting his -teakettle on to boil and letting it go dry. Father used to remind him to -put his coat on when he was going out. - -"I suppose my father found me a good deal of a nuisance daytimes. -Perhaps he was more tied down than he liked to be and there were no -relatives to look after me. I know that my mother's people were dead and -my father said once that _he_ had nobody in the world but me. - -"Anyway, he decided to put me into a girls' school. He picked one out, -bought me some clothes and a small trunk and told me that I must keep my -new things nice and clean, because, in just about a week, I was going on -the cars to a good school for little girls, where there would be lots of -good women to take care of me while he was away at work." - -Sallie's face wore a strange but very sweet expression while she was -telling her story. The girls gazed at her sympathetically and listened -intently. There was not a sound in the room but Sallie's gentle voice. - -"The very next day," Sallie continued, "my father was taken sick. I -don't know what ailed him, but he was _very_ sick. He gave Grandpa some -money and asked him to take me to that school when the time came and -Grandpa promised to do it. Of course I didn't want to go when Father was -so sick; but Grandpa said I must be good and not worry my father, so I -_had_ to go. Well, I suppose it hadn't occurred to my father to write to -that school to reserve a place for me--I know now that that is the proper -thing to do; but lots of parents don't seem to know about it. Several -have turned up _here_ with an unexpected girl on opening day; but this -is a very large school and perhaps not one of the most popular ones so -it doesn't make so much difference--there are always vacant rooms. - -"But when Grandpa presented me at that other school--and I couldn't tell -you where it was if you offered me a million dollars--it was full and -they couldn't take me--or at least they wouldn't. They gave Grandpa quite -a long list of other schools and some catalogues and we went to two -other schools before we found one that would take me." - -"Was it this one?" breathed Bettie. - -"Yes, this very one. But, by the time we reached this place, we had been -getting on and off trains all day. I was so sleepy that I tumbled off my -chair and I guess poor old Grandpa was just about walking in his sleep. -We'd had a _dreadful_ day. Somebody, I don't know who, led me off and -put me to bed. That's the last I've ever seen of either my father or -that poor old Grandpa." - -"But didn't you write?" queried Jean. - -"Yes, indeed. So did Doctor Rhodes--not _this_ Doctor--hum--well, this -Doctor's cousin. But our letters came back from the Dead Letter Office." - -"What does a dead letter look like?" demanded Mabel, with sudden -curiosity. - -"Just like any other kind," returned Sallie, "except that they come in a -special envelope." - -"Then," said Jean, "for anything you know to the contrary, your father -and this grandfather person may still be living in that apartment, in -Chicago?" - -"No," returned Sallie. "They're not. You see my tuition was paid for the -full school year. It was getting along toward the summer vacation when -Doctor Rhodes began to write to my father. Afterwards he went to that -apartment in Chicago to ask about him; but they could tell him nothing -more about him. Then Doctor Rhodes went to a number of hospitals and -learned that a John Dickinson had been discharged, after a long, long -illness; and that he was still very far from strong when he left the -hospital to look for work." - -"The apartment people told Doctor Rhodes that poor old Grandpa had had a -breakdown and had been placed in an asylum. Doctor Rhodes visited that -place but the poor old man had forgotten all that he had ever known of -either me or my father; and quite soon after that he died." - -"Then," said Henrietta, "your father may still be living." - -"Yes," returned Sallie. "But, if he were, wouldn't he hunt for me until -he found me? There's this about it. I'm sure that he thought that he was -putting me in a place where I'd be safer and better cared for than I -could be with him." - -"Did he have very much money?" asked practical Henrietta. - -"I don't think he had a great deal. He used to say that he was a poor -man; and the houses we lived in were always rather small and poor. My -mother, I think, had belonged to nice people. As nearly as I can -remember, she spoke nicely and wouldn't let me use slang; and I _think_ -her father was a clergyman--I can remember an old photograph; but I'm not -very sure about that. - -"And here I am now, just like poor old Abbie--a boarding school orphan, -with not a relative in the world." - -"No, you're _not_ like Abbie," declared Jean. "We won't _let_ you be -like Abbie. You're smart enough to crawl out of your hole; but Abbie -never was." - -"Now," pleaded Henrietta, "tell us the secret about the Rhodes family. -We're dying of curiosity about that." - -"No," replied Sallie, firmly. "If I were paying my way with real money I -_might_ break my promise and tell. But I don't know that I would, -either; it would take a lot of courage to break a promise to Doctor -Rhodes. But, of course, as long as I owe him for my bread and butter, I -just couldn't do it." - -"Of course you couldn't," agreed Maude. "It wouldn't be honorable." - -"That's just the way I feel about it," sighed Sallie. "And there isn't -really anything very dreadful about that secret after all." - -"Except our curiosity," said Henrietta, "that's just _eating_ us." - -"Pile off this bed, girls," said Cora, who had looked at her watch. -"It's ten minutes to dinner time and Sallie has left all your hair -standing right on end." - -"Say, Sallie, ring the old bell fifty-nine seconds late," pleaded Maude. -"I have to change my dress and the other one buttons behind." - -"I'll button it all the way downstairs," promised Cora. - - - - -CHAPTER XX - -A JOYFUL SURPRISE - - -Marjory was still more or less in disgrace the day that Doctor Rhodes -announced that at last he had secured a new French teacher to take -Madame Bolande's place. - -"Her name is--Ah! I've forgotten it. No, Miss--er--Miss Flower. That's it. -Miss Flower. She is not a French woman but comes very well recommended. -It has been difficult at this particular time to find exactly the right -person; but I think you will all be pleased." - -Doctor Rhodes was to prove a better prophet than he suspected. When the -time came, some of the girls were _more_ than pleased. - -"Flower," whispered irrepressible Maude, into a convenient ear. "She -must be a regular daisy." - -"Perhaps she's a Texas sunflower," returned Victoria. - -That afternoon, of course, all the Highland Hall girls, bristling with -curiosity, congregated on the veranda to watch for the station hack. - -"I'm mighty glad to give up my job," said Henrietta, pausing near one of -the many groups. "Eighty minutes of hard labor a day are quite a strain. -That last Theolog was used up in less than a week and all my skirt bands -are getting loose--all that hard labor with French verbs. I hope Miss -Flower is an improvement on Madame Bolande." - -"Madame Bolande is the best French teacher _I've_ had," said Gladys de -Milligan, rather pointedly. "I haven't learned a thing since she left." - -"Of course, if you _like_ that kind," retorted Henrietta. "Come on, -Hazel. Let's stand on the railing and see if the old 'bus is on the way. -I don't have to be dignified any more." - -Ten minutes later, a young woman descended from the timeworn hack. As -she paid the driver, she stood in a patch of sunlight. From the veranda -she was plainly visible and rather more than sixty eager young eyes, -with no intention of rudeness on their owners' part, took in every -detail of the new teacher's neat costume and dwelt pleasurably on her -very attractive countenance. But suddenly there was a most remarkable -commotion on that veranda. Five girls were scrambling down the steps, -regardless of seated schoolmates, and five joyful voices were shrieking: - -"It's Miss Blossom! It is! It is! It's our Miss Blossom! Our own Miss -Blossom!" - -"And _this_," cried Mabel, triumphantly, "is the Flower we get!" - -Much to the new teacher's surprise and bewilderment, she was seized and -hugged and kissed and squeezed by five excited girls. - -"Well, I declare," said she, when she could get a good look at them. "I -_wondered_ if this school always welcomed new teachers this way. If it -isn't Bettie, and Jean and Marjory and Henrietta and Mabel! Isn't this -great. And I thought I was going to be all alone among strangers. This -is certainly too good to be true. Jean, you look just the same and good -enough to eat. Bettie, you're taller and plumper too--you're looking -fine. Marjory, you little mite; you aren't as big as you were the last -time I saw you--are they abusing you at this place? Here's Henrietta as -lovely as ever--but you're pale, my dear. And Mabel--Why, Mabel, I do -believe you're taller--and thinner. And _aren't_ you good looking! But -you all look as sweet as peaches and cream to _me_." - -"If we'd all picked out the person that we wanted most to come to this -place," declared Mabel earnestly, "that person would have been you." - -Every one liked Miss Blossom, the pleasant young woman who had spent a -summer in Lakeville and had played in Dandelion Cottage with Jean, -Bettie, Marjory and Mabel; and had later paid them a visit at Pete's -Patch, where she had met pretty Henrietta. - -Never was teacher more popular. Before long, almost every girl in the -school was completely in love with the charming young woman. And now, -some of the girls who had listened most credulously to Gladys's -unpleasant tales about the Lakeville children, began, little by little, -to doubt these tales. Miss Blossom was so very attractive, so genuinely -good, so admirable in every way, that it couldn't be possible that she -would _like_ those four Michigan girls if Laura's tales were entirely -true. And there was Henrietta, too, evidently firm in her belief in -Marjory's honesty. Surely if those two really particular persons -considered Marjory a nice child, perhaps she wasn't as black as she -appeared to be painted. - -The next dancing evening, Victoria Webster delighted Marjory by inviting -her to two-step and Debbie Clark asked her for a waltz. - -One night, almost a week after the new teacher's arrival, Jean and -Bettie were spending an evening in Miss Blossom's own room. They had -slipped away from the West Corridor without telling the other Lakeville -girls where they were going. They appeared to have some weighty matter -on their minds and were evidently not quite at ease. - -"We want to tell you something," explained Jean, fidgeting a little in -her chair. "It's a long story and some of it is quite horrid; but we -need your help." - -"We _wanted_ to come sooner," added Bettie, "but we thought we ought not -to bother you until you were settled and a little bit used to the -school." - -"Very thoughtful of you," assured Miss Blossom. "But now we have a long -evening before us and I'm ready to listen with all my ears." - -So Jean, with some help from Bettie, told about the various thefts of -money and other things, about Marjory and the blue beads, about Sallie -and the stolen purse under her pincushion and the handkerchief full of -purloined articles in Marjory's drawer. About Laura and her mean little -way of saying unpleasant things about the Lakeville girls. - -And then they told Miss Blossom what they had been careful to mention to -no one else. They recounted their past experience with Laura in -Lakeville; told how she had maliciously destroyed the wonderful vine -that grew in their garden; and how now she had stolen the priceless -treasures from their precious treasure boxes. How she had taken even the -precious handkerchiefs that Miss Blossom herself had embroidered for the -girls. - -"Miss Blossom," confessed Jean, who was obviously not enjoying her task, -"we haven't known _what_ we ought to do. We thought, if Laura had -changed for the better, that it wouldn't be right for us to tell that -she had changed her name and done things to her hair; and that when we -knew her in Lakeville, she was common and dishonest and all that. When -she came here she seemed improved in sort of a way; even if it wasn't -exactly a way we liked. And of course we didn't want to be unfair to her -in any way or to do anything that wasn't kind. We _couldn't_ like her; -but we _were_ perfectly decent to her. And even now, we may be mistaken. -We may be wronging her; but we can't help thinking--Well, here is this -thing about Marjory and that other thing about Sallie--" - -"Those pocketbooks," said Bettie, "in their two rooms. Marjory and I are -almost sure that one person did that." - -"I think so too," said Jean. "But I've thought and thought and thought; -but I just didn't know what I ought to do about it--or if I really ought -to do anything. But there is poor Marjory getting thinner and thinner -and our poor sweet Sallie--we do love Sallie, every one of us--with no -people of her own to take her part. It does seem as if something ought -to be done." - -"Don't worry about it any more," said Miss Blossom, with a wonderfully -soothing hand on Jean's troubled brow. "Something _is_ going to be done. -Our Marjory is going to hold her head up again and our Sallie is going -to be proved honest; but you don't need to think about it for another -minute. You did perfectly right in coming to me and I'm glad you came. -But now you must run along to bed--there's the nine o'clock bell. Good -night and pleasant dreams to both of you." - -Miss Blossom spent the next half hour with the Rhodes family. She told -them what she knew of the Lakeville girls and of Gladys de Milligan, who -had once lived in Lakeville as plain Laura Milligan. - -"A silly girl with a foolish mother," commented Doctor Rhodes. "Yet, -strangely enough, there is no pupil in this school who has higher marks -in her studies or for general deportment than this overdressed Milligan -girl." - -"And I'm sure," said Mrs. Henry, with a twinkle in her blue eye, "that -Gladys would come first in any gum chewing contest." - - - - -CHAPTER XXI - -A GIRL LEAVES SCHOOL - - -The next morning, during school hours, Mrs. Rhodes and Mrs. Henry Rhodes -searched Laura's room. There was nothing in it that did not belong to -either Laura or her roommate Victoria Webster. Under the cover on the -dresser top they found Laura's trunk key and carried it to the attic -trunk room. - -There was nothing unusual about the tray of Laura's trunk except the -large hole that Mabel had made by tumbling into it. But when the tray -was lifted out and several layers of clothing were removed, it looked -very much as if all the mysteries were solved. A fat little roll of -banknotes, tied up neatly with a pink ribbon, a candy box full of silver -coins, several pairs of silk stockings marked with the names of the -three Seniors, every article of jewelry that had been reported missing, -as well as some others that the careless owners had not yet missed. - -[Illustration: It looked very much as if all the mysteries were solved] - -"My opera glasses!" exclaimed Mrs. Henry. - -"My real lace collar!" cried Mrs. Rhodes. "I suppose this _is_ Gladys's -trunk?" - -"Oh, certainly. Can't you smell the perfume? Nobody else uses this kind. -Besides, her name is on the outside." - -"Yes, that's right. Now, I wonder what we'd better do about this." - -"We'll have to talk it over with Father. I'm afraid there's no doubt -this time." - -"I'm sure there isn't," returned Mrs. Rhodes. "It's the de Milligan girl -without question. I don't know why I didn't suspect her sooner." - -"Well, _I_ didn't," said Mrs. Henry. "And she was right in my own -corridor. I'm awfully sorry about all this." - -"I'd have been sorrier," returned the older woman, grimly, "if it had -been any other girl. I never did like this one." - -When Laura was called into Doctor Rhodes's office and invited to explain -how all those things had found their way into her trunk, she appeared to -be very much surprised. She was _sure_ she didn't know. She said she -supposed that Sallie Dickinson had put them there, or if not Sallie, one -of the maids; or possibly Marjory Vale. Marjory was ever a deceitful -child, much given to thievery. She herself had often warned the other -girls against Marjory. - -Laura, standing with her back against the wall, seemed quite calm and -unconcerned, except that she shifted her chewing gum from side to side -with greater frequency than usual. - -Doctor Rhodes had rather a terrible eye. Two of them in fact. He fixed -them both on Laura's unperturbed countenance and gazed so very sternly -at her that presently Laura began to quail. She gulped suddenly and -swallowed her gum. And then she began to stammer excuses. - -She liked pretty things. She couldn't resist taking things when it was -so easy to do it. Her fingers _liked_ to take things. She didn't always -want what she had taken. Sometimes she wished afterwards that she hadn't -taken them. Her father was stingy and wouldn't give her expensive -trinkets. Her mother _would_ but didn't have the money. Her mother -_wanted_ her to have nice things. - -When did she take the things? Oh, at night sometimes. Her roommate, -Victoria Webster, slept like a log and didn't miss her if she left the -room. Or daytimes, by getting upstairs ahead of the other girls it was -easy enough to dash into a room, grab a bracelet or a pin left -carelessly about and hide it in her pocket. There were plenty of chances -like that, when girls were so heedless with their belongings. Really, it -was the girls' own fault _much_ more than hers. Yes, she _had_ put those -beads in Marjory's pocket while the dress was on Marjory's bed, and she -had placed that purse in Sallie's room. She _wanted_ people to think -they had taken them--it had seemed a clever thing to do--perhaps it wasn't -as clever as she had thought. But if Doctor Rhodes would just forgive -her _this_ time, she wouldn't touch another thing, _ever_. - -"But what about Sallie?" questioned Doctor Rhodes, hoping to find a -little redeeming conscience in Laura. "And that other youngster, -Marjory? How are _they_ to be cleared?" - -"I don't care about _them_," returned vulgar little Laura, -hard-heartedly. "They're just nobody. Marjory's folks don't amount to -anything--just a queer old aunt in a small town--and everybody knows -Sallie is just nothing--no folks or money or anything else. Now listen -(Laura _always_ said 'Now listen'): _My_ father has made money in the -automobile business. He's richer--" - -"Do you mean to say," demanded Doctor Rhodes, "that you'd actually be -willing to let those honest little girls rest under a suspicion that -they don't deserve just because they happen to be poorer than you are? -That you'd hide behind them--" - -"I don't care anything about _them_," repeated Laura, stubbornly. -"They're nothing to _me_." - -"However," returned Doctor Rhodes, "in simple justice, they will have to -be cleared--and they are _going_ to be cleared. _I_ care, if you don't, -what happens to those children. It's my duty to protect my pupils--" - -"Well, then," interrupted Laura, hopefully, "why not protect me? -Folks'll forget all about it after awhile and _nobody'll_ be hurt so -very much. Aw, come on, now. Just forget it all." - -"I'm going to tell the truth," declared Doctor Rhodes, who was finding -Laura quite the most detestable child he had so far encountered. "There -is no place in this school for a dishonest girl or for a girl with so -little kindness for her fellow pupils. There is such a thing as school -spirit--" - -"Well, anyhow," pleaded Laura, "just wait another two weeks. I'm not -coming back after Easter vacation; so you might as well wait until then -before you give me away, if you're going to do it. My mother has a -friend that says he'll give me a good job in the movies; and that's what -I'd _like_ to do. You can give those things back to their owners after -I'm gone and say any old thing you like about me. It won't hurt me any -then." - -"Wouldn't you _rather_ have people remember you with liking and -respect?" asked Doctor Rhodes, thoroughly shocked by Laura's hardened -conscience. "Have you no shame at all?" - -Laura shrugged her shoulders, a trick she had perfected by watching -Madame Bolande. She tilted her chin and partly closed her eyes--to show -her complete indifference to what people might think of her. She was not -at all pretty when she did these things. - -"I can see no reason for sparing you in any way," said Doctor Rhodes, -coldly. "You may go to your room now and write for your mother to come -for you at once. If she isn't here inside of three days I shall -telegraph for her. Within five minutes after your departure, I shall -state on the bulletin board that Miss Gladys de Milligan has been -expelled under circumstances that absolutely prove the innocence of -every other pupil in this school." - -All this was done. Untruthful Laura, making her farewells airily, told -her friends that she was merely going home a little ahead of time in -order to have a longer vacation for spring shopping and necessary -dressmaking. She'd see them all again right after Easter, and bring back -lovely presents for all of them. She borrowed Augusta's best middy scarf -in order, she said, that her mother might select about a dozen like it -for her to give to the other girls. Augusta, of course, never saw either -cheap little Laura or the precious scarf again. - -Laura was certainly not a nice child; but circumstances were against -her. She possessed a decidedly foolish, unladylike and not altogether -truthful mother so perhaps Laura's lack of good qualities was not -entirely her own fault. With a really nice mother, she might have been a -really nice girl; but Mrs. Milligan's daughter had very little chance. - -During the last three days of Laura's stay, it seemed to Jean that -things were not clearing up as rapidly as Miss Blossom had predicted. -She wondered if, after all, nothing had been done for Marjory. Poor -little Marjory, in spite of Jean's encouraging words, in spite of Mrs. -Henry's reassuring smiles and Miss Blossom's hopeful glances, could see -no way out of her troubles. Hazel still drew her skirts aside when -Marjory passed and snippy little Lillian Thwaite still almost tipped -over backwards in her efforts to turn her very small nose up in -Marjory's presence (for sticking-up purposes, it was really a very poor -nose). And to Jean's surprise, there was Laura, apparently perfectly -unconcerned, going on just as she always had. Was nothing _ever_ going -to be done to clear Marjory and Sallie? - -Notwithstanding many unusual kindnesses from her Lakeville friends--even -always-hungry Mabel begged her to eat part of her favorite -dessert--puzzled Marjory felt that the sky was dark above her and the -world a terrible place for little girls just her size. And then, quite -suddenly, Laura was whisked away by her mother, and Doctor Rhodes, chalk -in hand and frowning prodigiously, was approaching the fateful bulletin -board. - -You can imagine how, five minutes after Laura's going, the always -curious girls flocked to the bulletin board to see what Doctor Rhodes -had posted thereon. How eagerly they read the astonishing announcement -and how their tongues wagged afterwards. How glad Marjory and Sallie -were to have the mystery cleared away and how relieved the Lakeville -girls felt at having their precious Marjory emerge from the cloud that -had obscured her happiness for so long a time. - -"Right after Gladys's mother came this morning," said Sallie, "there was -_something_ going on in the office. It sounded very much like a very -angry woman telling Doctor Rhodes just what she thought of him; but of -course I didn't stay to listen--I _wanted_ to just awfully. But when I -went back afterwards with the message I was waiting to deliver, the lady -was gone and poor Doctor Rhodes was mopping perspiration from his -forehead, although the room was quite cold. I guessed he'd been having a -right trying interview with somebody. He looked perfectly wilted." - -Mabel giggled. "I guess he had one all right if it was Mrs. Milligan. We -used to hear her in Lakeville." - -But Jean watched the smoke of the train that was bearing tawdry little -Gladys Evelyn de Milligan toward Chicago, and out of this tale, and was -sorry. - -"Poor foolish Laura," she breathed, "I'm so sorry you had to be you. You -were smart enough to have made a perfectly lovely girl and I did have -hopes of you." - -"_I_ didn't," said Mabel, "and I'm glad I don't have to be polite to her -any more. It's hard enough to be polite when you really _want_ to be. -But when you're all impolite inside--" - -"We know what you mean, Mabel," laughed Henrietta. "And now that I know -the horrible secret you've been keeping from me all this time I am -filled with admiration for all four of you. I remember now that you told -me long ago about a horrid child named Laura; but I never dreamed that -she and Gladys were the same person. And you, Mabel, with your 'impolite -inside' are a complete surprise. I didn't think you could keep a -secret." - -"Jean _made_ us," returned Mabel. - -"Well," assured Henrietta, "I think you were right to give Gladys a -chance. It was noble of you to do it even if it hasn't turned out as -well as you expected. And isn't it great to have Sallie and Marjory -cleared! And there's Hazel apologizing this very minute for being so -nasty to Marjory about those blue beads." - -"She's _lending_ them to Marjory," gasped Jean. "She's fastening them -about Marjory's neck." - - - - -CHAPTER XXII - -A MYSTERY CLEARED - - -For the proverbial nine days, tongues wagged furiously at Highland Hall; -but seemingly to good purpose. The girls who had allowed doubts of -Sallie and Marjory to creep into their hearts now strove earnestly to -make up for their former unjust suspicions. Even the Seniors came down -from their lofty perches long enough to stuff both girls so full of -cream puffs and chocolate creams, dill pickles, ripe olives and angel's -food cake that for three days after this never to be forgotten feast -they were unable to eat their regular meals. - -"As for my legs," laughed happy Marjory, after the next social evening, -"they're just ready to drop off--I've had so many invitations to dance." - -"So have I," said Sallie. "Isn't it great!" - -"And the way those two Seniors scrapped over Marjory at the spell down -today!" exclaimed Maude. "They both called at once and she was the very -first one called. The rest of us were green with envy." - -"We've all been more popular lately," said Bettie. "I'm afraid Laura did -us more harm than we realized." - -"I think so, too," said Jean. "I've felt all this week as if large black -clouds had rolled away and let a great big chunk of sunshine drop right -down into Highland Hall." - -"There's one cloud left," mourned Henrietta. "I don't get a single scrap -of encouraging news about my father; and now, every time I look at poor -old Abbie, I say: 'Just suppose anything happens to my grandmother and -the family money. Where will _I_ be? Right here washing windows like -Abbie and looking for seven years' bad luck because I've smashed a -looking glass.'" - -"Poor Abbie has enough foolish superstitions to keep her in bad luck for -ninety years," laughed Jean. "You and Sallie seem to be haunted by the -same nightmare. I'll promise you both this; on the day that you and -Sallie get to looking just like Abbie, I'll start for Europe on foot." - -With Laura gone, Highland Hall seemed really a different place. Now, -except for occasional scraps among some of the older pupils, one -realized that there was a wonderful spirit of friendliness among the -girls. Even the once frosty Seniors had thawed to an unusual degree. - -"They've gotten used to themselves," explained Sallie, who had had -almost six years' experience with Seniors of assorted kinds. "At first -they are always so set up over all their privileges that they just can't -associate with ordinary girls; but after a few months of solitary -grandeur they are _glad_ to climb down off their perches and associate -with the rest of us. Now that they're asking us to their spreads and -coming to ours they're having much better times than they did earlier in -the year." - -"Of course," said Maude, with one of her funny grimaces, "you can't -'spread' so very much on thirty cents a week; but our popcorn party was -all right and when we all chipped in and bought a barrel of apples--that -was great. The Seniors' heels looked just like anybody else's when they -dove to the bottom of the barrel for the last ones. And our molasses -candy pull in the laundry--" - -"Ugh!" groaned Mabel, "I was just like a web-footed duck--my hands, I -mean. Cora had to scrape me all over with a knife and she didn't care -how much skin she got. It was even on my shoes--" - -"What! Your skin?" - -"No, the candy. Some folks can pull it when it's hot and sticky but I -never can. It just gets all over the place." - -"Anyway," said Marjory, wickedly, "the Seniors laughed until they cried, -seeing you try, so you contributed something to the entertainment." - -"Isn't it lovely to have friends?" said Sallie, a little later, when she -was seated beside Marjory on the veranda steps. - -"Yes," returned Marjory, a little wistfully, "but I'm not sure that I'm -exactly pleased with some of my newest ones. Augusta and Grace Allen -told me yesterday that they never _did_ like Gladys. And Isabelle says -she's ashamed to have Clarence know that she ever went with Gladys. -Isn't that just awful--to go back on anybody like that! Of course I don't -care much for Isabelle or Augusta, anyway; but I did think I might like -Grace. But now I'm not going to. I like friends that _stick_." - -"So do I," agreed Sallie, heartily. "And I think we both have some of -the sticking kind." - -One spring morning just after morning prayers when all the pupils were -gathered in the Assembly room and Miss Woodruff was ready to call the -roll, Doctor Rhodes stood up and said: "One moment, please." - -There was a little creaking all over the room as the girls settled -themselves in listening attitudes. Doctor Rhodes was sure to be -interesting. - -"I have a little confession to make," said Doctor Rhodes. "Perhaps some -of the older girls will remember that I called them into my office -immediately on their arrival last fall, told them a piece of very sad -news and asked them to keep a secret for me." - -Some of the seats creaked again as several of the older girls nodded -their heads. - -"I believe," continued Doctor Rhodes, "that you have all faithfully kept -that secret, which is still a secret from the new girls. This is it. I -am not the Doctor Charles Rhodes, whose name is in our catalogue and -_has_ been in our catalogue for nearly thirty years. I am his cousin, -Doctor Julius Rhodes; a physician, not a Doctor of Laws--you have noticed -the letters LL.D. after my cousin's name. - -"Some of you will remember that Doctor Rhodes was ill last June at -Commencement time. He died in July. I was his nearest relative; and, in -time, when his affairs are finally settled, I shall inherit his estate. -The lawyers considered it unwise to announce Dr. Rhodes's death at that -time, though of course there were the usual notices in the papers. But -no changes were made in the catalogue and no formal notices were sent to -the pupils; as it seemed almost certain that any such announcement would -cause the attendance for the following year to fall off, perhaps to the -lasting detriment of the school. The lawyers suggested that I take -charge of the school and keep it going, particularly as Doctor Charles -Rhodes had expressed a wish to that effect. - -"I was handicapped in one way. The courts were not yet ready to hand -over to me the surplus fund of school money in the bank. I had very -little capital to put in and certainly no experience with boarding -schools for girls. I was not a teacher. Perhaps you have noticed that -your instructors, with two exceptions, are members of my own family. -They very kindly consented to help me through this first year; and I -think you will agree that they have proved fairly good teachers, even if -that hasn't always been their regular profession. Miss Woodruff, of -course, and Miss Blossom are regular teachers. I thought I might venture -to afford two. - -"I think you will agree that my most serious blunder was the engaging of -Madame Bolande--I assure you that I didn't see her first. Except for that -one regrettable mistake, everything has gone so well and so -prosperously, that I have decided to tell the whole truth now (and take -the consequences if there are any) instead of waiting, as my lawyers -advised, until my cousin's estate is fully settled. I shall feel happier -with everything quite open and above board. That's all, except that I -feel much indebted to the young ladies who have so kindly kept my secret -to the present time." - -Of course, for a day or two after that, Highland Hall buzzed again with -excitement and the newer girls besieged the older ones with questions. - -"Doctor Charles Rhodes," explained Sallie, "was a perfectly lovely old -man. Everybody just adored him; he was so gentle and sweet. He hadn't -any family of his own left; but he seemed, some way, as if he were -everybody's grandfather. He was wonderfully good to me and to poor old -Abbie too. In his time we had our pocket money just as the other girls -did--out of his own pocket, I suppose. If Abbie had been bright to start -with she wouldn't have been the forlorn creature that she is now. He -gave me every chance to learn; and I'm sure that Abbie had the same -chances but was too stupid to take them. Probably no one but a kind man -would have kept Abbie; she's never been good for very much. - -"But when this new Rhodes family came, it was all so different. At -first, I didn't like Doctor Julius Rhodes at all--or any of his family. -But after awhile I began to see that things were not so terribly easy -for _them_. The housekeeping job proved awfully hard on poor Mrs. Rhodes -and she just sort of stiffened up under it in a queer way. I guess she's -a good deal of a mummy anyway and this job makes her more so. She _is_ -harder on Abbie and on me than the old housekeeper used to be; but at -that her looks are the worst part of her." - -"Well," agreed Henrietta, "she can't help her looks--that's the way she -was made." - -"I like Dr. Julius Rhodes much better than I did at first," continued -Sallie. "I hated him at first. Of course he doesn't look one bit like -his cousin; that was one reason. In the next place, I hated having those -people flock down here in my dear old Doctor Rhodes's own home; and in -the third place, it didn't seem quite right to me to keep a thing like -that hidden--to let people go on supposing that it was still Doctor -Charles Rhodes when it wasn't. But I overheard Dr. Rhodes and one of -those lawyers talking in the office one day and I gathered then that -Doctor Rhodes didn't like keeping that secret himself--he _wanted_ to -tell, but the lawyer said it wasn't good policy. And now, even if this -Doctor Rhodes isn't a lovely, gentle, sweet old man like Doctor Charles, -I think he makes a very good head for this school. And when he is able -to handle the school funds, there will be more regular teachers and he -won't have to work his family quite so hard." - -"At that," said Maude, "the family isn't so bad. Mrs. Henry is a dear, -everybody says that old Miss Emily is terribly thorough and Miss Julia -certainly makes the girls practise. And you all know, I'd _gladly_ swap -Miss Woodruff for any one of them--I still have seven pages of American -History to learn by heart and recite." - -"But tell me," pleaded Henrietta, "did they really open the girls' -letters, as Cora thought they did, to see if they'd written home about -that secret." - -"Mercy, no!" replied Sallie. "They _have_ to look over the addresses on -those letters. They do it every day. Your folks wouldn't get half of -your letters if they didn't--the girls are always leaving off towns or -states or stamps. But only _one_ of them ever writes 'Dear Clarence' on -the outside of her envelope." - - - - -CHAPTER XXIII - -PIG OR PORK? - - -The spring did perfectly wonderful things to the land adjacent to -Highland Hall. It was really time that _something_ was happening to -improve that rather cheerless prospect. During the fall and winter -months, the landscape had been mostly brown and gray and black, often -more or less disfigured with patches of dingy snow; and a general misty -bleakness surrounded the big, rather ugly building. But, with the coming -of spring all this was changed. One could now see why the school -prospectus had stated that Highland Hall was "beautifully located." - -The building stood at the top of a broad knoll. The level portion of -this was covered by a well kept lawn--tall, lanky Charles, with his sandy -hair on end and his angular elbows greatly in evidence, might be seen -galloping over it with his lawn roller, getting certain bare spots ready -for seed. The sloping banks were grassed also but this grass grew at its -own sweet will; and then, quite suddenly it _wasn't_ grass but long -stemmed violets. You could gather tremendous bunches of them and still -there were millions left--popular Miss Blossom was fairly besieged with -bouquets. Then, farther down the hillside were great patches of snowy -bloodroot and miniature groves of mandrake with their hidden, creamy, -heavily perfumed cups. There were wild crab-apple trees wreathed with -wonderful pink and white buds and blossoms. The edges of the unsightly -ditches along the road suddenly became brilliantly green and pink with -oxalis and there were sheltered nooks along the margin of the grove that -were blue with mertensia or purple with the spider lily. Even the dry -prairie was bursting forth with bloom; the lovely lavender of the bird's -foot violet and later the showy blossoms of the shooting star. There -were gorgeous blue jays and orioles in the trees and meek gray doves in -the hedges. - -All the girls except Henrietta seemed bubbling over with happiness these -days. Even Sallie, dreadfully shabby as to clothes and growing shabbier, -was more cheerful, because she loved the spring season at Highland Park; -and because she had never before possessed so many warm friends among -the pupils. But Henrietta was visibly drooping. Her eyes wore a -strained, anxious look and every day at mail time, her brilliant color -deserted her, leaving her pale and trembling and quite unlike her usual -vivacious self. At sight of a telegram arriving for Doctor Rhodes--and he -often received as many as four a week--Henrietta's lips would turn -absolutely white. And several times, on the days when her grandmother's -letters came with no news of her still missing father, the girls had -found her weeping. It was decidedly unlike Henrietta to weep. - -But even Henrietta loved the wild flowers. Sallie knew where to find the -choicest blossoms and Doctor Rhodes, glad to have the girls spend their -leisure hours outdoors, even if it did increase their appetites -alarmingly, extended their bounds a good half mile toward the south so -the girls could roam at will. - -One beautiful day, when school was dismissed earlier than usual, Mabel -asked permission to take her friends as far as the cottage that -contained Charles's interesting family. - -"I'm awfully fond of children," explained Mabel. "I get lonesome for -them when I don't have any. Several times I've given candy and little -presents to Charles to take home to those cunning babies; but I'm just -dying to see them again and some of the girls want to go, too." - -"I've no objection to your _seeing_ them," said Doctor Rhodes, with a -friendly chuckle, "but you are strictly forbidden to accept any -invitations to stay with that family and you are not to bring any of -them home with you." - -"I won't," promised Mabel. "Thank you ever so much for letting us go." - -The long walk over the blossoming prairie was wonderful and the other -delighted youngsters thanked Mabel for planning the trip. The children -at the cottage proved interesting and sweet and the girls loved them. -Tommy remembered Mabel and said: "Please stay wiz us, you is nicer than -Lizzie," which pleased Mabel very much indeed, though of course she -_didn't_ stay. The shy twins soon became friendly and even the baby was -smiling and responsive. Mrs. Charles had been making cookies and -generously passed them around. Then Maude looked at her watch and said -that it was time to start back. - -The girls decided to go home by the road that wound along over the -prairie and somewhat west of the more direct but pathless route they had -taken _to_ the cottage. It was longer but Sallie said that interesting -things grew along the edges. Even Sallie, however, was surprised at one -thing they discovered. Mabel, who was trudging sturdily along, a little -ahead of the others--and of course she had a right to lead the procession -since it was her party--suddenly stopped short. - -"Mercy!" she gasped. "What's that!" - -"What's _what_?" asked Sallie, crowding to the front. "Is it a new -flower? Oh! Why, that looks like a little pig!" - -"But 'way out here!" cried Maude. "It couldn't walk so far and there are -no farms along here." - -"But the farmers 'way south of here," returned Sallie, "send them in to -the packing houses or down to the trains along this road. Probably this -one got spilled out of somebody's wagon and the driver never missed -him." - -"No doubt," said little Jane Pool, "the other piggies squealed so hard -that the poor man never heard the cries of distress from this one." - -"It's so little and pink and clean," said Bettie, admiringly. - -"But so naked," objected Marjory. "It really seems as if it ought to be -wearing baby clothes--little woolly ones. I'm glad it's a warm day." - -"See," said Mabel, "it's sucking my finger--I think it likes me." - -"It's hungry," said Sallie. "It seems too bad to leave it here to -starve." - -"But _we_ don't want any pig," objected Henrietta. "I don't think I -_like_ pigs." - -"I'm sure _I_ don't," said Maude. "Come on, girls, let's climb up the -ladder to that windmill over there and walk all around it on that -ledge--I think it's wide enough. We don't want to be bothered with any -pigs." - -But the lonesome little pig had no intention of being left behind. It -trotted along at the girls' heels and squealed piteously in its efforts -to keep up. - -"Poor little thing," said Bettie, "it's just starving." - -"And tired," said Mabel. "Every minute or two it loses its footing and -rolls right over. It thinks it belongs to us." - -"You're afraid to pick it up and carry it," teased Marjory. - -"I'm not," said Mabel. "I'm going to do it. The rest of you can climb -all the windmills you want to, but I'm going to be kind to this pig." - -Whereupon kind Mabel picked up the pig and carried it. At first, -however, the little animal squirmed and struggled so much that Mabel had -all she could do to keep from dropping him. - -"But what are you going to do with him?" queried Bettie. - -"Oh, I'll just slip around to the kitchen door--if I ever get that -far--and ask Charles to take care of him." - -"Charles won't be home," said Sallie. "That's the time of day he goes to -the station to get the bread." - -"Then I'll take him up to my room," said Mabel, whose pet was now quite -satisfied in her arms. "Perhaps you could bring up a cup of milk for -him." - -"Mabel never comes home empty handed," laughed Marjory. "And she isn't -particular what she brings, as long as it's alive." - -"Won't Isabelle be pleased?" laughed Maude. - -"Lend him to me, Mabel. I'll put him in Miss Woodruff's bed." - -"No you won't. I'm not going to have him abused." - -"Well, beware of Isabelle," giggled Marjory. - -Forewarned is forearmed. Mabel succeeded in slipping the pig into her -bedroom closet without disturbing Isabelle who was busy writing what she -was pleased to call "a poem." She sent them, as she confided to Mabel, -to her friend Clarence. Of course, when Isabelle had a pencil in her -hand and that faraway look in her eye she was not likely to notice mere -pigs. - -Sallie had contrived a nursing bottle for the infant. Mabel, seated on -the closet floor, succeeded in feeding her charge and presently made a -nest for him by dumping the stockings out of her round mending basket; -but to her surprise the pig, not being built that way, refused to curl. -His tail curled beautifully but the rest of him wouldn't. In no way, in -fact, was he as accommodating an animal as a kitten or even a puppy. - -"If he'd only just _cuddle_," groaned Mabel, "he'd be so much more -comfortable to live with." - -It was somewhere about midnight when Isabelle became aware of the pig. -Mabel had been aware of him for a great many sleepless hours. Either he -had had too much to eat or not enough. Perhaps he was only lonesome. At -any rate he was quiet only when Mabel held him close to her own warm -body and kept one or more of her fingers in his mouth. She had spent -part of the night on the floor among the shoes; but the floor was hard -and Mabel was sleepy; so finally she had crept into her own bed and -taken the infant pig with her. - -But nothing she could do seemed to please him. His squeals became louder -and louder and more and more frequent. At last one of his very best -squeals escaped from under the bedclothes. - -"My goodness!" gasped Isabelle, suddenly sitting up in bed. "What's -that! Was that you, Mabel?" - -"No," returned Mabel, truthfully. "I didn't speak." - -"It wasn't a 'speak'--it was more like a squeak." - -Piggy chose that moment to let out a smothered "Wee Wee!" in spite of -Mabel's restraining hand. - -"Mabel, it _is_ you. Are you sick?" - -"I--I'm not sleeping very well," offered Mabel, trying not to giggle. -"I'm quite restless." - -"I thought I heard you eating things in the closet while I was writing. -Perhaps you've made yourself sick." - -By this time Mabel was about helpless with laughter--it was so amusing to -be taken for a pig. But just then her charge took a mean advantage of -her. He squirmed suddenly, rolled out of bed and landed with a thump and -an astonished grunt on the floor. - -"My Uncle!" gasped Isabelle, leaping out of bed and switching on the -light. "Are you killed!" - -"For goodness' sake keep still," growled Mabel. "It isn't me--it's my -pig!" - -[Illustration: "For goodness' sake keep still," growled Mabel] - -The pink pig scuttling here and there across the floor was too much for -Isabelle. She plunged into bed again and sat there with horrified eyes -on the pig. Suddenly, as he dashed in her direction, she squealed and -the pig squealed and they both squealed--a regular duet. - -Miss Woodruff in her red flannel nightdress was the first to arrive at -the party. - -"What!" she demanded, pausing in the doorway, "does _this_ mean?" - -Piggy chose this moment for a mad dash for freedom. In his flight -through the doorway he brushed the lady's bare ankles. Miss Woodruff's -wild shrieks were added to Isabelle's. - -Of course everybody in the West Corridor was awake by that time. Brave -Victoria Webster, now that Gladys was gone, was again rooming with -Augusta and Lillian Thwaite. Pausing for nothing, Victoria rushed -through the dark halls toward the portion of the house occupied by -Doctor Rhodes. Her lusty cries of "Fire! Fire!" brought all the Rhodes -family in bathrobes of assorted colors, to the West Corridor. - -By the time they arrived, Lillian and Augusta had added their shrieks to -Isabelle's. - -"Stop this noise," commanded Doctor Rhodes, shaking Augusta. "What are -you screaming for?" - -"I don't know," chattered Augusta. - -"What are _you_ screaming for, Lillian?" - -"Ow! Ow! I--I don't know." - -"Miss Woodruff--" - -"Why!" gasped Miss Woodruff, suddenly remembering her scarlet attire and -bolting for her own room, "I don't know." - -"Well, Isabelle, what are _you_ screaming for? You seem to be the last." - -"I--I saw a pig!" shuddered Isabelle. - -"Nonsense!" returned Doctor Rhodes. "You _couldn't_ have seen a pig. -You've been having a nightmare--you ate too much roast pork for dinner." - -"No, no," insisted Isabelle, "it _was_ a pig." - -"There's no such animal as a night pig," returned Doctor Rhodes, with -dignity. "Now get back to your beds, all of you, and don't let me hear -another sound from any of you tonight, about pigs or anything else." - -Mabel, tired as she was, stayed awake for an hour wondering what had -become of the poor little pig. Although she listened with all her ears, -not even the faintest squeal could she hear. Finally she dropped asleep. - -"Mabel," said puzzled Isabelle, the next morning, "I really _thought_ I -saw a pig last night. Did _you_ see one?" - -"I thought I _heard_ one," returned Mabel, who was busy in the closet, -stuffing a milky bottle into her pocket. "But of course no pig could -climb all those stairs." - -"That's so, too," said Isabelle. "It _may_ have been that pork--I forgot -to eat my apple sauce." - -"I'm sure it was pork," agreed Mabel, wickedly and truthfully. - -At breakfast time Mabel found a note under her plate. - - "Dear Mabel: Found at 7 A. M. one pig rooting under the dining - room table for crumbs. Charles is building a pen for him in the - back yard and all is well--thought you'd like to know. - - Sallie." - -At recess time, Mabel led Isabelle to the new pig pen. Maude and little -Jane Pool were looking over the edge. - -"Jane and I thought somebody ought to give him a name so _we_ did," said -Maude, with a wicked glance at Isabelle. "Don't you think 'Clarence' -would be a sweet name--for a pig?" - -Then, with a gleeful shout, the naughty pair sped away to eat pie under -the porch. And Sallie appeared with a message for Mabel. - -"Doctor Rhodes wishes to see Miss Bennett in his office," announced -Sallie. - -"I'm told," said Doctor Rhodes, when Mabel stood demurely before him, -"that Highland Hall has mysteriously acquired a pig. It occurs to me -that you may be able to shed some light on the subject." - -"Yes," said Mabel, "you've guessed right. I brought that pig home. -Somebody had to--he was _so_ lonesome." - -"But didn't I tell you--" - -"You didn't say _pigs_. You said any of Charles's family." - -"Hum--so I did. And you kept that animal in your room?" - -"I tried to." - -"Then Isabelle really saw a pig?" - -"She wasn't sure at breakfast time," giggled Mabel. - -"You haven't any _more_ pets concealed on the premises, I suppose! An -extra pig or two or a young hippopotamus or anything like that?" - -"No," giggled Mabel, "and I don't _want_ any more for a long time. A pig -is a fearful responsibility." - -"You've been punished enough, I see. Well, don't let it happen again." - -"I won't," promised Mabel, cheered by a certain twitching line in Doctor -Rhodes's cheek. "I've had enough pets to last a long time--besides one -roommate is just about all Isabelle can stand." - - - - -CHAPTER XXIV - -STILL NO NEWS - - -It was raining that Thursday morning and nobody was pleased. The -recitation rooms were dark and gloomy on rainy days and all plans for a -pleasant afternoon outdoors were spoiled. Naturally the girls hated the -idea of being confined to the veranda when prairie, grove and meadow -were so much more inviting. The morning had seemed long and poky, -lessons had proved uncommonly monotonous, there was nothing at all -interesting for lunch and study hour had dragged; but at last, here was -Sallie with the mail bag. Everybody but Henrietta brightened -perceptibly. Henrietta looked as if she were trying--without very much -success--to brace herself for a trying ordeal. - -Mabel, however, looked cheerfully expectant. Nowadays there was always -at least one letter a week for Mabel from Germany, and when it came -Mabel always felt quite distinguished; she was the _only_ girl who -received letters from a foreign land. She felt especially elated -whenever Miss Wilson, the very stiffest of the Seniors, begged for the -stamps to send to her brother who was making a collection. On this -particular day, there were letters for most of the Lakeville girls and -for Mabel too; but all four of them were casting anxious glances in -Henrietta's direction. They had acquired the habit. Their hearts were -wrung by her obvious suffering and by the courage with which she endured -it. This long suspense was really getting to be hard on _all_ of them. - -"Miss Henrietta Bedford," called Sallie. - -Henrietta, pale and trembling, forced herself to step to the platform, -received her letter, carried it to the window and nervously tore it -open. Jean had followed her quietly and stood waiting to comfort her in -case of need. After a moment or two, Henrietta pointed silently to the -opening words and Jean read: "Still no news of your dear father." - -Presently Jean and Henrietta left the room and the sympathetic eyes of -the other girls followed them to the doorway. - -"That's worse than losing a relative by sudden death," said Eleanor -Pratt, soberly. - -"Yes," agreed Elisabeth Wilson. "This suspense must be perfectly -harrowing--in fact, I can _see_ it is. Poor kid! I'm so sorry for her I -don't know what to do." - -"There isn't anything one _can_ do," said Beatrice Holmes. "I've watched -her every day at mail time and it's just pitiful to see how she hates to -open her letters." - -The mail distributed, some of the girls went to their respective rooms -to remove from their persons the ink stains, chalk dust and other -visible signs of a busy session in school. Others flocked to the veranda -to stroll back and forth like caged lions grumbling in captivity. - -"This is a beastly rain," said little Jane Pool. "The ground is just -soaked." - -"'It isn't raining rain, today,'" quoted Grace Allen, "'it's raining--'" - -"Water," said unpoetical Mabel. - -"Violets," concluded Grace. - -"Water," insisted Mabel. - -"Violets," said Grace. - -"Both wrong," said Debbie Clark. "It's roses. We've _had_ violets." - -"I don't see any of those, either," said Mabel, crossly. "It's just -plain water. I can't even go to look at my pig." - -"You ought to sit beside him with an umbrella," teased Debbie. "He may -be getting drowned." - -"He's all right," assured always-comforting Sallie. "Charles moved him -into the barn--he knew it was going to rain. Hello, Maude, why so -pensive? What mischief are you cooking up now?" - -"That's just the trouble," complained Maude. "Nothing _will_ cook. I've -been trying hard to think of something awfully wicked to do to cheer -poor Henrietta up. The trouble is, when I really _want_ to be bad I -can't do it. _My_ badness always breaks out of its own accord when I -least expect it; just when I'm really _trying_ to be good. When it's -really necessary for me to be wicked, as it is right now, I surprise -everybody--and especially dear Miss Woodruff--by being too good to be -true. A regular angel child!" - -"Still," offered Hazel, "you managed to start something yesterday. I -thought I'd _die_ when I looked out the window and saw all you girls -turning somersaults on the lawn." - -"What was that?" asked Isabelle. "I must have missed something." - -"You missed a lot," assured Maude. "Charles left a large heap of stuff -he had clipped from the hedges and the grass he had raked up after -galloping around all the morning with his lawn mower, in a lovely big -pile right in front of the office windows. Well, the minute I saw it -yesterday afternoon, I forgot that I was a boarding school 'Young -lady'--I was back in my childhood--I was a girl again." - -"What did you do?" demanded Isabelle. - -"You mean, how _many_ did I do." - -"You didn't _really_ turn somersaults!" - -"I _did_, and I loved it. And that was too much for Victoria. She did -some, too--just lovely ones. So did Cora and Jane and Bettie--nearly all -the West Corridor girls. All they needed was little Maude to start -them." - -"You'd have thought they weren't more than six years old," said Hazel. - -"What _did_ Miss Woodruff say?" - -"She _was_ going to stop them," returned Hazel, "but Doctor Rhodes and -Mrs. Henry and Miss Blossom came out on the porch and clapped their -hands and Doctor Rhodes said he'd give a prize for the girl that could -do the best handspring. He offered a quarter, and who do you think got -it!" - -"Victoria Webster, of course." - -"Dead wrong. It was Eleanor Pratt." - -"What! Not _Miss Pratt_!" - -"Yes. Fancy a Senior doing a handspring! She rushed right down and did a -perfectly lovely one and Doctor Rhodes presented her with the quarter. -The other two would have tried it next; but just then Charles came with -the wagon to pick the stuff up and he was none too pleased at finding it -all over the place so we helped him load the wagon. Next time he cuts -the grass he's going to make us a perfectly grand pile. He said he'd -bring us up some of that long stuff from the meadow and we can have a -regular party. It beats gym all hollow." - -"I'm going in," said Isabelle, "it's too wet out here." - -"So am I," said Hazel. - -"And I have to dust the drawing room," said Sallie. "All those pictures -of former graduating classes; all those proud Seniors in their white -frocks. It's particularly harrowing just now because I haven't a decent -rag to wear myself." - -Presently the porch was deserted and the bored girls went to their own -rooms. - -One of Sallie's many duties at Highland Hall was to answer the doorbell -at such times as the two neat maids were busy in the kitchen. Sallie had -just dusted the class of 1897 and was beginning on the frame of class -1898, when the doorbell rang. It had taken her almost an hour to get -that far because she had found a new interest in the pictures. She was -examining the frocks and wishing that _she_ might have tucks like these -or ruffles like those or sleeves like some other one. - -Ten minutes later, Sallie, very demure in the white apron that Mrs. -Rhodes compelled her to wear when she opened the big front door to -chance visitors, rapped at the door of room number twenty. Marjory -opened it. - -"A gentleman in the library to see Miss Henrietta Bedford," announced -Sallie, sedately. But Sallie's eyes were dancing and she was a little -breathless as if she had been running--as indeed she had--all the long way -from the front door. - -"A gentleman!" exclaimed Henrietta. "I don't _know_ any gentleman. Do -you mean Doctor Rhodes?" - -"I do not," returned Sallie. "But don't be frightened--there isn't -anything about this to frighten you." - -"Some one from Lakeville? Not Mr. Black?" - -"No. You must come down and see for yourself. I was told to bring you." - -"I believe you and Maude have been up to some trick. You're just fooling -me. There _couldn't_ be a gentleman in the library to see me." - -"But there _is_," declared Sallie. "You'll just hate yourself if you -don't hurry. Do start. I want to see you moving before I deliver this -Special Delivery letter to Isabelle--two cent stamps aren't swift enough -for Clarence." - -Henrietta laid her hairbrush down deliberately and started leisurely -toward the door. - -"Come on, Marjory," said she, "I ought to have a chaperon if there -really is a gentleman, but I'm pretty sure it's Maude--she loves to dress -up and play jokes on us. She might as well have two victims." - -"Do you suppose," queried Marjory, in an awe-stricken whisper, when the -pair had reached the top of the last long flight of stairs, "that it's -that silly Theolog that wrote you a note after he saw you at the -concert? There really _is_ a hat on the hat rack." - -"That's what I'm wondering," admitted Henrietta. "The silly goose makes -eyes at me every Sunday. But surely he wouldn't have the nerve to _call_ -here. If that's who it is, I shall walk right back upstairs. I _know_ -it's _some_ joke. Sallie's eyes were just dancing. Just at first I was -frightened but I could see by Sallie's face that it wasn't anything -dreadful." - -"You go ahead," said Marjory. "If it really is _your_ visitor--" - - - - -CHAPTER XXV - -AN EXCITING FATHER - - -A tall man, who was very good looking indeed, stood beside the library -table. A man of perhaps forty, with a fair skin, bronzed by much -exposure to the sun, abundant light hair that grew in a pleasing way and -fine blue eyes. He was gazing expectantly toward the door. - -Henrietta, after one look at the visitor, was across the room with her -arms about his neck. - -"Daddy! Why, _Dad_!" - -Marjory, wisely concluding that no chaperon was needed, slipped unheeded -from the room and fled away through twisting hallways and long corridors -to the West wing where she found that Sallie had already spread the -news. - -"Henrietta's father," breathed Bettie, "isn't that great! And only two -hours ago Henrietta was weeping on her bed because her grandmother's -letter was so discouraging." - -"Does he look like Henrietta?" asked Jean. "You know we've never seen -him." - -"Not a bit," said Marjory, "he's fair--a regular blond. And oh, so good -looking. She's like the pictures of her dark mother, you know." - -"He looks just like an earl or a duke or something like that," said -Sallie. "When the Seniors see him they're going to be glad that they -were polite to Henrietta. He's the best looking father that ever came to -this school and I ought to know, because I've been making a study of -fathers for a long, long time. Of course, most _any_ kind of a father -looks mighty good to _me_. I don't envy Henrietta her good clothes, her -pretty looks or her pretty ways; but I _would_ like to wake up suddenly -and find myself down in that library shaking hands with a _father_." - -In the meantime, Henrietta, who had been almost speechless at first, was -making up for lost time. There were traces of tears on her cheeks but -her eyes were joyful. - -"So you went right straight to Lakeville from San Francisco and as soon -as Grandmother told you where I was you came right here?" - -"And I didn't bring you a single thing. My luggage is still in Shanghai, -I suppose. I believe I picked up some odds and ends in Canton. I was -there for a very short time and foolishly neglected to cable Henshaw. -When they rescued me from that coral reef, absolutely the only thing I -owned was half a pair of trousers. I had to borrow clothes from the -captain of the ship before I could land in San Francisco and I had to -telegraph to London for money with which to travel east. Your -Grandmother tells me that Henshaw has sent out a relief -expedition--perhaps he'll rescue my luggage. It seems to me I bought a -mandarin's coat and some beads--" - -"I wouldn't have cared if you hadn't bought me a single thing. It was -just you I wanted, Daddy. Don't _ever_ get lost again. It's too hard on -the family." - -"Do you know, it hadn't occurred to me that you were grown up enough to -worry; but, since you are, I suppose I'll have to mend my ways. I _have_ -been careless a great deal of the time. I haven't always written when I -_could_; and of course, sometimes, I couldn't. Now, couldn't we go -outside, some place? It seems dark and stuffy in here to a man who has -lived on a coral reef for months." - -"Why," cried Henrietta, "I do believe it's clearing up." - -Henrietta was right. The rain had ceased, the sun was making up for lost -time and in more ways than one it was now a pleasant day. On the veranda -the happy little girl introduced her father to such of her special -friends as were there and sent little Jane Pool flying after all the -others. The entire West Corridor rushed down and out, as Maude said -afterwards. Mr. Bedford bowed and smiled in a charming way and murmured: -"Delighted, I'm suah." He was not a talkative man, for which the girls -were sorry because his speech was so delightfully English that the -thoroughly American children were greatly impressed. They loved to hear -him say "Cawn't" and "Just fawncy," and "Chuesday"--for Tuesday. And they -were overjoyed when he asked Henrietta if she hadn't better put on her -"goloshes" before she walked on the wet grass. - -Henrietta took her father for a walk to the village. It is to be -suspected that she led him straight to the best candy store in the -village because she returned later with an enormous box of chocolates. -The girls were even gladder to see that her cheeks were glowing with -some of their former bright color. Her father was placed in the company -seat at Doctor Rhodes's own table at dinner time that night; Henrietta -sat demurely beside him; but occasionally she turned her head long -enough to make an impish face at the girls at her own table. - -"She'd rather be here," said Jean, sagely. - -"I wish she were," said Maude. "I love to hear her father talk." - -It was bedtime before the West Corridor girls had a chance to hear all -about it. They had flocked into Henrietta's room and most of them -undressed in there while listening to what she had to say. - -"I'm going to do something wonderful," said Henrietta. "First, I'm to -spend tomorrow in Chicago with Father, and then he's going right to -England. Grandmother is going to meet us in Chicago, and what do you -think! You couldn't guess in a thousand years. We are both going right -over to England with him so we can have a good long visit on the way. -We're going to stay just long enough for Grandmother to count her -relatives over there--Father says it won't be more than three weeks -altogether--and then we're coming back. I'm going to bring something to -every one of you. I may even get to Paris for just about a minute--Father -says he has to go there to tell something to the French Government about -something he dug up somewhere." - -"How lovely!" cried Jean. - -"How splendid," cried Bettie. - -"How grand!" cried Marjory. - -"How perfectly sweet," cried Cora. - -"How darling," cried little Jane Pool. - -"But, Henrietta," demanded Mabel. "You haven't told us where your father -has been all this time. Why didn't he write?" - -"Why, so I haven't," said Henrietta, "And this is my last chance--I'm -going early in the morning, with just a few duds in a suitcase. Well, -here's the story, all I could dig out of him. I'll sit on the dresser so -you can all hear. It's really quite a tale. - -"Well, first he went to Shanghai because he'd heard of a temple that was -different from most temples; but it was way up the Yengtze river--in -China, you know--so he rushed right up there to look for it. It was on -the estate of an old Chinaman who didn't want any Englishmen or other -foreigners poking round his old temple even outside--and it was said to -be certain death to go _inside_. But father _did_ manage to get inside -and was copying some of the inscriptions as well as he could--it was too -dark to use his camera and he didn't dare make a flashlight--when -something hit him on the head. He doesn't know _yet_ what it was. - -"The next thing he knew, he was in kind of a dungeon, all stone and -metal bars, under some building--that temple, perhaps, or possibly under -a warehouse near the river. He says he doesn't know why they didn't kill -him at once; but for some reason they didn't. Just kept him there and -gave him very little food once a day for weeks and weeks and weeks--he -does not know exactly how long. - -"Then, one night, when he had just about given up all hope of _ever_ -getting out of that place, four big, ugly-looking Chinamen came and tied -a bag over his head and bound his hands and feet and loaded him into a -boat and poled it down a river for hours and hours. They chattered a lot -in Chinese but Father couldn't understand them--his interpreter wasn't -with him when he went into the temple, and he doesn't know _what_ became -of _him_. After a long, long time, Father heard sounds like men -clambering aboard a vessel; but he thinks that the small boat he was in -was towed for a long time behind some larger boat. He slept for part of -the time, he says, and of course with that bag tied over his head he -couldn't see anything or even hear a great deal. - -"The next thing he was really sure of was that his hands were free. By -the time he got the bag off his head, there was an old Chinese -junk--that's a kind of a ship--way off in the distance, sailing away from -him. He was alone in the boat but in one end of it he found a jar of -water and some food. Also a long pole and a paddle. Of course he -couldn't reach bottom with the pole because he was out of the river by -that time and quite far out at sea--in the Yellow Sea or possibly the -Eastern Sea. You know how they run together along there; and he showed -me what he thought _might_ be the place, on the atlas in the library. - -"Well, Father thought other boats might come along that way so he stayed -right there for about six hours; but none did; so then he fastened the -long pole up like a mast and ripped open that bag that had been over his -head and used it for a sail. He found some bits of rope and string and -some old fishing tackle stuffed into the bow of the boat and used them -to tie his sail to the pole. - -"He sailed wherever the wind took him and after awhile he was picked up -by another Chinese junk. He thinks that the men aboard this one were -smugglers or pirates or something. He tried to get them to take him to -Shanghai or Hong Kong or some other Chinese port; but he was so ragged -and dirty that probably they didn't believe he'd be able to pay them -what he promised--even if they understood him--and all he could get out of -what _they_ said was something about 'Philippines.' - -"But they never got to the Philippine Islands, if that's where they were -bound for. There was a typhoon--a sudden, terrible storm--and they were -wrecked. My father and one very strong young Chinese sailor were thrown -by the waves inside a coral reef that stuck up like kind of a fence, in -a big half-circle. It made sort of a front yard to a small coral island -and the water was smoother inside so they managed to swim ashore. But -they were quite battered up at first and just crawled ashore on their -hands and knees and fell asleep on the first dry spot. - -"Their island was only a little one, just about big enough for two -persons to live on. Fortunately there was a small spring of fresh water -but it ran very slowly so that it took a long time to catch enough for a -satisfying drink; and the young Chinaman was smart about catching fish -and snaring sea birds and finding turtles' eggs. There were lots of -shell fish, too; and a box of rice washed ashore about the time they did -and they saved some of that, so of course they didn't starve. - -"But they had to stay there for months and months and months; until -another ship got blown out of her course and was almost wrecked on that -coral fence outside their little island. As soon as that storm calmed -down, the ship sent a boat ashore to explore the island. There were -English sailors aboard her but the ship was going to Calcutta. Father -says she was a rotten old tub but he and the Chinaman were glad to be -rescued by _anything_. He _wanted_ to go to England and he didn't want -to go to Calcutta; but after a day or two he had a good chance to be -transferred to a much faster and safer ship bound for San Francisco so -he took it. The Captain had to give him some clothes--he lost just about -all he had left when he was swimming to the island. He sent a wireless -to my grandmother from the American ship but for some reason she didn't -get it. And he didn't telegraph her from San Francisco because he -supposed she _had_ received the wireless." - -"Tell us all the _awful_ part of it," pleaded Mabel. "Cannibals and -tigers and things like that." - -"That's one trouble with Father's adventures," complained Henrietta. "He -doesn't _tell_ the ghastly details. He just gives the main facts. He -must have been almost dead in that dungeon, he must have hated that -nasty bag over his head, and he must have been almost drowned swimming -ashore and almost scared to death in that typhoon; but he doesn't _say_ -so. He did mention a shark in the lagoon--the Chinaman killed that with -his knife. Of course I'll be able to dig more out of him when there's -more time; but he won't tell me the _worst_ things; he never does." - -"_I_ think," said Jean, "you managed to get considerable." - -"Yes," agreed Maude, "you certainly own an exciting father." - -"I'm so glad I still _own_ him," breathed Henrietta. - -And then the girls slipped away to their own beds to dream of Chinese -temples, junks, dark dungeons, yellow pirates, sunny reefs and sunburned -fathers. And of course they were all glad to have their Henrietta again -happy and free from care; for they had all suffered with her. - - - - -CHAPTER XXVI - -HENRIETTA IS MYSTERIOUS - - -The girls began to miss Henrietta almost as soon as she was gone. For a -small person, she left a tremendous vacancy. She was so lovely, so -bright, so friendly with everybody and so very good to look at that it -seemed, as Sallie put it, as if the sun had suddenly deserted the whole -state of Illinois. Henrietta wrote to her friends, of course, but that -wasn't quite like having her actually on the premises. - -One day, however, when Sallie was distributing the mail, the post girl -experienced a joyful moment. She pulled a letter from the bag and read -aloud the name on the envelope: "Miss Sallie Dickinson." - -"Why," gasped Sallie, pink with surprise and delight. "That's for -me--from Henrietta." - -Henrietta had expected to return within three weeks. But did she? Not a -bit of it. She and her delightful grandmother, Mrs. Slater, were having -too good a time visiting their relatives in England to be willing to -return at once to America. They were shopping in London. - -"And oh, such shops as there are in London!" wrote Henrietta. "And oh, -such funny English as I hear! My cousins took me to something they -called a 'Cinema'--and what do you think it was? Just a movie. When I -come back I'll talk some _real_ English for you so you can see what it's -like." - -"I guess," laughed Jean, "Henrietta is more American now than she is -English." - -"I wish she'd come back," said Bettie. "The days seem twice as long with -her so far away." - -It was undeniably dull without Henrietta; but Maude managed on one -occasion at least to cheer the other girls considerably. She had been -unnaturally good for several weeks; but now the spirit of impishness -that sometimes controlled her had been bottled up too long for safety -and was just about ready to break loose. - -A full length mirror stood at the end of the West Corridor, across one -of the corners. It swung on pivots, from an upright frame. It was -possible to unscrew those pivots and remove the framed mirror from this -outer frame. Indeed, Sallie had once mentioned casually that this feat -might easily be accomplished by two girls, whereupon curious Maude had -examined the screws with much interest and had satisfied herself that -Sallie's statement was true. - -At certain times of the day, Miss Woodruff, who was as regular as a -clock in all her habits, strolled to that mirror to make certain that -her skirts hung properly; for no one was more particular as to her -appearance than was stout Miss Woodruff. She invariably wore gray, for -school use. She possessed three serge gowns, made precisely alike, from -the same piece of goods. She spoke of these garments as her "uniform." -When not in use, these gowns hung in her bedroom closet. - -But one dreadful day, when excellent Miss Woodruff looked in the glass -at the usual time, she started back in horror. There was her reflection, -dark gray frock, unmistakable hair-do and all, yet what in the world was -the matter with it? The face was different, the figure was shorter and -fatter and its outline was curiously lumpy in places. - -There were stifled giggles from the nearby doorways as the puzzled lady -leaned forward to look closer--at Maude. For of course it _was_ Maude, -attired in one of Miss Woodruff's gray gowns, with pillows stuffed -inside; and her hair, skilfully arranged by Cora, closely resembled Miss -Woodruff's. The naughty but ingenious girl standing just back of the -vacant frame, was faithfully imitating every movement made by Miss -Woodruff, every expression that flitted across her astonished face. - -"_Nous avons_," began Maude, stepping through the frame, with her hands -crossed meekly on her dark gray breast, "_les raisins blancs et noirs_--" - -But at this point, to the uproarious delight of the entire West -Corridor, Miss Woodruff seized her reflection by the shoulders and shook -it until pillows began to drop from beneath the gray gown. - -"Maude Wilder," gasped the breathless lady, finally, "you may keep right -on learning American History--two pages a day until Commencement." - -Ten minutes later, when Miss Woodruff took her daily walk on the long -veranda she was surprised to meet herself halfway, as it were. - -"Don't be cross," laughed Maude, slipping her hand under Miss Woodruff's -substantial elbow. "I just came down to apologize. I know I'm bad but if -I didn't keep this place cheered up, think how dull we'd be. We'd all -get in a rut. And you know I _do_ respect you, tremendously, even if I -do seem a little disrespectful towards your clothes at times. And I do -like you a lot, even if I can't help teasing you. Come on and be a -sport. Let's show the girls what lovely twins we make." - -"But--" - -"Come along, do," pleaded Maude's sweetly persuasive voice. "You _know_ -you aren't really cross about this. Let's be friends." - -"You're incorrigible," sighed Miss Woodruff, falling into step with her -wheedling tormentor. "I don't know what ever will become of you, but, in -spite of my better judgment, I can't _help_ liking you. And just to show -you that I can do it, I _will_ be a sport just for once." - -"Hurrah for the Woodruff twins!" cried Maude, enthusiastically. But -Maude's enthusiasm was doomed to wane. Sturdy Miss Woodruff, with a -wicked gleam in her eye, kept her absurd twin walking back and forth on -the veranda for a good two hours. The day was warm and the pillows tied -firmly about Maude's waist added nothing to her comfort; the girls on -the railing were obviously enjoying her predicament; but unmerciful Miss -Woodruff proved tireless. Maude was tired of being a twin long before -her teacher was; but revived somewhat when that surprising lady said, at -last: - -"Now, I _will_ be a sport. I'm going to excuse you from learning that -history. I think we're just about even without it." - -"I didn't think she had it in her," commented Maude, reclining at length -on the pillows she had gladly removed from her person. "There's more to -that lady than I supposed there was." - -There was much talk these days of Commencement. The three Seniors were -to be graduated and, by some mysterious process, the five Juniors were -to become Seniors. No wonder the Miller girls, quiet Virginia Mason, -Sarah Porter and studious Mary Sherwood of the North Corridor had led a -life apart from the younger girls. Of course, with a solemn thing like -that hanging over them, and only a year away, they _couldn't_ associate -with a flock of careless infants in the lower grades. - -There were to be Commencement clothes--white dresses, white shoes, white -stockings for everybody, young or old. There was to be a class -photograph of the Seniors, framed like all the rest, and hung in the big -drawing room for future classes to admire. There were to be Exercises. -Miss Julia's pupils were to play solos and duets; and everybody was to -sing the songs that they were now practising daily and there were to be -Essays. One of the Seniors, Miss Pratt, was known to be laboring over a -strange thing called a Valedictory, Miss Wilson was struggling with the -Class Prophecy and Miss Holmes was having a harrowing time with the -Class Poem. Mabel hoped that none of these mysterious things would ever -fall to _her_ lot. Cream puffs and unlimited chocolate creams, it -appeared, were not the only things that happened to a Senior. - -And now, everybody was discussing clothes. Should they wear silk -stockings or cotton ones? White pumps or Oxfords? Should their dresses -be tucked or ruffled, full or scant? Should their sleeves be long or -short or half way between? The Seniors were keeping _their_ clothes a -dark mystery; but all the other girls were willing to tell all they -knew. - -Jean, Bettie, Mabel and Marjory were to buy their dresses, shoes and -stockings in Chicago. Mrs. Henry Rhodes and Miss Blossom were to take -them to town for a whole joyous Monday. - -They loved every inch of the way to the city, where Mrs. Henry piled -them all into a 'bus at the station, took them to a big store on State -Street, and whisked them aloft in an elevator. She and Miss Blossom -spent a long morning trying fluffy white frocks on their lively charges. - -There were large numbers of just-exactly-right frocks for Marjory and -Bettie. They were easy to fit. Jean was tall and rather slender and it -was some time before the interested clerk could find just the right -pretty gown for Jean. As for plump Mabel---- Well, the sleeves were tight, -the waists wouldn't button and the skirts were too scant. - -"You see," explained the patient clerk, "she isn't a ready-made child. -She hasn't got her shape yet. But you'll be all right, dearie (she -called everybody 'dearie,' Mabel noticed), when you're older. Your -shoulders are fine and you're right good looking; but they don't put -cloth enough in Misses' garments these days for a real plump child. -We'll have to make you a dress to order. You can pick out the style you -like and our own Miss Williamson will measure you and in three days -you'll have your dress. You'll look just as nice as anybody and your -dress will be just exactly right." - -"Yes," agreed Mrs. Henry and Miss Blossom, "that's the thing to do." - -Then they all got into the elevator and went up still higher and the -Lakeville girls tried not to look surprised at finding a dining room so -near the sky. After they had had lunch and purchased shoes and stockings -it was time for their returning train. - -Sallie listened to the thrilling news of the new dresses and the lovely -new shoes rather soberly and with a lengthening countenance; but none of -the girls noticed that she was not rejoicing with them until thoughtless -Marjory suddenly asked: - -"What are _you_ going to wear, Sallie?" - -"I have an old white dress," returned Sallie, flushing painfully. "It -was new three years ago but I've worn it hard every summer, so it isn't -new any more. All the tucks have been let out and the hem has been faced -and it's still too short. Besides there's a bad rust stain on it and -it's too tight across the chest I don't know _what_ to do. I've been -thinking I'd better put on a cap and apron and just pretend to be one of -the regular maids. You see, ever so many parents and other guests will -be coming so I'll have to answer the doorbell and run upstairs to -announce guests and help in the dining room, anyway." - -"But you have to help with the singing," said Bettie. "You have the best -voice of all the girls. What are you going to do about that?" - -"Perhaps I can stand behind a tree," offered Sallie. "Or I might burrow -down in the tall grass and not be noticed. Of course I'd sing better if -my clothes were all right; but I'll just try not to think about them." - -The next day, some of the girls sat on a bench in the shady grove and -talked this weighty matter over. - -"It's a shame," said Jean. "Sallie's such a _dear_ girl--one of the very -sweetest girls in this school, _I_ think, and she has a lovely voice. -She ought to be able to stand right in the front row and be seen as well -as heard." - -"It isn't right," said Bettie, "for all the rest of us to be all dressed -up and having a good time when Sallie can't--just because she's a -boarding school orphan." - -"Sometimes I've offered to lend her things," said Jean, "but she doesn't -like it. I think it hurts her pride or something." - -"I thought we might write home for money," said Marjory, "and get her a -dress _that_ way; but I'm sure Aunty Jane wouldn't give me a cent for -it. She might, after a long, long time--if I'd begun to tease for it last -September, for instance, she'd begin about now to loosen up a little." - -"And my folks are too far away," mourned Mabel, "so _they're_ no good." - -"And mine," said Jean, "have to spend more on me now than they can -afford." - -"And of course," added Bettie, "the best _my_ folks could do would be -something out of a missionary box--something made of outing flannel most -likely. Those boxes do run just awfully to outing flannel. Of course -there's Mr. Black--but I wouldn't like to ask him." - -"No," agreed Jean, "it wouldn't be right. Of course, if we'd started -soon enough and saved all our weekly spending money--" - -"Oh, why didn't we?" cried Bettie. "I do wish we had." - -"If we four had saved _half_ our money," said Marjory, who had been -making figures with a stick in the sand, "we could have bought her a -more expensive dress than any _we_ are going to have. And shoes, too." - -"Just think of that!" said Jean. "Next year I'm going to save a few -cents every week--it's mighty useful to have money when something like -this comes up." - -"Of course," said Marjory, who had been making more sums in the sand, -"thirty cents isn't much when you put a nickel in the plate every Sunday -and chip in every now and then for spreads. Anyway, it's all gone and -poor Sallie hasn't a dress." - -At mail time the next day, the schoolroom resounded with excited and -delighted squeals. Sallie had had another letter from Henrietta. It was -mailed in New York; and Henrietta was coming back. - -"Grandmother is going to visit an old friend in Chicago," wrote -Henrietta, "and I'm coming back to study like mad to catch up with my -classes. Tell the girls to have all their note books ready for me and I -can _do_ it. And Sallie, dear, I'm bringing you a present. I have -something for all my best friends but if anybody can guess what I'm -bringing you I'll give her _two_ presents." - -Jean looked at Bettie. Bettie nudged Marjory and Mabel managed--but not -without difficulty--to wink at Jean. - -"It's a dress," whispered Marjory. "I'm _sure_ it's a dress." - -"That's just what I think," agreed Jean. - -Just two weeks before the close of school, Henrietta returned. She -arrived during school hours and slipped quietly into her seat in the -Assembly room; but she was so fidgety and there was such a fluttering -among the other girls, who declared afterwards that she looked good -enough to eat, that Miss Woodruff said: "Henrietta, I'll excuse you for -today. There's only an hour left anyway." - -"Thank you," said Henrietta. "I'm dying to unpack my new steamer -trunk--Charles brought it right up along with me." - -The girls found Henrietta's gifts in their rooms when they went upstairs -at two o'clock. She had tried to find lovely, unusual things for them -and had succeeded. A little gem of a picture in a silver frame for Jean, -some lovely blue beads almost like Hazel's for Marjory, an adorable -turquois ring for Bettie and an exquisite enameled locket for Mabel. -There was something for every girl in the West Corridor and a nice -little graduating present for each of the three Seniors. There were some -lovely white silk stockings "right straight from Paris" for Sallie. - -"The rest of Sallie's present is coming later," said Henrietta, "I -didn't have room in my trunk for it. And on second thought, I'm not -going to encourage any guessing. I _might_ give the secret away and that -wouldn't do. I'm not going to tell what it is, but I'll say this much. -_Don't worry about your clothes, Sallie._" - -"Did you get it in London?" demanded Mabel. - -"Yes," laughed Henrietta, "and that's the last word I'm going to tell -you about it." - -"I sort of hoped," sighed Marjory, "it might have been _Paris_, like the -stockings." - -But Henrietta only laughed harder than ever. - - - - -CHAPTER XXVII - -SALLIE'S PRESENT - - -Three days later, Henrietta, her eyes bright with excitement, rushed to -the dining room and fell upon Mary, one of the neat maids. - -"Lend me your cap and apron, quick!" demanded Henrietta, helping herself -to the needed articles. "Don't say a word. There's a hack coming up from -the station and I want to answer the doorbell--Doctor Rhodes said I -could. Sallie's in her room--I locked her in. I'm just getting even with -her for something. I'll bring your things back in just a few minutes and -tell you the rest." - -Henrietta did answer the doorbell. The visitor was ushered to the -library. Then away sped Henrietta up three flights of steps and through -a tiresome number of corridors until at last she reached Sallie's room -on the top floor. She unlocked the door noiselessly, rapped on the panel -and then announced, in a very good imitation of Sallie's own voice: - -"A gentleman in the library to see Miss Sallie Dickinson." - -"But there _couldn't_ be," said Sallie. "I don't _know_ any gentleman." - -"But you _do_--or if you don't, go down and get acquainted. Come on--you -look all right." - -"It--it isn't one of those Theologs--" - -"Come on," laughed Henrietta, "I'll race you to the first floor." - -"It's against the rules--" - -"There's nothing in the by-laws against sliding down the banisters. -These nice black walnut ones were just made for that purpose. Down you -go." - -"If I must, I must," said resigned Sallie, meekly lying flat on the -broad banister. "I know you're playing some trick on me." - -"I _thought_ you knew how to slide," laughed Henrietta, following suit. - -"Yes," confessed Sallie, tackling the last banister, "I've helped polish -them all--it's a wonderful saving of legs." - -"Go on in," urged Henrietta, at the library door. "Nobody's going to eat -you." - -Sallie saw a man standing by the table. A man who smiled pleasantly. She -looked at him. Suddenly her heart began to thump wildly. - -"Is it--Is it--" - -"Yes, it _is_," cried Henrietta. "Your father." - -Sallie's face was turning from white to pink and momentarily growing -brighter, but still she seemed unable to move. Henrietta gave her a -gentle shove toward her father's outstretched arms. - -"I found him in London," said Henrietta. "He'll tell you all about it. -Good-by, I'll see you later." - -It happened to be a warm day, so the girls had left their rooms and were -wandering in the grove, under the sheltering hickory trees where earlier -in the season, Charles had placed a number of benches. At sight of -Henrietta waving her arms wildly, the girls moved toward her. - -"Help yourselves to the benches," said Henrietta, seating herself on the -ground. "I have a tale to tell. How would you like to be just awfully -surprised?" - -"I guess we could stand it," drawled Miss Wilson, who, as usual, had a -large box of chocolates under her arm. "Have some candy?" - -"You wouldn't try to stop my mouth with candy," reproached Henrietta, -"if you knew what you are bottling up thereby. Something's -happened--something wonderful. Something perfectly _grand_." - -"Tell us," pleaded Jean, who could see that Henrietta was fairly -bubbling over with news, "Come on, girls. Here's a story." - -"Well," began Henrietta, "once there was a man who was always moving -around from one town to another looking for work. When he _had_ work he -wasn't always satisfied with it. Sometimes he gave up a fairly good job -and just went some place else because he happened to feel like it." - -"One of those rolling stones," suggested Maude. - -"Yes, a regular rolling stone. Well, after awhile he rolled out West. He -tried ranching at first; but he didn't care much about that. But there -was a sort of cowboy chap that he _did_ like--a young Englishman--and they -decided to be partners. They tried mining for awhile but that didn't pan -out so they went down to Texas. They worked for an old man down there -who was sick. They did something really worth while for _him_--something -about saving a lot of cattle for him--and he was so grateful that he died -and left his ranch to them." - -"Oh, Henrietta!" teased Hazel, "that _was_ gratitude." - -"Well, I mean that _when_ he died, he left his ranch to those two men. -But the ranch wasn't very much good--there was something wrong with the -soil and nothing would grow--not even grass. But now pick up your ears, -girls. One day, in one of the fields where the soil was _particularly_ -bad, the older man stepped into something soft and some queer greasy -stuff oozed up out of the hole. It was _oil_. Experts came and tested -it. They really had oil. - -"Well, even when they had sold all their cattle they hadn't money enough -to develop their oil mine--" - -"Oil _well_," corrected Miss Wilson. "My father has them--but go on." - -"Yes, oil well. So the cowboy suggested going home to England where he -had a lot of wealthy relatives and friends, to borrow the money. He -wanted, for one thing, to let his own relatives reap some of the benefit -if there _was_ any. Well, that cowboy was--and is--sort of a distant -cousin of my father's; and my father was one of the men he wanted -especially to see. - -"Now, here's the exciting part. His partner, the rolling stone, was with -him when he went to my father's rooms in London. And _I_ was there. And -when the cowboy introduced the other man to Father, I sat right up and -looked at him--he looked like somebody I _knew_. - -"Then Father introduced them both to me--he's always careful about things -like that, you know. And then I spoke right up and said: - -"'Mr. Dickinson, is your first name John? And did you ever have a little -girl named Sallie?' My goodness! You should have seen that little man's -face! All lit up with joy." - -"But," cried Jean, "you don't mean _our_ Sallie! You don't mean that -that was Sallie's _father_!" - -"I _do_," assured Henrietta. "Of course it seemed awfully nervy to speak -right out like that to a strange man, right before my proper father and -Cousin George. I never could have done it, if I hadn't known myself how -horrible it was to be a school orphan. After that, I told him all about -Sallie. And _he_ said that after he got out of the hospital he had -hunted for her just as long as he had had any money; but the poor old -man who had left Sallie at the wrong school couldn't remember anything -at all about it. Without money, and so weak that he could hardly crawl, -Mr. Dickinson couldn't do very much toward hunting Sallie up--and there -were so _many_ girls' schools in this part of the country. And after he -had drifted out West, he was always too poor to come back. This is the -first bit of luck he's had. But it's a _big_ bit. The oil well is all -right--he had to stop in New York to attend to some part of the -business--telegrams to and from Texas and things like that. That's why he -didn't come when I did. Sallie's father and the cowboy, too, will be -very rich men. Of course he was going to begin to search for Sallie just -as soon as things were settled; but I saved him a lot of time and -trouble. But, oh! _Such_ a time as I've had keeping this tremendous -secret." - -"Where's Sallie's father now," demanded Mabel. - -"In the library with Sallie." - -"I'm glad about the money," said Jean, earnestly, "but Henrietta, is--is -he going to be a _nice_ father for our Sallie?" - -"Yes, he is," returned Henrietta. "I watched him all the way over on the -boat and there isn't a single thing the matter with him." - -"That's great," breathed Mabel. "But what is he like?" - -"Well, he has pleasant eyes and a _good_ face and nice, gentle -manners--and he doesn't eat with his knife. Just after I found him I -began to tremble for fear he _mightn't_ be the kind of father we'd want -for our Sallie; but he _is_--just exactly. Perhaps he isn't one of those -terribly strong characters like Daniel Webster or Oliver Cromwell or -John Knox--but who'd _want_ a father like that! But I'm sure he'll be a -comfortable person to live with and Cousin George--the cowboy, you -know--likes him; and Father says George is mighty particular about his -friends. And of course he'll pay up everything Sallie owes this school -and give her everything she needs." - -At dinner time that night, Sallie's father sat in the place of honor at -Doctor Rhodes's table. And Sallie, such a radiant Sallie, with her head -high and her eyes bright, sat beside him, listening hungrily to his -words. - -And when Sallie's clear young voice was lifted in song at the -Commencement Day exercises, it didn't come from behind a tree. Lovely -Sallie didn't _need_ to hide behind a tree or to burrow down in the long -grass; for her Commencement Day gown was quite as new and beautiful as -anybody's and certainly no other girl wore a happier expression. - -"But it's her father she's the gladdest about," explained Mabel. "She -just _loves_ him." - -"I'm glad of that," said Bettie, who was sitting on her suitcase on the -baggage strewn veranda. "It wouldn't be much fun to go to Texas with a -father you _didn't_ love. And isn't it great! He's going to let her -visit Henrietta in Lakeville in August and go back to school with her -afterwards so we aren't going to lose every bit of our Sallie after -all." - -"And," said Jean, "Mabel is going to spend a week with me and then her -own people will be home. And there's Charles coming now to take us all -to the station. Good-by, old Highland Hall. You're going to be a big, -lonesome place without us." - -"A year is a funny thing," commented Bettie, with her last backward -glance at the tall building. "While it's happening, it seems to be a -million miles long; and then, the very next minute, it's all gone." - -"By this time tomorrow," breathed Marjory, "we'll be home; and all the -days will have wings. But Mabel, what in the world _are_ you doing?" - -"I'm--kuk--crying," gulped Mabel. - -"You funny old baby," laughed Henrietta. "You're too tender hearted." - -"It isn't that at all," sobbed Mabel, "but something just terrible has -happened. I forgot to label them and I kuk--kuk--can't remember which lock -of hair is Maude's and which is Cora's--and I just loved them both." - -"Well," soothed Marjory, "both girls are far from bald--you can easily -write for more hair." - -"Cheer up," comforted Jean, "I _did_ label mine and I can identify -_anybody's_ hair. And--and we _all_ hate to part with those girls; but we -must look respectable when we get to the station; and when Mr. Black -meets us in Chicago--" - -"We'll be mighty glad to see him," said Mabel, smiling bravely through -her tears, "and this time I'll try not to get lost." - -"Climb out, everybody," said Charles, stopping his car. "Here's the -station, right in the same old place. And there's your train, right on -time. And I hope I don't see another girl or another trunk for the next -four months. So long and good luck." - -THE END - - - - - -End of Project Gutenberg's Girls of Highland Hall, by Carolyn Watson Rankin - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GIRLS OF HIGHLAND HALL *** - -***** This file should be named 40403-8.txt or 40403-8.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/4/0/4/0/40403/ - -Produced by Roger Frank and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This book was -produced from images made available by the HathiTrust -Digital Library.) - - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions -will be renamed. - -Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no -one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation -(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without -permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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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: Girls of Highland Hall - Further Adventures of the Dandelion Cottagers - -Author: Carolyn Watson Rankin - -Release Date: August 3, 2012 [EBook #40403] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GIRLS OF HIGHLAND HALL *** - - - - -Produced by Roger Frank and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This book was -produced from images made available by the HathiTrust -Digital Library.) - - - - - - -</pre> +<div>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 40403 ***</div> <div id="header"> <h1 class="title">Girls of Highland Hall</h1> @@ -1501,381 +1463,6 @@ back yard and all is well—thought you’d like to know. <p>“Climb out, everybody,” said Charles, stopping his car. “Here’s the station, right in the same old place. And there’s your train, right on time. And I hope I don’t see another girl or another trunk for the next four months. So long and good luck.”</p> <p>THE END</p> - - - - - - -<pre> - - - - - -End of Project Gutenberg's Girls of Highland Hall, by Carolyn Watson Rankin - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GIRLS OF HIGHLAND HALL *** - -***** This file should be named 40403-h.htm or 40403-h.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/4/0/4/0/40403/ - -Produced by Roger Frank and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This book was -produced from images made available by the HathiTrust -Digital Library.) - - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions -will be renamed. - -Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no -one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation -(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without -permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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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: Girls of Highland Hall - Further Adventures of the Dandelion Cottagers - -Author: Carolyn Watson Rankin - -Release Date: August 3, 2012 [EBook #40403] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ASCII - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GIRLS OF HIGHLAND HALL *** - - - - -Produced by Roger Frank and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This book was -produced from images made available by the HathiTrust -Digital Library.) - - - - - -Girls of Highland Hall -Carroll Watson Rankin - - - - -CONTENTS - CHAPTER I--ON THE WAY - CHAPTER II--PREPARATIONS - CHAPTER III--LOST - CHAPTER IV--FIRST IMPRESSIONS - CHAPTER V--NEW ACQUAINTANCES - CHAPTER VI--GETTING SETTLED - CHAPTER VII--AN OLD ACQUAINTANCE - CHAPTER VIII--BRAVE VICTORIA - CHAPTER IX--STRANGE DISAPPEARANCES - CHAPTER X--MABEL FINDS A FAMILY - CHAPTER XI--MABEL STAYS HOME - CHAPTER XII--A GROWING GIRL - CHAPTER XIII--MANY SMALL MYSTERIES - CHAPTER XIV--UNPOPULAR MARJORY - CHAPTER XV--A SURPRISING FESTIVAL - CHAPTER XVI--MORE MYSTERIOUS HAPPENINGS - CHAPTER XVII--HENRIETTA IS WORRIED - CHAPTER XVIII--A STRING OF BLUE BEADS - CHAPTER XIX--SALLIE'S STORY - CHAPTER XX--A JOYFUL SURPRISE - CHAPTER XXI--A GIRL LEAVES SCHOOL - CHAPTER XXII--A MYSTERY CLEARED - CHAPTER XXIII--PIG OR PORK? - CHAPTER XXIV--STILL NO NEWS - CHAPTER XXV--AN EXCITING FATHER - CHAPTER XXVI--HENRIETTA IS MYSTERIOUS - CHAPTER XXVII--SALLIE'S PRESENT - - - - -[Illustration: A twin baby carriage containing weary infants, propelled -by a perspiring young person, was coming in the gate] - - - - -CARROLL W. RANKIN - - The Adopting of Rosa Marie - The Castaways of Pete's Patch - The Cinder Pond - The Girls of Gardenville - Dandelion Cottage - Girls of Highland Hall - - - - -GIRLS OF HIGHLAND HALL - -Further Adventures of the Dandelion Cottagers - -BY CARROLL WATSON RANKIN - -Author of "Dandelion Cottage," "The Girls of -Gardenville," "The Cinder Pond," Etc. - -New York -Henry Holt and Company -1921 - - - - -Copyright, 1921 -BY -HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY - -First printing, August, 1921 -Second printing, May, 1922 -Third printing, September, 1925 - - - - -TO -MRS. CELIA K. NORTHROP - -To whom I am indebted for -much friendly encouragement. - - - - -THE PERSONS OF THE STORY - - Bettie Tucker Once of Dandelion Cottage, - Jean Mapes now of Highland Hall. - Marjory Vale - Mabel Bennett - - Henrietta Bedford Their Best Friend. - - Peter Black Bettie's Best Friend. - - The Rhodes Family Of Highland Hall. - - Miss Woodruff A Stern Teacher. - - Maude Wilder Her Most Incorrigible Pupil. - - Miss Blossom A Timely Flower. - - Madame Bolande Who Bathed in Perfume. - - Gladys de Milligan The Daughter of a Foolish Mother. - - Abbie A Sad Example to All Boarding School Orphans. - - Sallie Dickinson A Boarding School Orphan. - - Elisabeth Wilson The Lofty Seniors. - Eleanor Pratt - Beatrice Holmes - - Victoria Webster A Brave Maiden. - - Isabelle Carew Who Is Sentimental. - - Augusta Lemon A Timid Girl. - - Cora Doyle A Growing Girl. - - Various Teachers, Girls and Fathers--Especially Fathers. - - - - -LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS - - A twin baby carriage containing weary infants, propelled by - a perspiring young person, was coming in the gate - - "My beads!" shrieked Hazel, pouncing on the necklace - - It looked very much as if all the mysteries were solved - - "For goodness' sake keep still," growled Mabel - - - - -GIRLS OF HIGHLAND HALL - - - - -CHAPTER I - -ON THE WAY - - -The time was almost noon of a warm September day. The place was State -Street, Chicago. The persons were six, and four of them were seeing -Chicago for the first time. They walked two by two in a little -procession. There were other persons in State Street too, probably -somewhere between a thousand and a million; but we don't need to worry a -great deal about those others, though of course if they hadn't been -there there would have been more room for our friends. - -This small procession was headed by a well-dressed, moderately stout, -smooth-shaven gentleman with touches of white in his black hair and a -kindly, benevolent expression in his dark eyes and about his fine mouth. -A handsome man and a good man, as any one could see. - -His companion was a little girl of perhaps thirteen years of age. She, -too, had big dark eyes with long lashes; and a nicely shaped mouth. Her -complexion was just exactly right and her short hair curled crisply -about the unusually pleasing countenance. Her name was Bettie and it -seemed to be a very good fit. - -The second couple followed close at the heels of the first, presenting a -curious contrast. One of them, whose name was Jean, was instantly -attractive because of the serene loveliness of her expression. One knew -at a glance that she was a person to be trusted. The girl beside her, -all of two years younger, was very much smaller; a little sprite of a -girl, with bright, gray eyes and quantities of fluffy golden hair. She, -also, was a pretty child. Her small features were shapely and she -looked, as indeed she was, an unusually bright child. She was quick and -graceful in her movements and nothing in the shop windows escaped the -eager, birdlike glance of little Marjory Vale. - -The third couple was erratic in its movements. Sometimes it damaged the -heels of Jean and Marjory by crowding too close. Sometimes it lagged so -far behind--the windows were _most_ attractive--that it had to run to -catch up. One of this couple, Mabel Bennett, was not built for running. -Mabel was the youngest and the broadest of the sextette; but her -undeniable plumpness did not detract from her looks. One couldn't help -liking her honest blue eyes, the wholesome red and white of her fine -complexion, her sturdy, childlike figure, her dependable legs and the -rich bronze of her abundant hair. It was braided this morning in a -thick, uneven braid; from which numerous tendrils that curled in large, -loose, rather becoming rings escaped untidily. One guessed that -inexperienced Mabel had been her own decidedly unskilful hairdresser -that morning. Mabel's partner in the procession was a girl of about -fifteen, so unusual in appearance that strangers turned to look at her. -Dark as a gipsy, with glowing crimson cheeks, bright black eyes with -curling lashes, soft black hair that grew naturally in pleasing curls -neatly tied back with a broad black ribbon; a shapely, graceful figure -possessing to an unusual degree an atmosphere of style. The girls were -all well dressed, mostly in blue serge, but this fifth young person, -Henrietta Bedford, wore _her_ clothes with a different air. One realized -that the serge in her smartly cut frock was a degree finer than that in -Mabel's rumpled middy or in Marjory's very brief skirt. Also Henrietta's -scarlet silken tie was broader, more brilliant and of a heavier texture -than those of the other girls. One could easily see that there were -wealth and generations of cultivation back of Henrietta--and adventures -ahead of her. - -One of the adventures was about to begin, but the kindly man who led the -procession was far from suspecting it. It was Mabel who started this -one. - -"If I see another window just bursting with candy I'll _die_," said -Mabel. "I never _saw_ such windows. I wish I hadn't left my money in my -suitcase." - -"Mr. Black has mine," said Henrietta. "All but a dime that happened to -be loose in my pocket. But I tell you what. We'll dart into the next -candy place and spend that--we can easily catch up. Here, come on in -here." - -The clerk, not realizing that the two girls were in a hurry, finished -leisurely with another customer before attending to Henrietta who was -impatiently tapping the counter with her dime. - -"What's all the rush," drawled the young man, carefully weighing the -pink and white buttercups that Henrietta had chosen. "Catching a train?" - -"Yes," snapped Henrietta. "Don't bother to tie it up. Come on, Mabel, we -must run, now, to catch up. That horrid clerk was dreadfully slow." - -They ran. They caught up with and passed a large number of persons but -not with Jean, nor Marjory of the yellow hair, nor Bettie with the -bobbing curls nor Mr. Black, who had innocently imagined himself -perfectly capable of introducing Chicago to five small maidens from the -wilds of Northern Michigan. - -He had now lost two of them. He had missed them almost immediately and -had turned back to look for them, expecting to find them with their -noses against some fascinating window. And now they were well ahead of -him, screened from his view by hundreds of busy shoppers and running -with might and main. - - - - -CHAPTER II - -PREPARATIONS - - -And now, of course, you will want to know why a round half dozen of -Lakeville's most precious inhabitants should be discovered parading the -streets of Chicago and incidentally losing themselves and each other by -the wayside. - -It was this way. The Lakeville schoolhouse had burned down, nobody could -decide where to build a new one and the places used as temporary -substitutes were unsatisfactory to many of the parents. Moreover, -Mabel's father, the village doctor, had long wanted to go to Germany in -order to study certain branches of surgery--this was before the war, of -course. His wife wanted to go with him but she didn't wish to take -Mabel. - -Miss Jane Higgins, otherwise Aunty Jane, had been intrusted with money -to be devoted to the education of her orphaned niece, little Marjory -Vale. Aunty Jane possessed a conscience that would not rest until that -money was spent for that particular purpose. Then there were -accomplishments that Mrs. Mapes desired for her daughter Jean and that -Mrs. Slater wanted for her granddaughter Henrietta that were not, at -that time, procurable in Lakeville. The solution to all these problems -was boarding school, since the girls were much too young for college. - -Of course Bettie Tucker, their inseparable companion, wished to go too. -But her father, a clergyman with a large family and a small salary, -could see no way to afford what seemed to him an unnecessary outlay; -until Mr. Black, an elderly widower with a young heart and a warm -affection for all children and especially for Bettie, offered generously -to pay all expenses connected with Bettie's education. - -Of course the selecting of a proper school had proved a matter of much -importance and thought. The mothers and Aunty Jane had sent for and -received vast numbers of catalogues, each more fascinating than the -last. Aunty Jane was in favor of something near Boston. Mrs. Bennett -preferred Philadelphia, while Mrs. Mapes showed a partiality for Ohio. - -"I think," said Mrs. Tucker, "that we'd better be guided by Mrs. Slater. -She has traveled a great deal and I'm sure she must have a great many -friends whose daughters have been to boarding school. Let's talk to Mrs. -Slater about it." - -"I agree with you," said all the other parents and Aunty Jane. - -Mrs. Slater had, indeed, a great many friends who had had boarding -school daughters. Also, she too had a tall stack of catalogues. Also she -had, in her own mind, already selected a school for Henrietta. - -"In the first place," said she, when her guests were seated in her -handsome house, "we don't want our little girls too far away from us, so -I am in favor of something near Chicago. In the second place I am -greatly inclined toward the school founded by my old friend Doctor -Rhodes in Hiltonburg. A very fine old gentleman, my dears, with high -ideals and beautiful manners. Highland Hall is perhaps rather an old -fashioned school; but the catalogue states that there is a new gymnasium -and new, up-to-date dormitories. The most charming young woman of my -acquaintance attended that school--Ruth Belding, her name was. Dr. -Rhodes, I assure you, is a wonderful man, splendidly educated, highly -cultured and charming in every way. His teachers are chosen with the -greatest care and only really nice girls are admitted to his school. -There are more expensive schools and some cheaper ones--I had been -thinking of consulting you about this very matter." - -"It sounds all right to me," said Mrs. Bennett. - -"I _had_ thought of that Painesville place," said Mrs. Mapes, "but -Hiltonburg is certainly nearer home--though any place is far enough from -Northern Michigan." - -"Of course there's no place like Boston," said Aunty Jane, who had been -born in the East, "but Marjory _could_ get home from this Hiltonburg -place for her Christmas vacation." - -"I haven't any particular choice," said Mrs. Tucker. "Anything that -meets with Mr. Black's approval will be all right for Bettie." - -"Then," said Mrs. Slater, "we'd better write at once to Doctor Rhodes. -He may not have room." - -Doctor Rhodes replied very promptly. There _was_ room and he would be -very glad indeed to enroll five new pupils from Lakeville. The mothers -and Aunty Jane were glad to have the matter settled. It did not occur to -any of them, least of all to Mrs. Slater, that charming Ruth Belding was -no longer a very young woman and that considerable time had elapsed -since she had been graduated from Hiltonburg. - -The five girls had spent a wonderful summer camping in the woods with -Mr. Black and his good old sister, Mrs. Crane. On their return, all the -dressmakers in the village had been kept busy for a bewildering -fortnight outfitting the lively youngsters with suitable garments for -school. From a mountain of catalogues, the busy parents selected and -studied long lists of articles needed by prospective pupils at various -schools. Then they bought trunks and filled them. Jean, Mabel, Marjory -and Henrietta began to prattle of clothes. - -"My silk stockings have come," said Henrietta. "Two pairs for very best -and Grandmother has sent to New York for my hat." - -"I have my first silk petticoat," said Jean. "Mother ordered it from -Chicago." - -"I have two new middy blouses from Detroit," confided Mabel. "The -Chicago ones were not big enough." - -"Aunty Jane sent to Boston for my coat," said Marjory. "It's all lined -with satin." - -Bettie said never a word. - -"Say, Bettie," demanded Mabel, "how's _your_ trunk coming?" - -"It isn't," returned Bettie, soberly. "The baby has been sick and Mother -hasn't been able to do a thing. I've darned two pairs of stockings and -taken the hem out of an old petticoat--and that's all. I'm--I'm getting -worried." - -Suddenly Bettie's lip quivered and Jean noticed it. Now, Jean was -thoughtful beyond her years and she knew that the Tuckers had very -little money to spend for clothes. When she reached home, still -wondering where Bettie's wardrobe was to come from, she found her mother -entertaining Mr. Black's stout middle-aged sister, Mrs. Crane. - -"Well, Jeanie girl," said Mrs. Crane, "I've been admiring your new silk -petticoat. I suppose you are all just about ready for school." - -"Bettie isn't," returned Jean, soberly. "I've been thinking about it all -the way home. Mrs. Tucker never _was_ very smart about Bettie's clothes, -you know, and of course they haven't any money. The things that come out -of missionary boxes never do seem to be just right. I don't see where -Bettie's outfit is coming from." - -"Bless my soul!" cried Mrs. Crane, "I'm just an old idiot. And so is -Peter. Here is this blessed old goose of a brother of mine sending -Bettie off to school for a year and neither of us thinking that she'd -need clothes. What ought she to have, Mrs. Mapes? You make out the list -and I'll get the things. Why! I'd just _love_ to do it." - -Left to herself, it is to be feared that Mrs. Crane would have done -fearful things. Her mind ran to gay plaids with red predominating; and -at first she talked much of materials for pinafores--a species of garment -in vogue in her own remote youth; but with much sound advice from Mrs. -Mapes it was not long before Bettie's wardrobe compared very well with -Jean's. - -Mrs. Crane, however, indulged in a few wild purchases that satisfied her -love for color and greatly amused Henrietta. There was a gay plaid dress -with brass buttons, a pair of bright blue stockings, some red mittens, a -wonderful knitted scarf of many hues, a purple workbag and at least four -strings of gaudy beads. Fortunately, there were plenty of garments -without these and Bettie declared that Mrs. Crane's queer purchases made -the dark depths of her big trunk quite bright and cheerful. - -"As for my trunk," laughed happy Bettie, "it's big enough to live in and -it's all mine forever and ever." - - - - -CHAPTER III - -LOST - - -But it is high time we were returning to Chicago to look after the lost -Lakeville children. - -"I think they might have waited for us," panted Mabel, no longer able to -run. "They might have known we'd get lost." - -"It wasn't their fault," said Henrietta. "I should have asked them to -wait. But that's just like me. I'm always doing things on the spur of -the moment and then wishing I hadn't." - -"If we only knew where they were going to eat--" - -"But we don't. Mr. Black said that as long as our train was late getting -in and we had missed our connection with the Hiltonburg train that we'd -just check our baggage to the other station and walk about until time -for lunch. After that we'd go some place to look at something--I've -forgotten just what--and leave for Hiltonburg at three o'clock." - -"I wish I had my lunch right now," wailed Mabel, dragging her hat into -place and stuffing loose locks under it. "I'm hungry and I'm thirsty and -my new shoes hurt my feet. It's awfully noisy here and I don't like -being lost. I don't _like_ it--" - -"Mabel," warned Henrietta, "if you cry, I'll run away and leave you here -and then you'll be a lot more lost than you are now. I'm just as much -lost as you are, even if I _have_ been in Chicago before. We'll go along -until we see a restaurant with ladies eating in it and _we'll_ go in and -eat--" - -"But we haven't any money," objected Mabel, dismally. - -"If I remember rightly," said Henrietta, after a moment's deep thought, -"they don't ask for your money until _after_ you've eaten. I think I -know of a way to fix it. Wait a minute until I tidy you up a little. -There are three dabs of soot on your face and your hair is all over the -place. Of course we want to look as if we _had_ money." - -"You always do," said Mabel, "but I don't." - -"Still," consoled Henrietta, "you always look as if you'd had meals--as -many as four or five a day." - -"But," questioned Mabel, "are you _sure_ it's all right?" - -"Of course. I told you I knew a way to fix it. Here's a place right -here--not very big but the folks look all right. Stand up straight and -don't look so scared. There, that's better." - -They were inside. The waiter held up two fingers and escorted them to a -table. They sat down and Henrietta leisurely removed her gloves. Mabel's -had been removed--and lost--for some hours. - -"We might as well have a _good_ meal," remarked Henrietta, studying the -_menu_. "Of course, if Mr. Black were paying for it I'd leave the choice -to him; but as long as he isn't we'll choose what we like. Let's begin -with cream of celery soup. Then how would you like chicken _a la king_ -and shrimp salad, creamed cauliflower, French fried potatoes--and ice -cream for dessert?" - -"That's all right for me," agreed Mabel, visibly cheering up, "only I -like the looks of the green corn that man is eating over there; and the -waiter just went by with a big tray of fluffy things--" - -"French pastry. We can have some of that, too." - -They enjoyed their meal. Being lost wasn't half bad when the salad was -so delicious, the chicken so tender, the rolls so delightfully crisp, -the corn so sweet, the service so excellent. Besides her ice cream, -Mabel ate two varieties of French pastry and was sorry that Henrietta -didn't urge her to try more when there were so many kinds. But Henrietta -was putting on her gloves. - -Henrietta picked up the slip, carried it to the cashier's desk and -remarked, calmly: "Charge it, please, to Mrs. Howard Slater." - -"But, my dear girl," objected the cashier, "we don't charge meals. This -is a cash place." - -"Oh, is it?" said Henrietta, flushing slightly. "I'm sorry for that. You -see, we _haven't_ any cash. But if you will send the bill to my -grandmother, of course she will pay it." - -"It's a pretty big bill," remarked the young woman with suspicion. "I -think I'd better call the manager. Mr. Hobbs--Oh, Mr. Hobbs! Step here a -moment please." - -Mr. Hobbs "stepped here." The young woman explained. - -"Mrs. Slater of this city?" he asked. - -"No," returned Henrietta; "of Lakeville, Michigan." - -"How do I know she'll pay this?" - -"Oh, she will," exclaimed both girls at once. "She always does." - -"Well, you look as if she did," said the man, who had taken in all the -details of Henrietta's well made costume. "If you'll give me her address -and write a little note to go with the bill, I'll let you go this time. -This--this isn't a regular performance, is it?" - -"Oh, no," assured Henrietta. "We just happened to get separated from our -friends and they had all the money; but I knew it would be all right." - -"I hope it is," said the manager, a little later, as he addressed an -envelope to Mrs. Slater. "Those children certainly ate a square meal." - -In the meantime, perplexed Mr. Black gathered what remained of his flock -as close to him as possible, looked anxiously up and down the street and -wondered what to do. - -"If we stay right here," said Jean, "they may catch up." - -"If we go back for a couple of blocks," said Marjory, "we may find -them." - -"Perhaps," suggested Bettie, "they passed us when we stopped to look at -those clocks." - -"It's time we were having our lunch," said Mr. Black. "Suppose we walk -back and forth the length of this block--we _must_ find those girls." - -"Couldn't we ask that policeman if he had seen two girls, one fat and -one very dark?" asked Marjory. - -They could and they did, but the policeman hadn't. He looked indeed as -if he had never condescended to see anything below the level of his own -lofty chin. - -"Now what," asked worried Mr. Black, taking off his hat and mopping his -forehead, "would _you_ do, girls, if _you_ were lost?" - -"I'd die," said Marjory. - -"I'd telegraph my father," said Bettie. - -"I'd remember that I was going to Hiltonburg on the three o'clock -train," said Jean, "and I'd ask a policeman how to get to the station." - -"Good," said Mr. Black. "Would either of those girls think of that?" - -"Mabel wouldn't," replied Jean, "but Henrietta might. She has traveled a -lot you know. She's been in London, New York, Paris, San Francisco, -Washington, Boston and even in Chicago--but not for very long. Still, she -knows a lot more about cities than _we_ do. She has stayed in -hotels--perhaps she'll go to one." - -"But--had she any money? Had Mabel?" - -"Mabel's mother didn't give her very much," said Jean. "She always loses -it. What she had she packed in her suitcase." - -"And I have Henrietta's," mourned Mr. Black. "Poor girls! They are -frightened half to death and hungry too. They had an early breakfast, -poor things. I should have kept an eye on them every moment." - -"Just one eye wouldn't have been enough for Henrietta," remarked Bettie. -"She darts about like a humming bird. There's one thing certain. They're -not in this block." - -"We'll walk back and forth for twenty minutes longer," said Mr. Black. -"Then we'll get something to eat. After that we'll go to the station." - -Owing to very slow service, it was almost two o'clock before they -finished their meal. There was another delay when they tried to find a -taxicab. After that they were held up twice by congested traffic and the -anxious girls began to fear that they might be late for the three -o'clock train; but they were not. - -Mr. Black was quite pale and haggard from anxiety when at last they -reached the station. He gave an audible sigh of relief when two girls -seated just inside the waiting room door, hopped up and grabbed his coat -tails to halt his rapid stride through the station. - -"Oh, Mr. Black," squealed Mabel. "We're here. We walked all the way and -we asked a policeman on every corner to make sure we were getting to the -right place. I used to think I ought to run if I saw a policeman but I -guess they're pretty useful if you're good--only I wasn't. It was all my -fault. I went into a store to buy candy." - -"It was mine, too," said Henrietta. "I should have known better. I just -didn't think--I never do. I'm awfully sorry." - -"Well, well," returned Mr. Black, "I'm certainly glad you were capable -enough to get to the right station. Now take hold of hands, all of you, -and Bettie, you hold on to my coat like grim death. We must buy our -tickets, re-check our baggage and get aboard our train." - - - - -CHAPTER IV - -FIRST IMPRESSIONS - - -Even a very unobserving person would have been able to see at a glance -that Highland Hall had begun life as a private residence. Originally a -big square house built of cream colored brick and generously supplied -with large windows and many balconies, it was perched in solitary -grandeur at the top of a broad, grassy knoll; but when it became a -school red brick additions, four stories high, extended toward the north -and west. An enormous and very ugly veranda stretched along the entire -length of one of these additions. From it a broad flight of twelve wide -steps led to the ground. - -Doctor Rhodes and his family lived in part of the old mansion. His -office was there on the ground floor in a room that had once been the -dining room. The original parlor, a huge oblong room with a very high -ceiling, and the dark and rather dingy library back of it were still -unchanged. - -Most of the second, third and fourth floors of the large modern wings -contained bedrooms. The school rooms, music rooms and studio occupied -the ground floor. New pupils always complained that there were miles and -miles of dark hallways and corridors in which to get lost. - -The kitchen, dining hall and laundry were in the basement. - -There were no houses visible from three sides of the school building. -From the fourth side, however, one could see the dark roofs of other -ancient houses falling into decay, each with its huge yard, its -overgrown hedge, its unkempt shrubbery. Beyond that, nearly a mile -distant, the red town of Hiltonburg glistened in the sunshine. - -Somewhere between five and six o'clock that September afternoon, the -station hack stopped on the curved driveway in front of Highland Hall. -Mr. Black and his five charges alighted. This spectacle afforded much -interest to some three dozen maidens clustered in pairs and groups on -the front steps and on the wide veranda. To the embarrassed newcomers -these girls seemed to be all eyes. Never had the children from Lakeville -encountered so many curious eyes. There _couldn't_ have been more than -seventy-two but it seemed more like seventy-two thousand, Bettie said -afterwards. - -Mr. Black addressed one of the nearest groups. "Can you direct me," he -asked, "to Doctor Rhodes?" - -"Yes, Sir," said a little girl with smooth, brown hair, rising promptly -and leading the way inside. "He's probably in the office, but if he -isn't I'll find him for you." - -"Ah," said Doctor Rhodes, who _was_ in his office, rising from his -chair, "the five young ladies from Lakeville, I take it?" - -"Yes," returned Mr. Black. - -"Most of our flock arrived day before yesterday," said Doctor Rhodes, -shaking hands all around, "but you are still in very good season. And -what is better, you are just in time for dinner. If Miss--Ah, I don't -remember your name--" - -"Jane," supplied the little girl. - -"Ah, yes, Miss Jane. If you will inform Mrs. Rhodes she will show the -young ladies their rooms so they can--er--wash up a little if necessary. -You, Mr. Black, may come with me." - -Mrs. Rhodes appeared presently and the girls were introduced. They -didn't like Mrs. Rhodes. She was a tall, very slender, very upright old -woman in an unnatural state of tidiness, with evenly-waved white hair -parted exactly in the middle, a wrinkled white skin and glittering black -eyes set in narrow slits. Her unsmiling mouth, too, was a narrow slit. -Her expression was severe. She was really rather a frosty and -blood-curdling old lady to look at but on this occasion she proved a -good guide, surprisingly nimble for her years. She led them to the -second floor, through a wide arch that led to a long corridor. There -were doors down each side of this and a window at the end. Here she -paused to consult a note book that she had taken from her pocket. - -"Number twenty. Miss Vale, Miss Bedford in here. Miss Tucker, Miss Mapes -in twenty-two. Miss Bennett in twenty-four with Miss Isabelle Carew." - -"Oh!" gasped Mabel, "couldn't I stay with the others?" - -"No," returned Mrs. Rhodes. "I have arranged for you to room with Miss -Carew of Kentucky. I'm quite sure you will like her." - -Half an hour later, the five girls were led to the dining room and -seated at one of several long tables. Mr. Black they perceived at a -distance--a tremendous distance it seemed--at Doctor Rhodes's own table. - -"There's custard pie, tonight," whispered the girl next to Henrietta. -Not a pretty girl, but her face was alive with mischief and Henrietta -liked her at once. "I saw pies and pies cooling in the basement window -when I crawled under the veranda to see what they kept in there. Grand -place to hide. What's your name? Mine's Maude Wilder and I live in -Chicago. My room's in the West Dormitory too, so you'll see a lot of -me." - -"I'm glad of that," said Henrietta. - -"The three girls over there with the fancy hair are Seniors. The other -big girls at that table are Juniors. They don't mix very much with the -rest of us." - -"Won't you have a biscuit?" asked a gentle voice at Bettie's right. "I'm -Sarah Dickinson--Sallie for short." - -Bettie looked at Sallie. She saw a slender girl of about fifteen, with -dark blue, rather sad eyes, light brown hair and a pale skin. Her -shoulders drooped a little and there was something rather pathetic about -her smile. The blue collar of her middy blouse was very much faded. This -was very noticeable because, just at the beginning of the term as it -was, nearly all the garments in sight were brand new. - -"Are you a new girl?" asked Bettie. - -"I'm the _oldest_ girl," returned Sallie. "I've been here, vacations and -all, for five years. I haven't any home of my own." - -Later, Bettie learned more about Sallie. Her mother had died when Sallie -was about nine years old. For a time she had lived alone with her father -but he had decided that she would be better off in a girls' school. An -old man, her grandfather, perhaps, had brought her to Highland Hall, -paying her tuition for one year in advance. Something had happened to -her father. When the school year was finished it was discovered that -Sallie had no home to go to, her relatives having somehow disappeared. -Anne Blodgett, a last year's girl who told Bettie about it, was not very -sure of her facts. Anyway, the housekeeper had allowed her to stay -because the little girl seemed likely to prove useful--there were many -errands to do in a house like that. - -She was still staying and still proving useful; but the kindly -housekeeper had departed and stern Mrs. Rhodes had apparently taken the -housekeeper's place. Sallie was kept busier than ever. She sometimes -seemed a bit dazed and bewildered and just a little bit down-hearted; -but at first she had very little to say about herself. - -Mr. Black departed very soon after dinner. The girls were permitted to -walk to the last corner of the school premises with him. There they -clung to him tearfully and begged him to make a great many business -trips to Chicago in order to visit them at Highland Hall. - -"I know," sobbed Bettie, "that we're going to be homesick. I'm homesick -_now_. It's so _different_. All those strange girls and that awful Mrs. -Rhodes." - -"And me with a strange roommate," wailed Mabel, also in tears. "And I -don't even know what she looks like." - -"You'll be so busy studying that you won't have time to miss Lakeville," -assured Mr. Black. "Now run back like good girls so I can catch my -train. I'll send you a great big box of candy from Chicago tomorrow and -new friends will flock about you like flies." - -Before many hours had passed, Mabel discovered that a strange roommate -was not so bad after all because Isabelle Carew of Kentucky had arrived -two days earlier and knew when to go to bed, when to get up, where to -find the class rooms and most important of all, the dining room. Mabel -thoroughly enjoyed imparting her new knowledge to her Lakeville friends. - -Each day, they discovered, was divided into sections of forty minutes -each, and each section was filled to the brim. A bell rang every forty -minutes--Sallie had to ring it. - -"And my goodness!" said weary Mabel, during visiting hour, when the five -friends were stretched at length across Henrietta's narrow bed, "it's -just awful to jump up and do something different every time that bell -rings." - -"Never mind," soothed Henrietta, "we don't have to do a single thing -from three in the afternoon until six, except on walking days. We don't -have to go to gym from two to three unless we want to. We don't have to -study evenings unless we like but except on dancing nights we have to -stay in our own rooms and keep quiet in case anybody _does_ want to -study." - -"Or rest," groaned Mabel. - -"There's kind of a woodsy grove over that way--south, I guess," said -Jean. "We can go as far as the road, Cora says. She's that thin girl -with freckles--an old girl. Sometimes you can find nuts; and, in the -spring, there are lots of wild flowers." - -"Spring will never get here," groaned Marjory. - -"We aren't allowed to go to town at all," said Jean, "except sometimes -to lectures and concerts at the Theological Seminary, and there's a -regular shopping day sometimes. Cora says it isn't a bit like it was -here last year--a great many things have been changed. All the teachers, -for one thing. There's a secret. Something happened, but she says that -Doctor Rhodes took all the old girls into his office as soon as they -came and made them promise not to tell the new girls--or anybody." - -"The teachers," said Henrietta, "are a bunch of freaks and as near as I -can make out most of them are related to Doctor Rhodes. I had physical -geography from his poor old cousin, Emily Rhodes; and a music lesson -from his daughter, Julia Rhodes." - -"His daughter-in-law, Mrs. Henry Rhodes, teaches painting and -needlework," said Jean. "She's rather pleasant, _I_ think." - -"Anyway," said Mabel, "that French teacher isn't related. And I don't -think Miss Woodruff is." - -Marjory sat up suddenly and giggled. - -"What's the joke?" demanded Henrietta. - -"Mabel made friends with Miss Woodruff this morning in mathematics. She -is just about the tallest and stoutest person you ever did see. Mabel -asked her if she hadn't been teaching a great many years. Miss Woodruff -said, 'Why, no; how old do you think I am?' Mabel looked her up and down -carefully and said: 'About seventy-five.'" - -"Oh, Mabel!" - -"Well," confessed Mabel, "I honestly didn't see how anybody _could_ grow -to such a size in _less_ than seventy-five years. Why! She's the very -biggest woman I _ever_ saw." - -"She'll have it in for you," laughed Henrietta. - -"I like Sallie Dickinson," said Bettie. "But I'm sort of sorry for her, -too. She has to give out all the mail because she's the only person who -never gets any and she has to help in the kitchen sometimes, cleaning -silver and things like that. And ringing that horrid bell. It isn't any -wonder her legs are so thin--always running up and down stairs and -through all those long halls." - -"I like Maude Wilder," said Jean. "She's full of fun and she throws -stones just like a boy." - -"I don't care about Isabelle," confessed Mabel. "She says she's -_engaged_." - -"Engaged!" squealed Marjory. "How old is she?" - -"About fifteen. She says southern girls are _always_ engaged. She talked -about nothing but boys last night and she says she's afraid she's -falling in love with the history teacher--Mr. James Carter." - -"I saw him," said Henrietta. "I should think if _any_ man were perfectly -safe from being fallen in love with, he _was_. He's an ugly, -near-sighted little brute with black whiskers and shabby shoes--another -relative of Doctor Rhodes, Maude says. I guess Isabelle is just -naturally sentimental like a silly maid Grandmother had once. She'll -have a sweet time getting sympathy out of Mabel, won't she?" - -"She's writing sort of a continued letter to her Clarence," laughed -unsentimental Mabel. "He's a silly looking thing, too. I saw his picture -in her locket. She wears it night and day." - -"I suppose," teased Henrietta, "you're going to write to Laddie -Lombard?" - -"Of course I am, but that's different. He's just a regular boy--not a -_beau_." - -"It's time we were dressing for dinner," said Jean, prodding her lazy -companions. "We should have been outdoors all this time." - -"I'm worried about dinner," confessed Mabel. "Sallie says that beginning -with tonight we have to ask for everything in French and I don't know -enough French to ask for a stewed prune." - -"You don't have to," laughed Bettie, "we have those for breakfast." - -"It's all right anyway," said Marjory. "Cora says that the girls at our -table have a secret code--Maude invented it as soon as she heard about -the French. This is it. You punch your next door neighbor once for -bread, twice for butter, three times for pickles, four times for -potatoes. One pinch means sugar and two pinches for cream. We never get -any more meat anyway so there isn't anything for that. Of course you -mustn't get your pinches and punches mixed up. But isn't that a grand -scheme for beginners in French?" - -"Ye-es," admitted Mabel, doubtfully, "but you see, I sit next to Miss -Woodruff. What if I forget and punch her?" - - - - -CHAPTER V - -NEW ACQUAINTANCES - - -The French teacher, Madame Celeste Bolande, was easily the most -interesting of all the teachers. She afforded the girls a vast deal of -amusement as well as much annoyance. As a topic of conversation she was -inexhaustible. She was truly wonderful to look at but the snapshots that -the Miller girls took of her failed to do her justice. - -"Doctor Rhodes must have ordered her by mail," said Cora Doyle, after -her first French lesson with the new teacher. "Phew! I'm glad to get -outdoors. She was fairly drenched with perfume." - -"Yes," agreed Debbie Clark. "Doctor Rhodes couldn't have seen her first -or he never would have taken her. What's that stuff about a pig in a -poke? Well, that's how he got her. I'm sure _she_ isn't a relative, even -by marriage." - -Madame Bolande was really amazing to look at and if the girls spoke of -her disrespectfully it was not surprising. No properly brought up little -girl _could_ have respected that astonishing lady. Nature had been kind -to her; she might have been entirely pleasing to the eye, but for -several reasons she was not. She had quantities of black hair, -apparently all her own, but it was always greasy and untidy as if it -were never washed or brushed or combed. It hung about her face in oily -loops that had a way of breaking loose at odd moments, at which times -Madame would pin them carelessly in place and go on with the lesson. - -Sometimes she wore so-called laced shoes, sometimes buttoned ones. -However, most of the time they were neither laced nor buttoned. Whether -she wore black stockings with large holes in them or soiled white ones, -they were constantly coming down. It was a perpetual joy to the girls to -see her reach down, casually, to haul the slipping stocking back into -place. As Madame sat at a small table in the center of the class room, -with the girls on a long bench against the wall, this amusing operation, -though it took place beneath the table, was always plainly visible. - -Buttons were missing from her tight-fitting black frock, showing many -hued undergarments not supposed to be seen. Bits of ragged petticoats -always dangled below the bottom of her skirt. Her neck, her ears and her -finger nails were visibly dirty. - -Madame's face, however, was quite a different matter. Her shapely -countenance, from ear to ear, from brow to chin, was carefully plastered -with powder, her cheeks and lips were rouged and a dab of blue decorated -each eyelid. But, with the exception of her rather handsome face, her -whole person was woefully neglected. - -As a horrible example, Madame proved decidedly useful. No girl _could_ -look upon that lady and fail to bathe. No girl _could_ note that lady's -dangling petticoats of green or cerise silk or soiled white cotton with -torn lace and fail to fasten her own neat underskirt securely into -place. Even Mabel, it was noticed, began at once to take pains to braid -her own troublesome locks more tidily. - -"It isn't because she's _poor_," said Henrietta. "I've seen lots of poor -people right in France and most of them are just as neat as wax; and so -clever about making the most of what they have. And it isn't because she -doesn't have _time_ to mend her clothes or to bathe or wash her hair. -She has all her afternoons and evenings, except when she has papers to -correct--_that_ doesn't take so very much of her time." - -"She's just naturally that way," said Anne Blodgett, sagely. - -"She bathes in perfume," explained Sallie. - -"It's the one thing she does bathe in," breathed Anne. - -"Well," laughed Sallie, "she has enough to fill a _small_ bathtub. There -are ten bottles on her dresser and you know how horribly she smells of -the stuff. Isn't she just awful! She never makes her bed or hangs up her -clothes and she smokes cigarettes--they're all over the place. She -doesn't even do that like a lady." - -"Oh, she _isn't_ a lady," said Henrietta. "Was she here last year?" - -"No," returned Sallie, "she's as new as you are." - -Henrietta and the French teacher were enemies from the beginning. -Henrietta, having lived in France and having had an excellent French -governess for a number of years, could chatter in French like a little -magpie. Madame chattered too and Henrietta made a discovery. Madame's -French was ungrammatical. Madame was distinctly uneducated and decidedly -lower class--no fit instructor for a girls' school. Yet at first Madame -behaved circumspectly; although she told fascinating tales of life in -Paris, there was much that she did not tell. She barely hinted at -romantic incidents in her own life. Her husband had been a milliner. -They had come to the States where after two years death had descended -upon her so noble Alphonse, and it had become necessary for Madame to -teach "in some pig of a school" in order to earn money so that she might -in time return to her so beautiful France. - -Madame Bolande knew that Henrietta was aware of all her shortcomings as -a teacher; for Henrietta frequently pointed out Madame's sometimes -laughable errors. Naturally, the Frenchwoman both hated and feared "That -so bad Mees Henrietta," and that young person was quite unable to -respect her teacher; so there were lively sessions in class when mocking -Henrietta goaded Madame so nearly to frenzy that Madame fairly shrieked -with rage. All this resulted in exceedingly bad marks for Henrietta, who -really deserved good ones for her French and very bad ones for her -conduct; but Madame did not discriminate. She gave her the very blackest -marks she could fish from the depths of her ink bottle. - -Miss Woodruff, on the other hand, bathed frequently in real water, wore -her smooth hair in the neatest of knobs and was undoubtedly a well -educated woman; and, in some ways, an excellent teacher. She taught -English and mathematics, for instance, in a way to inspire respect for -her deep knowledge; but her manner of doing it was frequently -unpleasant. The girls frankly hated her at times because she heaped -ridicule upon them when they failed. She was often cold and cuttingly -sarcastic when a little sympathy would perhaps have accomplished more. - -Day after day, Bettie, who was stupid anyway in mathematics, quailed -under the large lady's biting sarcasm and grew more and more confused as -to numbers; until, as she put it afterwards, she didn't know whether she -was shingling a ceiling or plastering a roof with nineteen quarts of ice -cream picked from twenty-seven apple trees, at three cents a yard. - -Maude Wilder, who liked Bettie, and who had suffered considerably on her -own account, eyed Miss Woodruff balefully and plotted revenge. - -The girls loved Maude. She wasn't a pretty girl, but her pale brown eyes -with amber lights in them twinkled delightfully and the corners of her -mouth crinkled easily into whimsical smiles. Almost anything amused -Maude and she was quite apt to become amused at the wrong moment. Also -she was able to amuse other persons. - -The pupils at Highland Hall were supposed to respond to roll call each -morning with a French phrase--a different one each day. Miss Woodruff -stood at her desk on the platform, listening intently; while all the -pupils sat demurely at _their_ desks, also listening. - -Maude had one phrase--and _only_ one. She made it do the work of a great -many. With a twinkle in her eye, day after day, Maude folded her hands -demurely and responded blandly: "_Nous avons des raisins blancs et noirs -mais pas de cerises._" (We have white and black grapes but no cherries.) - -"But, Maude," Miss Woodruff would say, "that is very good but I shall -expect a different phrase tomorrow. You've used that one long enough." - -"Yes, Ma'am," Maude would reply, meekly. - -But the next morning, to the unfailing delight of all the pupils, this -incorrigible young imp would respond seriously and even more blandly -with the same timeworn and utterly foolish phrase. - -If Maude ever learned another word of French no one ever discovered it. -Indeed, Maude was so busy being funny that she had little time for -study. - -It was Maude, too, who daily stole a pie from the pantry window sill -under the front porch. Maude having discovered a hole in the lattice -work near the steps, crawled in one day to investigate. She found -numerous pies cooling on the broad sill. She ate one hurriedly and it -made her ill. One pie, a large pie at that, was plainly too much for one -girl. After that she always took a companion under the porch with her -and generously divided the stolen pie. Sometimes the companion was -Henrietta; sometimes it was Marjory, once it was Bettie--but Bettie's -conscience troubled her and she wouldn't go again. Unhappily, the only -time that one could be sure of capturing a pie was during the morning -recess, a matter of only fifteen minutes. As the pies were always red -hot at that time it required courage to bolt them. The mince pies were -especially trying, for there is nothing much hotter than a hot raisin. - -Maude never was discovered; but long afterwards the girls wondered if -she hadn't made some secret arrangement with the cook. She was quite -capable of it for Maude was nothing if not resourceful. And the cook was -a good natured person. - - - - -CHAPTER VI - -GETTING SETTLED - - -After the first busy and exciting weeks when everything was new and a -little terrifying, the girls settled down to regular work and, at times -to a rather dull life, so sometimes very small events loomed quite large -to their young eyes. Of course there were letters from home. And there -was no more thrilling moment in the day than that in which Sallie -Dickinson appeared on the school platform, at the close of the two -o'clock session, with the old brown mail bag under her arm. - -Sallie's blouses were old and faded and her skirt had seen better days -but little Jane Pool declared that the post-girl always looked just like -an angel when she stepped in through the doorway with that dingy bag. - -And of course the girls wrote letters, large numbers of them, to the -persons on their writing lists. Some of them liked to write letters and -wrote very fat ones. Some of them, like Mabel for instance, hated to -write letters and wrote very thin ones. One rainy afternoon, the -freckled girl, Cora Doyle, regaled her friends with a distressing tale. - -"Do you know," said she, from her perch on Jean's window sill, "I -believe Dr. Rhodes _reads_ our letters before he sends them. Mine are -always late getting to my folks and I've seen heaps of letters stacked -up in his office for days at a time. And one evening I went in to ask -for a piece of courtplaster for Ruth Dennis's thumb and all those Rhodes -people were around a table doing something to a lot of mail." - -"Perhaps," said Jean, who knew that Cora was apt to make mountains out -of molehills, "they were just looking to see if they were stamped or -properly addressed. You know they have to bring them back to us -sometimes for reasons like that." - -"I don't know," returned Cora. "Things are queer and different this -year. I'd like to, but I can't tell you why." - -"_Do_ tell us," begged Henrietta. - -"No, I can't. I promised not to." - -"There's one thing," said Jean, "that surprises me. Doctor Rhodes isn't -a bit like a school teacher. And when he talks to us in the school room -as he sometimes does when he has anything to announce like new rules or -a lecture or a concert in the village, he often uses the wrong word or -mispronounces a word, as if--well, as if he weren't used to making -speeches in very good English." - -"I think he gets rattled," said little Jane Pool, sagely. - -"Somehow," said Marjory, "I don't exactly like Doctor Rhodes. I don't -exactly _believe_ in him." - -"I don't quite like him, either," declared Henrietta, who had washed her -wonderful mop of hair and was drying it with a large bathtowel. "I'm -surprised at my Grandmother for saying such nice things about him. When -there are visitors he seems so oily and so smooth; and it seems to me -that he is extra polite to those Miller girls--all the world uses their -father's soap, you know--but when he asks Sallie to do errands he doesn't -even say please. And Mrs. Rhodes is always gliding about like the ghost -of Hamlet's Father. She looks as if she were listening with all her -features. But she never _says_ a thing to us, even when she catches us -slipping around through the corridors after lights are out." - -"I'm glad she doesn't," said Marjory. "She _looks_ all the things she -doesn't say." - -"After all," said Jean, sagely, "they might be a lot worse." - -The next day was Sunday and Sundays were quite different from all the -other days. In the morning the girls always marched two by two to church -a long mile away, where they sat in the front pews with their eyes fixed -upon the clergyman. This often proved a trying ordeal for that gentleman -because this particular church had no regular rector. Instead, each -Sunday, a student from the Theological Seminary just north of the -village offered up home made prayers and stammered forth his first -sermon before the long suffering members of that little church. Each -successive student, it seemed, was more bashful than the last; and if -any one of those blushing young preachers had ever learned to deliver a -sermon, he promptly forgot all he knew, when, for the first time, he -faced a congregation. There was one thing, however, that all these -stuttering young men _could_ do and that was to perspire copiously and -continuously. No matter how many impressive gestures the preacher might -have practised at home beforehand, he used only one while he occupied -that pulpit. With handkerchief clutched firmly in his shaking right -hand, he mopped and mopped and mopped his dripping brow. - -While the girls couldn't help being amused, they were always sorry for -the tortured youths. - -"You wouldn't think," said Cora, after one of these painful ordeals, -"that they'd be afraid to face thirty or forty girls but they always -are. Just as soon as their eyes light on those ten pews full of Highland -Hall girls, their carefully prepared words take flight, and I guess -_they'd_ like to, too." - -"They seem to find it almost as hard to pass the plate," laughed -Henrietta. "When they get to us their knees begin to wobble." - -"It's because we stare at those poor creatures so unmercifully," said -Jean. "Even a real minister would be embarrassed, I should think." - -"I'm sorry for them, too," said Bettie, "but they _are_ funny. Of course -they have to learn to preach if they're going to be ministers, but it -seems cruel to make them do it that way." - -"Just like dumping puppies into cold water to teach them to swim," said -Marjory. - -"It isn't very much like our kind of church," complained Bettie. "It's -too entertaining. We're Episcopalians and _our_ ministers don't _have_ -to learn how to make their own prayers--the folks that make them know -how." - -"Yes," said Jean, "we're all getting lonesome for our own kind of -services. That's one thing we miss." - -"Well, then," said Sallie Dickinson, "I have some good news for you. In -about four weeks more the new Episcopal Church will be ready for use and -you can go there. Miss Woodruff and Mrs. Henry Rhodes are Episcopalians, -so perhaps we'll _all_ go. We used to go to the old church before it was -torn down." - -"I think," said Henrietta, demurely, "we ought to come back to this -church once in a while just to keep those poor Theologs perspiring. Miss -Woodruff says perspiring is necessary to good health." - -The Sunday dinners were apt to be rather good; there was usually -chicken. - -"But," complained Mabel, after one of these chicken dinners, "I don't -see why I have to get all the lizzers and gizzers." - -"What!" gasped Maude. - -"Givers and lizzers; no, gizzers and lizards," sputtered Mabel. "I -_always_ get them." - -"She means livers and gizzards," explained Jean. - -Sunday afternoons dragged. The girls could walk within bounds but that -was not particularly exciting. On week days they usually gathered nuts -in the grove--if one threw enough sticks it was possible to knock down a -hickory nut or two most any day; or explored an ancient garden in which -there were old apple trees. But in Sunday frocks and Sunday shoes it was -wiser to stick to the sidewalks, so the girls strolled about and -gossiped. It was truly surprising how much they found to talk about. - -Sometimes on rainy Sunday afternoons, Henrietta gathered a flock of the -younger girls about her on the wide front staircase, a dim, spooky, -black walnutty place with a vast dark space overhead, and told thrilling -tales. That was one thing that Henrietta could do to perfection. - -But Sunday evenings at Highland Hall were almost invariably harrowing. -The girls gathered about the piano in the big, chilly drawing room and -sang familiar hymns and wept. - -Sallie Dickinson wept because she hadn't any home. The rest of them wept -because they had. Still, Sunday after Sunday evening they sang the same -sorrowful hymns because it seemed the proper thing to do, and then -retired sniffling and snuffling to their narrow, single beds. - -"They _like_ it," declared Mrs. Henry Rhodes. "Boarding school girls -always do it, and they wouldn't do it if they didn't enjoy it." - -There was one Sunday evening, however, when the gloom was somewhat -lightened; and when giggles supplanted sobs. Stout Miss Woodruff, clad -in her smooth gray serge gown, with its white vest for Sunday use only, -usually sat in a large arm-chair at the end of the room, in order to -lend dignity to the meeting. But on this occasion she was absent and had -asked Abbie to take her place. Poor scatter-brained Abbie had forgotten -all about it so the chair was vacant. But not for long. - -The chief ornament of the high mantel shelf was a large stuffed bird--a -penguin. When it became evident to the waiting girls that no one was -coming to occupy that vacant chair, Maude Wilder, always resourceful, -climbed upon a chair, seized the stately penguin and placed him in the -chair. With his dignity, his mildly disapproving eye and his smooth gray -and white plumage, his resemblance to stern Miss Woodruff--vest and -all--was so striking and so amusing that the astonished girls burst forth -with a chorus of giggles instead of words when Mrs. Henry Rhodes, at the -piano, played the opening notes of the first hymn. - -Of course Mrs. Henry turned around to see what caused this most unusual -hilarity. When she saw the solemn penguin doing his birdlike best to be -human and succeeding so admirably in filling Miss Woodruff's place, Mrs. -Henry not only giggled but laughed outright; and all the pupils, -including the lofty Seniors, joined in. For the rest of the evening, -even the saddest hymns failed to bring on a single case of homesickness. - -"But," warned Mrs. Henry, restoring the bird to his lofty perch when the -singing was finished, "we must never do this again. We've all been very -bad." - -"I love that lady," said Maude, on the way upstairs. "If _she_ were my -teacher I'd be good all the time." - -"I hope," giggled Sallie Dickinson, "I won't forget and call Miss -Woodruff 'Miss Penguin.' I shall never be able to dust that bird again -without thinking of her." - - - - -CHAPTER VII - -AN OLD ACQUAINTANCE - - -One morning, late in October, there was great excitement at Highland -Hall. It was just at recess time and all the girls (except Maude Wilder -and Debbie Clark who were under the porch foraging for pie) were on the -veranda or the graveled walk. Two new pupils were arriving. They were -not together for they came in separate hacks. The first was a large girl -of fourteen who, followed by a small, meek father, marched fearlessly up -the steps and looked each girl straight in the eye until she reached -Sallie Dickinson, who stood in the doorway, smiling a welcome. - -"I'm Victoria Webster of Iowa," said she, "and I've come here to school. -Where's Doctor What d'ye-callum? I've come here after an education and I -want it right away." - -And then Victoria deliberately turned and winked at the Miller girls; a -real wink, with one bold blue eye wide open, the other shut. Victoria, -the surprised girls perceived, was as fresh as a breeze from her own -prairie, and they were instantly prepared to enjoy her. - -The other hack disgorged its contents. An overdressed woman in -ridiculous shoes stepped out; an overdressed girl in even more -ridiculous shoes followed her. The girl, fair-haired and exceedingly -fluffy was almost as violently perfumed as Madame Bolande herself. - -Jean, Marjory, Bettie and Mabel glanced casually at this second young -person and suddenly gasped. They had received a jolt. Then they looked -inquiringly at one another and back again at the girl. They couldn't -quite believe their eyes. - -"What's her name?" demanded Marjory, when Sallie, who had escorted the -last newcomers inside returned to the porch. - -"Gladys de Milligan, of Milwaukee," returned Sallie, holding her nose. -"Her father must be a perfume factory." - -The Lakeville girls looked at one another again. - -"Gladys de Milligan," breathed Marjory. - -"Laura Milligan!" gasped Mabel. "Of all things, Laura Milligan!" - -"Hush," warned Jean, a finger on her lips. "Come down on the lawn. We'll -have to talk this over by ourselves." - -"It's Laura all right," said Bettie. "Her hair's a lot lighter than it -used to be and she's taller and much more elegant; but it's the same -turned up nose and the same twisty shoulders and the same small eyes, -too close together." - -"And the same horrid mother," said Mabel. "What shall we do?" - -"Let's not do anything," counseled wise Jean. "Let's wait and see if she -recognizes us." - -"Perhaps anybody as grand as that," offered Marjory, hopefully, -"wouldn't _want_ to know plain blue serge folks like us. Of course we -wouldn't exactly want the Highland Hall girls to think she was an old -friend of ours--" - -"She _wasn't_," said Mabel, emphatically. - -"Well," argued Jean, "perhaps Laura has changed--certainly she has -changed her name. It wouldn't be quite fair or kind for us to tell the -other girls the things we know about her. We can wait until we have her -by herself before we seem to recognize her. And maybe she has improved--" - -"She needed to," said Marjory, sagely. "Shan't we even tell Henrietta?" - -"I don't believe we need to," returned Jean. "Henrietta won't like her -anyway. She's too--well, too cheap. She isn't Henrietta's kind, you -know." - -"The Milligans must have made money," said Marjory. "They hadn't any -such clothes in Lakeville." - -"Lakeville would have dropped dead if they had," giggled Bettie. - -At first "Gladys" pretended not to recognize the little girls with whom -she had once played in Lakeville; but, needing some one to show her the -way to a class room, she waylaid Marjory in the hall and called her by -name. - -"Now, listen," warned Gladys, shifting her gum to the other side of her -mouth. "Don't let anybody hear you calling me Laura. It isn't my name -any more. I always hated that name and Milligan, too. Mother calls me -Gladys--Gladys Evelyn de Milligan." - -"What's the 'D' for," asked honest Marjory. - -"That's French," explained Laura. "It's d e, _de_." - -"But Milligan isn't French." - -"It's more elegant that way," explained Laura, shifting her gum again. -"We're society people now. It looks better in print when Mother's 'Among -those present.' Now listen. Now that you know my name, see that you -remember it. And tell those other Lakeville girls they can do the same -thing." - -Although the Miller girls' father supplied the world with soap, although -three continents ate the breakfast food that Hazel Benton's uncle -manufactured, no one at Highland Hall paraded her wealth and her -so-called "Social standing" as vulgar little Gladys de Milligan paraded -hers. She was always painted and powdered and overdressed; she was -reckless with her spending money, snobbish and artificial to the very -final degree; yet, fortunately for gum-chewing Laura, there were girls -who seemed to like her. - -Most of the girls, however, liked Victoria Webster much better. To be -sure Victoria had her faults, but they were pleasanter faults than -Laura's. Every one of the youngsters admired and tried to imitate -Victoria's marvelously perfect wink. Maude came the nearest to achieving -success; and little Lillian Thwaite failed the most dismally. - -"Don't try it on a cold day," warned Victoria, "you might freeze that -way, Lillian, with your mouth half way up your cheek and your nose in a -knot." - -It was a joy to see Victoria and Maude play ball. They went at it -precisely like a pair of boys. And Victoria shared Maude's affection for -pie. - -Madame Bolande liked Gladys Evelyn de Milligan but sarcastic Miss -Woodruff did not. When she called upon that young person in class, she -frequently pretended that she had forgotten her name, so that one day, -to the great amusement of her classmates, Laura would be called Ambrosia -Nectarine and the next Miss Woodruff would address her as Verbena -Heliotrope, Gladiolus Violet or Lucretia Calliopsis or something else -equally ridiculous; but a new one for every occasion. This, of course, -wasn't exactly kind or even quite courteous; but it is safe to say that -Gladys Evelyn began to regret having changed and embellished her plain -if not beautiful name. Perhaps, before Miss Woodruff had entirely -exhausted her supply of fancy names, poor Gladys Evelyn may have envied -little Jane Pool. No one ever forgot or pretended to forget Jane's very -brief and very plain name, except Doctor Rhodes, who forgot everybody's. - -Jane was a small girl with a very bright, eager face, smooth brown hair -and a great deal of character. Just about everybody liked Jane. - -"Are you related to those grand Chicago Pools?" asked Gladys Evelyn one -day, as she peeled a fresh stick of gum. - -"Mercy, no," returned Jane, who had listened for a weary half hour to -Laura's tales about her own wonderful people. "There's nothing grand -about _us_--we're just plain Pools--little common Pools like mud puddles. -No limousines, no diamonds, no ancestors. Just three meals a day and a -bed at night. We're just folks--the commonest kind." - -And Gladys, not noticing the twinkle in Jane's bright black eye, -believed the little rascal, only to learn later that Jane's father was -accounted one of the wealthiest men in the state of Wisconsin. But you -never would have known it from Jane. - -"I wish," complained Henrietta, one day, "we hadn't been two days late -in getting to this school. All the girls engaged their walking partners -before we came. I like to walk with Victoria--she steps right off like a -man--but Gladys Evelyn de Milligan--phew! With all those heels and that -tight skirt she _can't_ walk. But I'll say one thing for Gladys. She -_can_ chew gum." - -"We didn't mean to leave you out when we four paired off," assured Jean. -"But Marjory asked me and Mabel asked Bettie--why, of course we can -switch off sometimes. The _old_ girls engaged their partners last year." - -These walks occurred three times a week. On Sundays, when the entire -school walked two by two to church. On Tuesday, when the girls were -taken, again in twos, to the village to shop; and on Fridays when they -went to the cemetery. The only reason they went to the cemetery was -because a walk of a mile and a half straight west ended there. - -Sallie Dickinson usually walked with poor old Abbie Smith, the chaperon. -Abbie was a forlorn creature, neither old nor young. She had a long red -nose, a retreating chin, drooping shoulders and a rounded back. -Colorless, straggling hair and pale eyes. A spineless, unpleasant -person. Like Sallie Dickinson, she was an orphan. Like Sallie, poor old -Abbie had been left penniless at Highland Hall, but at an earlier date. -It was said that Abbie's stepfather had deliberately abandoned her; and, -looking at Abbie, it seemed not unlikely. One would have supposed that -twenty years of school life would have _educated_ Abbie but they hadn't. -Abbie was incapable of acquiring an education. - -"When I look at Abbie," confided Sallie, one day, as she laid an armful -of freshly laundered garments on Jean's bed, "it makes me just sick. Am -_I_ going to be like that twenty years from now?" - -"Of course you're not," consoled Jean, "You're ever so bright in school -and you--why, Sallie! It's all in your own hands. If you learn every -blessed thing you can, some day you'll be smart enough to teach. And -then, probably, they'd be glad enough to have you teach right here. And -if they wouldn't, you could go some place else. Don't ever _think_ that -you have to stay here and be a stupid, downtrodden servant like poor old -Abbie." - -"Well, do you know," said Sallie, visibly brightening, "I _did_ think -just exactly that. I wake up nights and worry about it. Oh, Jean! I do -wish you'd poke me up once in awhile, whenever you see me losing my -backbone or looking like Abbie--" - -"You _don't_ look like Abbie--you _couldn't_. Abbie never was pretty or -bright and you _are_. Wait, I want to give you these history notes I dug -up--I know they kept you busy all study hour sorting the clean clothes so -of course you didn't have time to look anything up. You'll just _have_ -to have splendid marks from now on." - -"You're a darling!" cried Sallie, rubbing her cheek against Jean's. "I -wish you'd reached Hiltonburg a whole lot sooner. I _needed_ you." - - - - -CHAPTER VIII - -BRAVE VICTORIA - - -Almost at once, there was one very curious and amusing result of Madame -Bolande's friendship for "Gladys de Milligan." Madame, who apparently -took no interest in her own hair, professed great admiration for that of -the new pupil and offered to teach her a new and even fancier way of -arranging it. - -One night, to that end, Madame mixed an exceedingly sticky something in -a cup--quince seed and water, Laura explained afterwards--and applied it -to Laura's pale yellow locks. After plastering them down in large wet -rings all over Laura's foolish head, Madame fished the remnant of an old -green veil from her untidy bureau drawer and tied it firmly over the -slippery mass. Her intentions were perfectly good but the result was -surprising. - -By morning, the quince seed was dry and it was possible to brush the -stuff, in a powdery shower of white particles, from the mass of loose -curls. But alas! A shocking thing had happened. The dye in the green -veil had proved anything but permanent. It had spent the night -_running_. Poor Gladys Evelyn appeared late for breakfast with red eyes -and bright green hair. It was at least a month before her tangled locks -lost their verdant hue. - -"Never mind, Gladys," soothed Grace Allen. "Mermaids have green hair and -you know how beautiful _they_ are." - -Oddly enough, this curious mishap made several new friends for Gladys -among the girls, whose ready sympathy was aroused for an unfortunate -maiden who had to go about with pale green hair. Augusta Lemon was one -of those tender hearted young persons, Lillian Thwaite another. About -this time, too, Grace Allen began to wander about, arm in arm, with -Gladys. - -Cora Doyle, to whom the Lakeville girls were greatly indebted for much -of the past history of Highland Hall, proved a likeable girl, after one -learned not to believe all that she said. Cora just naturally -exaggerated. When she was cold she was absolutely frozen. When she was -warm, she was positively boiled. If she possessed one black and blue -spot she _knew_ she had ten thousand and if she were slightly indisposed -she was positive she was dying. In short, she called "Wolf, Wolf," when -the wolf was conspicuously absent. - -This trait of Cora's was beginning to lead to embarrassing consequences. -Cora's wild statements in school were always taken with a grain of salt. -Worse than that, her own people wouldn't believe her. Even when she -outgrew her shoes and wrote home for larger ones, they were sure she -only meant more stylish ones; so poor Cora limped about in short shoes -and acquired a corn. And now she had a new trouble. Whether it was -basketball or the extra pie that she ate under the porch with Maude, no -one knew, but Cora began suddenly to grow very rapidly. Her sleeves and -her skirts were visibly retreating and she was showing more wrist and -more stocking than was considered becoming. - -"My folks won't _believe_ me," wailed Cora, reading her letter from -home. "I've _told_ them that my knees show and my sleeves are up to my -elbows and they won't _believe_ me." - -"But your skirts _aren't_ up to your knees," laughed Marjory. - -"Anyway, they're getting there and I have to stay up nights letting out -hems." - -"Never mind," consoled Jean, "your folks will see for themselves, when -you go home for Christmas. Of course you may have to go in a paper bag--" - -"That's just the trouble. I _don't_ go home for Christmas--I live too far -away. I'm going to visit Maude in Chicago--and it's _her_ folks that will -see for themselves how many miles of legs and wrists I'm showing." - -"That's what you get for stretching things," laughed Henrietta. "Your -arms and legs have caught it." - -"_I_ didn't get any letter at all," grumbled Mabel. "Anybody gets more -than I do." - -"Cheer up," said Jean. "Perhaps you'll have two tomorrow. In the -meantime you can read mine--there's quite a lot of Lakeville news in it." - -"Wait a minute, girls," called Helen Miller, climbing up on the platform -beside Sallie. "Have any of you seen my amethyst pendant? I _thought_ I -left it in a little box on my dresser, but I _may_ have worn it out and -dropped it. Anyway, if you find one, it's mine." - -Several of the girls looked at one another significantly. - -Queer things were happening at Highland Hall. There were mysterious -disappearances; but whether they were due to carelessness or whether -they were due to theft, no one could say. The fact remained. Various -things of more or less value had vanished; and their owners were both -puzzled and distressed. Hazel Benton had somehow lost her wrist watch, -Ruth Dennis mourned a gold pencil that usually dangled from a ribbon -about her neck, Mabel's sentimental roommate, Isabelle, could not find -the large gold locket containing Clarence's picture--_that_ vanished, -Isabelle declared, while she was taking a bath, the _only_ time she -didn't have it on. - -Then, one morning, there was a scene in the dining room, where the girls -and the teachers were eating their breakfast rolls and the two neat -maids were passing the coffee. Madame Bolande, all excitement, and with -her black dress face-powdered from collar to hem and her hair even -wilder than usual, rushed into the dining room and declared volubly that -two ten dollar bills had disappeared from the stocking under her bed. - -"And," declared Madame, balefully, "eet ees zat Mees Henrietta zat have -taken zem. She ees the most baddest Mademoiselle zat I have een my -class." - -At this point, just when things were getting really interesting, Doctor -and Mrs. Rhodes rose hastily from their chairs, seized Madame by the -elbows and escorted her quite neatly from the public gaze. The girls -would have been glad to hear more. - -Fortunately no one believed Madame's accusation of Henrietta because all -the girls knew how little love was lost between that lively girl and the -untidy French woman. Madame always blamed Henrietta for anything that -happened. Occasionally she was right, because Henrietta was a young -bundle of mischief, with no respect whatsoever for Madame Bolande; but -the girls knew that Henrietta was no thief. And Henrietta, far from -appearing downcast at Madame's outrageous words, giggled cheerfully and -considered it a joke. - -And then something else happened that turned even Madame's unjust -suspicion away from Henrietta. There was a burglar scare, a _real_ -burglar scare, in Hiltonburg. It lasted three weeks, during which time -suddenly intimidated householders locked _all_ their doors instead of -just a few, bought catches for every one of their windows and caused -themselves agonies of discomfort by putting their valuables away in -supposedly burglar-proof spots overnight. Whether or not there really -was a burglar at the bottom of this alarm nobody was able to discover; -but the scare was certainly big enough and genuine enough while it -lasted to upset the entire community. It started in the heart of the -village, worked itself gradually along the State road, and, by the time -it was a week or ten days old, crept through the hedge that surrounded -Highland Hall and right into the house itself. - -For days the girls talked of nothing else. Of course the different girls -were affected in different ways. The three Seniors moved into one room -and slept three in a bed, with their valuables under the mattress. -Little Lillian Thwaite couldn't think of the burglar without turning -faint. Alice Bailey's big black eyes grew so much bigger and blacker at -mention of him that the sight always sent Augusta Lemon, who was -particularly sympathetic, into spasms of fear. Bettie refused to walk -through the corridors alone, even by broad daylight. - -Victoria Webster was of different fiber. "Victoria," as everybody knows, -means "A Conqueror." It certainly seemed as if this particular bearer of -the name had conquered fear. At any rate she was not afraid. Moreover, -she was not only courageous but she bragged about it until the other -girls were just a little tired of it. - -"I'd like to see the burglar I'd be afraid of," boasted Victoria. "See -here, Lillian, if you and Augusta and Bettie are afraid, I'll move into -the West Dormitory and take care of you." - -"I wish to goodness you would," declared Lillian. "Bettie's all right, -but Augusta and I are all alone in number twenty-six." - -"Do move in today," pleaded Augusta. "There's a vacant bed--really, -that's one reason why the room is so scary. It's bad enough to have to -look under one's own bed without having that extra one--we've been taking -turns. Let's go and ask Miss Woodruff to let you come--she's the matron -in our corridor, you know." - -"I was about to suggest that very thing," replied Miss Woodruff, -regarding burglar-proof Victoria with a quizzical eye. "If this brave -Victoria can instill some of her surplus courage into this quaking -Lillian and this shuddering Augusta, by all means let her do it." - -"Victoria is really almost too courageous," remarked Mrs. Henry Rhodes, -when the girls had left the school room. "She just bristles with -bravery. I'd like to frighten her just once. She'd have made a fine boy, -wouldn't she, with those broad, sturdy shoulders!" - -"She'd have made a blustering one. I suspect that if she _had_ been one, -every other boy that knew her would have been tempted to put her bravery -to the test. I don't think that boys take as kindly to braggarts as -girls do." - -But even the girls, with the exception of timid Lillian and terrified -Augusta, began to grow tired of Victoria's boasting; for, braced by the -admiring devotion of her roommates, Victoria could talk of nothing but -her own bravery. - -"If a burglar came," Victoria would brag, "I'd look him straight in the -eye and say: 'See here, Mr. Burglar, I want to talk to you as man to -man. I take it you're a man of sense. Your time is valuable. You're -wasting it here. We've only thirty cents a week pocket money. If you -were mean enough to take it all you wouldn't get much. Our jewels came -from the five and ten cent store; so just run along to a place where -they really _have_ money.'" - -"Would you _really_?" demanded Augusta. - -"Yes, I would. I've never seen the time yet when I've really been afraid -of anything." - -"They say," quavered Lillian, "that they found footsteps--yes, Marjory, I -meant foot-prints--under the Browns' dining room window last Friday--only -three houses from this one. Oh, I'm so scared I can't eat my meals." - -"Don't be alarmed," said Victoria. "You have _me_." - -Victoria had bragged all day. She was still bragging when she climbed -into bed, with Lillian's cot at her left, Augusta's at her right. - -An hour later, the west corridor was wrapped in silence; or it would -have been if nine girls had not assembled in Henrietta's room to whisper -excitedly in one another's ears. Inadvertently, they whispered too in -Miss Woodruff's, as she stood listening just outside the door. Miss -Woodruff was not a prying person. She was merely assuring herself that -the noises that she couldn't help hearing were made by girls, not -burglars. - -"Good!" whispered the pleased teacher as she gathered the gist of this -animated buzzing. "It's a thing I'd love to do myself. Victoria had it -coming to her. I shall aid and abet those merry plotters by staying very -sound asleep for the next hour." - -Whereupon Miss Woodruff very gently closed her own door and to all -appearances had finished her matronly duties for the night. - -Ten minutes later, a small white scout slipped noiselessly down the dark -corridor toward the room in which Victoria was sleeping. Presently she -slipped back into Henrietta's. - -"All three are sound asleep," reported Jane. "You could stick pins into -Victoria and she wouldn't know it. Now's the time for action. Don't -waste a minute. She'll never be sounder asleep than she is now." - -"Jane," whispered Henrietta, "you and Marjory must get into those two -empty beds in the room directly across the hall from Victoria's and -_stay_ in them long enough to get them warmed up, so we can move those -other two girls into them. We'll wait fifteen minutes longer. But if -Lillian and Augusta _should_ wake up, we'll just have to whisk them into -a closet and clap our hands over their mouths." - -For perhaps three quarters of an hour that night, Miss Woodruff heard -the light patter of bare feet on the corridor matting, the subdued -whisperings of girlish voices, the quickly hushed clattering of wood -against wood, of metal against crockery, the dragging of bulky objects -through narrow doorways. These sounds were punctuated by little gusts of -stifled laughter, followed each time by brief periods of absolute -silence. - -"I do hope," she whispered, "they'll succeed. Victoria certainly needs -taking down. Dear me, how Marjory giggles! She was never designed for a -career of successful burglary." - -After a time the slight brushing of exploring hands and fluttering -garments against the corridor walls, told of the otherwise silent flight -of nine girlish forms down the long, dark hallway. Then Henrietta's door -closed with a tiny click and for fully fifteen minutes afterwards sounds -of suppressed mirth sifted back to Miss Woodruff's patient but approving -ears. - -The house was silent when the great clock in the lower hall boomed -"One." Victoria, who had been dreaming in an entirely unprecedented -manner, suddenly awoke, to experience a curious sense of physical -discomfort. Something was wrong. She groped for the bedclothes. They -were gone. She stretched out both hands and her groping fingers came in -contact with a firm, level, cold surface not unlike hardwood floor. She -moved her fingers--it _was_ floor. No other polished surface had those -regularly recurring cracks, Victoria, much alarmed, crept on hands and -knees, about the empty room. The window was open, the door closed. With -a little gasp of relief, she opened it. - -"Thank goodness!" breathed tremulous Victoria, groping about in the -hallway, "I'm not locked in. But where in the world am I? Here's another -door." - -It opened. Here, window shades were up and puzzled Victoria made out the -outlines of three beds. Her bare toes touched the big fur rug that she -knew belonged to Anne Blodgett, her opposite neighbor. The feel of a -familiar object in this world of uncertainties was a comforting -sensation. - -"Anne!" gasped chattering Victoria, plunging bodily into Anne's bed. -"I'm frightened to pieces! If that was my room that I've just come out -of there isn't a thing left in it. My bed--even Lillian and Augusta have -been stolen. Burglars--or something--carried off every single thing but -me. I suppose I was too heavy. I found the window open." - -Anne giggled. There were giggles from the other beds. Victoria guessed -the truth. Then having much good sense back of her shortcomings she -giggled too. - -"Well," she laughed, "that was a great joke on me, all right. I might be -brave enough if I happened to be awake; but what's the use of courage -when a burglar with any enterprise at all could carry me right off to -the next county without waking me up." - -"Did you _really_ think it was a sure enough burglar?" asked Anne. - -"Yes, I did," returned honest Victoria, snuggling closer to Anne's warm -body, "and I was simply scared pink. When I found that window wide open -instead of just a few inches I was _sure_ somebody had climbed in and -carried off everything but _me_--and I wasn't sure he _hadn't_ taken me -as well. I could just _see_ a great big black burglar going up and down -a long ladder, with bundles on his back, and a partner down below to -help him with the heavy ones." - -"We didn't mean to scare you as much as _that_," said Anne, "but you -certainly are a fine sleeper. We pulled you around a lot." - -"My mother always said I could outsleep the sleepiest of the 'Seven -Sleepers' and I guess she was right. But I'm not the _only_ one, Where's -Miss Woodruff all this time? I thought she _never_ slept." - -"Well, she did tonight," said Anne, supposing she was telling the truth. -"And it's lucky for us that she did." - -"But how did you ever move Lillian and Augusta without waking them?" - -"We _didn't_. Lillian jumped up the minute we touched her but Jane told -her what we were doing so she pitched right in and helped. But Augusta -woke right up in the middle of the corridor and began to bleat like the -lost sheep of Israel so Henrietta stuffed a stocking in her mouth--one of -your thick woolen ones--and jammed her into the clothes press. We had -quite a time explaining that we were _not_ the burglar. We handed her -Jane's flashlight so she could _see_ it was us; but she turned it on -herself and that frightened her more than ever. She shivered and made -queer noises, so Maude had to sit beside her on a lot of shoes and hold -her hand for the longest time--and you know Maude hates to hold hands; -but Augusta's all right now. Now move over, Vicky, and take another of -your famous naps. You're welcome to half of my bed as long as you don't -take your half out of the middle." - -The burglar scare subsided gradually and Victoria returned to her own -corridor to room with Gladys de Milligan. - -"I wouldn't have picked _her_ out," sighed Victoria, "but Gladys -_wanted_ me--I'm sure I can't see why." - -"_I_ should have thought," said Marjory, "she'd like a more wide awake -roommate so she could _talk_ all night. Gladys does love to talk." - -"Not at night," returned Victoria. "She lets me go to sleep at nine -o'clock sharp and that's the last I hear of her until morning." - - - - -CHAPTER IX - -STRANGE DISAPPEARANCES - - -The very next day after that Maude Wilder's weekly allowance of thirty -cents was missing from the purse that she had carelessly left on her -table and Ruth Dennis's gold beads were nowhere to be found. - -And now the opinion of the school was divided. The more excitable girls -were convinced that the burglar had actually gotten in, but there were -other girls who were quite as certain that some one inside the house was -the thief. But who? - -The servants seemed trustworthy; Nora, the fat, good natured cook, Annie -and Mary, the two neat maids, the two middle aged laundresses who came -in from outside, several days a week; and Charles, the man servant who -might be seen each evening walking out with Annie and Mary beside him. -It was said that Charles divided his attentions so equally between the -two neat maids that if he _had_ been the thief, he would have been -obliged to steal everything in pairs in order to divide them with -absolute fairness between his two friends; so, of course, that let -Charles out. Besides, except when there were trunks to be carried up, -Charles never entered the upstairs rooms. - -"Of course it isn't old Abbie," said Maude, who was under the front -porch with Henrietta, bolting hot apple pie. "She's too much of a -rabbit. It's true she hasn't any money; but she wouldn't have gumption -enough to steal pennies from a baby's bank." - -"Do you think it might be Madame Bolande?" asked Henrietta. "She's so -fearfully untruthful and so--so unwashed." - -"I wouldn't put it past her," said Maude. "Her room is stuffed with -clothes and things; and you know Helen Miller has lost her pleated -skirt." - -"Oh, _Cora_ took that last Sunday. She said she just wouldn't go to -church in her short one. Besides, she had ripped the hem out and hadn't -had time to put in a new one. The Miller girls had gone downstairs and -Cora was late, so she just rushed in, grabbed up Helen's skirt and -scrambled into it. I'll tell her to put it back--she's just forgotten -it." - -At the same moment Gladys Evelyn de Milligan and Augusta were marching -up and down the long porch over Maude's head and Gladys was saying: - -"I used to know Marjory Vale in Michigan and I can tell you one thing. -She was a horrid little girl, always telling fibs and taking things that -didn't belong to her--her aunt couldn't keep a thing in her ice box. And -Mabel wasn't anybody at all in Lakeville. And goodness knows how the -Tuckers got money enough to send Bettie to school. They're as poor as -church mice and have ragged little boys running all over the place." - -"I wonder that you ever knew such people," said Augusta, always a little -dazzled by Gladys's magnificence. - -"Oh, I didn't," denied Gladys, hastily. "I--well, we used to give our old -clothes to the Tuckers." - -This was not true, but as Augusta always believed anything she heard, -she now believed this and many more of Gladys's unpleasant tales about -the little girls from Upper Michigan and passed them on to her own -particular friends; so, in the course of time, Jean, Mabel, Marjory, -Bettie; and even Henrietta, whom Gladys had _not_ known in Lakeville, -were puzzled and grieved by the odd, unfriendly ways of some of their -once cordial schoolmates. - -Isabelle Carew, for instance, snubbed Mabel quite heartlessly at times. -Attractive little Grace Allen no longer spent her leisure moments with -her classmate Marjory; but chummed instead with Ruth Dennis. Alice -Bailey no longer wept on Jean's shoulder during the Sunday night hymns -but transferred her tears to Hazel Benton's convenient collar bone. - -As for Augusta Lemon, convinced that the Lakeville girls were no fit -associates for any really _nice_ girl, she avoided them as much as -possible and became more and more friendly with gum-chewing Gladys. And, -as usual, Lillian Thwaite always followed as closely as possible in -Augusta's footsteps. - -Losing Augusta and Lillian was not exactly a calamity. Augusta was -rather an insipid maiden, with no sense of humor, and the bright little -girls from Lakeville had considered her something of a bore. And Lillian -was just a silly little person of no great consequence. Still, it was -disconcerting and not quite pleasant to be dropped so suddenly, as -Marjory said, "even by a sheep like Augusta or a goose like Lillian." - -Fortunately, Sallie Dickinson, Maude Wilder, Cora Doyle, Victoria -Webster and little Jane Pool, none of whom admired Gladys, were still -friendly; and there were others. - -Just now, too, one of the Lakeville girls was having another trouble. As -you know, mail time for Sallie Dickinson was always rather a trying -time. If Charles returned from the post-office early enough, Sallie -opened the bag in the school room and read aloud the name on each -envelope as she passed it down to its owner. If Charles happened to be -late, Sallie delivered the letters at the girls' doors. - -In either case, there were no letters for Sallie, no little packages -from home--because she had no home--no little surprises like those that -brought delighted squeals from her more fortunate schoolmates. Many of -the more selfish older girls seemed to take Sallie's letterless -condition very much for granted but the Lakeville girls were decidedly -sorry for her. At times, indeed, their tender hearts quite ached for -Sallie. - -But now Sallie was not the only sufferer for lack of mail. For weeks and -weeks and weeks--eight of them to be exact--Mabel had had no letter from -her father and mother who were in Germany. There had been postals from -along the way and one announcing their arrival in Berlin and that was -all. - -Mabel possessed a dangerous imagination. It was now hard at work. She -looked at poor old Abbie and at Sallie of the wistful eyes and -shuddered. Was she, too, in danger of becoming a boarding school orphan? -Would she have to wear faded old garments discarded and left behind by -departed schoolmates? Would _she_ grow to look just like Abbie--bent and -hopeless--with a retreating chin and scant, hay-colored hair and a -whining voice? - -She asked these harrowing questions and many others of her sympathizing -friends. - -"Don't worry," soothed Henrietta. "It's a good four months since I've -heard a single word from _my_ father. If he isn't lost on one of his -exploring expeditions in the heart of India or Africa or Asia, he's been -arrested for digging up somebody's old tomb. That's why I live with my -grandmother, you know. Whenever Father hears of anything interesting to -dig, no matter where it is, he just rushes off to dig it. And of course -he couldn't do that if he had me tied to his--his suspenders." - -"But you have your grandmother and so much money of your own that you -wouldn't _need_ to be a school orphan like--like Abbie." - -"Mabel, before I'd let you be like Abbie--and you'd have to shrink an -awful lot to do it and change color besides--I'd adopt you myself. It's a -promise. If anything _should_ happen to your people, I'll adopt you, so -there! But don't worry. Nothing _is_ going to happen." - -While these assurances were cheering, Mabel still looked disconsolately -at Abbie and at Sallie. - - - - -CHAPTER X - -MABEL FINDS A FAMILY - - -Mabel, with a long afternoon before her and tempted by the pleasant day, -decided to take a walk in the grove. Perhaps she could find a hickory -nut. On the veranda she overtook little Lillian Thwaite, obviously -waiting for some one to walk with. - -"Come on, Lill," said Mabel. "Let's go down to the grove." - -"Can't," returned Lillian, shrugging her small shoulders. "I'm going in -to practise my duet." - -"Then why did you put your things on?" demanded Mabel, suspiciously. - -"Just for instance," returned Lillian, pertly. - -Mabel discovered Grace Allen poking among the leaves in the grove. - -"Hello, Grace!" said she, hopefully. "What are you doing?" - -"Nothing. I'm going back to the house in a minute." - -"Come along with me--it's nice out." - -"Don't care to," returned Grace, snippishly. - -Mabel found the deserted grove rather gloomy and uninteresting. Beyond -it the sunny prairie stretched for miles and miles with just one visible -break--a small house with a tumble-down fence far off toward the south. -It was out of bounds of course. Still, the girls _had_ wandered out on -the prairie and not one of the Rhodes family had said a word. It looked -like an entirely safe and harmless place. Mabel looked speculatively at -the faraway little house. - -"I wonder if I couldn't walk there and back before it gets dark. I'd -have something to tell the girls. It would be fun to peek over that -fence. Perhaps there are nuts under those trees by the gate. I wish -Marjory and Bettie were here, but they had letters to read and this is -Jean's day at the gym. Maude's too. Anyhow, I'm going a _little_ way." - -It proved a splendid day for walking. Mabel's brown eyes brightened, a -fine color glowed in her cheeks and, for the moment, all her troubles -evaporated. She even forgot her danger of becoming a boarding school -orphan. Presently she looked back and was pleased to find herself quite -a distance from Highland Hall. The school looked quite imposing, on top -of its own little hill. - -"I can get to that cottage quite easily," said Mabel, trudging along -cheerfully. "Perhaps there are chickens and things in the yard--I hope -there isn't a goat. Too bad the ground is all brown. There isn't -anything left to pick." - -The trees, when Mabel reached them, were apple trees; but all the apples -were gone except a withered one. There _were_ chickens in the yard; and -a woman who was peering anxiously down the road that began at her -gateway and wandered off toward the southwest. - -"Say," said she, catching sight of Mabel. "Would you mind coming in and -staying with my children until Lizzie McCall gets here? She's due any -minute and I've got to get over to the trolley--I'm late now. I have a -job cleaning cars over at the Centerville Station, this time every day, -and Lizzie always stays with the kids--they'd tear the house down if I -left them alone." - -"If you're sure Lizzie is coming--" - -"Oh, yes, she's never missed yet. Just go in and see that they don't -meddle with the fire. Lizzie'll be right along." - -The woman hastened away. She looked what she was, an honest working -woman with many family cares. Mabel went inside. Four small children -stared at Mabel, as she entered. A boy of four, two small girls -evidently twins, aged three, and a toddling baby of perhaps a year and a -half. A delightful family to take care of for ten minutes but certainly -not the kind of family to leave for very long to its own devices; for -the twins were reaching for the sugar bowl and the boy had already -discovered the poker and was poking the fire. - -"Let's all watch out the window for Lizzie," suggested Mabel. "Stand on -these two chairs." - -Watching for Lizzie proved more of an occupation than Mabel had counted -on. They watched and watched with all their eyes but no Lizzie appeared. -Ten minutes, twenty minutes, thirty minutes. No Lizzie. - -"Does Lizzie _always_ come?" queried Mabel, now decidedly uneasy. - -"Sure," replied the small boy. - -"Where is your father?" - -"Haven't any. Him all gone on choo choo cars. Far away." - -"Does your mother come home to supper?" - -"No. Lizzie makes our supper. Lizzie puts Tommy to bed and Susy to bed -and Sairy to bed and Jackie to bed." - -"Well," remarked Mabel, crossly, "I wish she'd come right now and _do_ -it. I ought to be a mile from here this very minute. I shouldn't have -come in. And now I don't know _what_ to do. It isn't right for you to be -left by yourselves and it isn't right for me to stay. Now what does -_anybody_ do in a case like that? I must be back by six o'clock; but I'd -be wicked if I went away--and it's awfully wrong of me not to go." - -"_Don't_ go," wheedled Tommy. "You is nicer than Lizzie." - -"Nicer 'an 'Izzie," echoed Susy. - -"Nicer 'an 'Izzie," echoed Sairy. - -Mabel peered anxiously down the road. The days were short and already it -was growing darker. For another half hour Mabel, pressing closer and -closer to the window, watched the road. By that time it was really dark. -There was a lamp with oil in it on the kitchen table; Mabel discovered -matches on the shelf and managed to light it. - -"What do you have for supper?" asked Mabel. "I suppose I'll have to feed -you." - -"Oatmeal," said Tommy. "It's in the kettle on the stove. And milk--in the -cupboard. And bread." - -"What do you have for breakfast?" - -"Oatmeal and milk and bread." - -"Where do you get them?" - -"My muvver cooks 'em." - -"Hum," said Mabel, investigating the cupboard, "there's just about -enough bread for two meals so I guess I'd better not eat very much if I -have to stay to supper; but I hope I don't." - -But she did. Lizzie still remained mysteriously absent; and before long -the children began to beg for food. Mabel arranged their simple supper -under Tommy's directions and the friendly infants appeared pleased with -their new nurse. - -It was lonely in the solitary little house; but Mabel didn't mind that -as long as the children were awake. But very soon after supper they -began to nod. Tommy, very sweet and drowsy himself, showed Mabel where -the other little people were to sleep. The baby was fretful; he had -eaten very little supper and now his heavy head felt hot against Mabel's -cheek as she rocked him to quiet his complaining little cry. Presently -he was asleep, so she tucked him very tenderly into the old -clothes-basket that Tommy assured her was the baby's bed. Then the -chubby, yawning twins were tucked into their crib, for which they were a -tight fit; and in two minutes, _they_ were asleep. After that, Tommy -removed all his clothes except his shirt and climbed into the double -bed. - -"You can sleep by me," invited Tommy, "until my muvver comes. Lizzie -does sometimes, after she washes the dishes." - -That at least was something for a worried and lonely young person to do. -Mabel washed the tin spoons and thick saucers and put them neatly away. -By this time it was exceedingly dark outside. - -"Even if Lizzie were to come," said Mabel, "I'd be afraid to go home -alone. Dear me, I suppose I'll have to stay all night. By this time -everybody will know I've been out of bounds and goodness only knows what -Doctor Rhodes will say to me. But I'll skip home as soon as it's -daylight and ask that nice fat cook to let me in at the kitchen door." - -The bed was not particularly inviting but at last Mabel locked the outer -door and climbed in beside Tommy, who was fast asleep. She hoped that -the baby was all right; he seemed restless and made little moaning -noises and tossed uneasily in his basket. She was sure that she herself -wouldn't be able to sleep for a moment in that strange place, so far -away from her own friends; but presently she was slumbering quite -peacefully. It was broad daylight when she awoke. - -And still no Lizzie. - -"Tommy," demanded Mabel, sitting up in bed, "when does your mother get -home? Who cooks your breakfast every day?" - -"My muvver does. Where is my muvver?" - -"Well, that's what I'd like to know. I suppose I _could_ take you all -over to the school--no, I couldn't carry that heavy baby all that way -even if the twins could manage to walk so far. If it was just _you_, -Tommy, I know we could do it. And I _don't_ like that baby's looks." - -"He's getting another toof," said Tommy, wisely. - -The baby was sick, there was no doubt about that. There was barely -enough food for breakfast, there was no doubt about that, either. To be -sure there were potatoes, turnips and cabbages in the cellar. Thanks to -her play-housekeeping in Dandelion Cottage, Mabel knew how to boil -potatoes but she also knew that potatoes were hardly a proper food for a -sick infant. - -By noon the children were hungry so Mabel fed them potatoes and gave the -baby a drink of water; but the supply of wood was getting low and Mabel -could see no way of replenishing it. - -"I suppose," said she, bitterly, "that woman just wanted to get rid of -all these children; and here I am! Four of them on my hands and nothing -to eat. One of them sick and getting teeth! It's just my luck. I'll keep -away from strange houses after this. I don't believe there ever _was_ a -Lizzie. But we must have a fire--perhaps there's something in that shed -that will fit that stove." - -There wasn't, but there _was_ a large and clumsy baby carriage. - -Mabel examined it hopefully. - -Two hours later, at least half of the inmates of Highland Hall, greatly -exercised over Mabel's mysterious disappearance, beheld a strange sight. -A twin baby carriage, containing three infants and propelled by a plump, -sturdy and perspiring young person, was rolling up the broad walk toward -the school. A small boy trudged along behind. - -"It's Mabel!" gasped Jean. - -"It's Mabel!" shrieked Marjory. - -"Mabel, Mabel, Mabel," cried Bettie, Maude and Jane Pool. Mabel's -friends rushed down to greet her. The girls who were not her friends and -who had been saying unkind things about her hung back; but they looked -and listened. - -"We might have known," said Bettie, "that she'd bring _something_ home -with her--she always does." - -"But this time," laughed Jean, "she's outdone herself." - -Doctor Rhodes, stern and disapproving, eyed Mabel, coldly. To say the -least it was unusual for a pupil to vanish for twenty-four hours and -then turn up unexpectedly with a family of four. It certainly needed -explaining. - -Mabel, however, was too much out of breath to do any explaining. She -beamed at the girls--it _was_ pleasant to see them again after that long, -anxious absence--and then glanced at Doctor Rhodes. - -Horrors! How was anybody to explain things to a man who glared like -that! Mabel stood still, her smile frozen on her plump, perspiring -countenance. - -"Leave those children right where they are," said Doctor Rhodes, -sternly, "and go into my office. I want to know what this conduct -means." - -"Ye--yes, Sir," faltered Mabel, toiling up the steps. Marjory skipped -along beside her, to impart a bit of news. - -"We missed you at supper time," breathed Marjory, in an undertone; "but -Doctor Rhodes didn't know until about an hour ago that you were lost. We -knew _you_ so we were sure you'd do some queer thing like this and would -get home all right if we just gave you a chance, so we kept still. If -you'd only come just a little sooner we could have kept the secret. Miss -Woodruff got after us and found out. I must skip, now--he's coming." - -"Now," demanded Doctor Rhodes, "where have you been?" - -"I went for a walk," said Mabel, dropping into the chair that was -reserved for culprits. "I--I've always had the habit of bringing things -home with me--cats, dogs and once an Indian baby. But--but this is the -worst I've done yet." - -Doctor Rhodes turned suddenly to look out the window. The disappearance -of a pupil from the school was a serious matter; but there was something -about Mabel's rueful countenance, her dejected attitude and her -apologetic tone that was provocative of laughter. - -"There was a woman," pursued Mabel, earnestly, "and she _said_ there was -a Lizzie. I believed her at first but now I don't. She asked me to stay -with her children until Lizzie came and Lizzie _didn't_ come. I _had_ to -stay. It wasn't safe to leave them with a fire in the stove. Today there -wasn't any fresh milk for the baby and I couldn't split the wood. But -there _was_ a twin baby carriage and it's taken us more than two hours -to get here." - -"Where was that house? In the village?" - -"Oh, no," returned Mabel, wearily, waving her hand toward the south. -"Way over that way across the prairie." - -"What! that small house that we can just see from the upper veranda? -What were you doing away over there?" - -"Just taking a walk--I thought I'd be back by six. I knew I was going -pretty far; but my feet just kept going." - -"And what do you propose doing with all those children?" - -"I thought we'd feed them," said Mabel, "and then find somebody that -knows them. There's a vacant room across from mine. I'll take care of -them for the night. The baby is getting a tooth." - -"A teething baby!" - -"And twins!" added Mabel. "And a boy named Tommy. But I got them all -here alive and that was something." - -"Of course I shall have to punish you for going out of bounds. But the -rest of your--your behavior is so unusual that I don't know just how to -meet it. I'll have to think about it awhile. Now take those children to -the room you mentioned and I'll have one of the maids send up some -supper--" - -"Milk and oatmeal and bread," pleaded Mabel, wearily. - -An hour later, the mother of the forsaken children appeared at the -kitchen door. She had followed the wheels of the baby carriage all the -way to Highland Hall. - -Charles was peeling potatoes, the two neat maids were helping him. At -sight of the woman in the doorway, Charles rose suddenly to his feet, -dropped his pan of potatoes and turned as if to flee. But the visitor -rushed across the room and threw her arms about his neck. - -And then tall, lanky Charles, with a sheepish glance at the two -astonished maids, returned her kiss. - -"He's my husband," said the woman. "I thought he'd gone to Detroit to -get work. And here he is, not three miles from home!" - -Charles explained blushingly that he had temporarily deserted his wife -because he found it so pleasant to be considered a bachelor. - -"The ladies," said Charles, waving a hand toward the fat cook and the -two neat maids "make so much of a single man. And I _like_ being made -much of--any man does." - -"And where," demanded Mrs. Charles, "are my children?" - -The neat maid who had carried the milk upstairs was able to lead her to -her family; and Mabel learned that Lizzie had sent a note explaining -that she couldn't come; but the messenger had failed to deliver the -note. Mrs. Charles had been later than usual in starting her cleaning -work on the train and the train had started, carrying her to Chicago. - -"And I thought," said she, "I might as well make the most of a free ride -while I was about it; so I went all the way, bought my provisions in -town and got the noon train back." - -Charles hitched the school horse to the school wagon. With his sharp -elbows sticking out and his sandy hair on end, he perched on the front -seat and drove his family home that evening. He remained in the employ -of Doctor Rhodes, but the two neat maids no longer "made much of him." -As for the fat cook, she told him exactly what she thought of a man who -deserted a good wife and four fine children for the sake of flattering -attentions from other ladies. And crestfallen Charles promised to mend -his ways. - - - - -CHAPTER XI - -MABEL STAYS HOME - - -The girls teased Mabel considerably for the next few days. One afternoon -she went to her room and was decidedly startled to find a dozen almost -human objects seated on the floor, their backs braced against the wall. -They were pillows stuffed into middy blouses. A large placard held forth -by two stuffed sleeves read: "We are orphans. Please stay with us until -Lizzie comes." - -A night or two afterwards she found her bed occupied by four more almost -human middy blouse orphans, and one morning a lovely picture of a very -stout young person pushing a wide baby carriage full of plump infants -appeared on the assembly room blackboard. Under it was printed "Missing: -One Lizzie." - -Mabel suspected that Henrietta and Maude Wilder were at the bottom of -these outrages; and her suspicions were probably correct. But there were -other offenders. Whenever little Jane Pool met her in the corridor she -would cock a wicked black eye at her and say: "Hello, Lizzie," or "How's -Lizzie today?" - -Even one of the lofty seniors condescended to notice her long enough to -ask: "Found any more orphans to adopt yet?" - -Even tender hearted Bettie could not refrain sometimes from saying: -"Anne, Sister Anne, do you see anybody coming?" - -Mabel, who was feeling a bit doleful these days, took all this teasing -in good part. Indeed, she was glad to be amused. After days of suspense -her punishment for going out of bounds had been meted out to her; and -she felt that she was indeed being punished. On Wednesday evening there -was to be a concert at the Theological Seminary, with ice cream -afterwards. Now, the students might and did scramble their prayers and -make hash of their sermons; but they _could_ sing, so it was always a -joy to hear them. And "Ice cream afterwards" sounded wonderfully good to -Mabel. But for Mabel there was to be no music and no ice cream. She was -to stay at home with poor old Abbie. It was not until Wednesday -afternoon that Mabel learned that Maude also was to stay at home. - -"Miss Woodruff did it," explained Maude, her amber eyes twinkling -merrily. "Just after 'Lights out' last night I thought I'd like to drop -a cold wet washcloth down Dorothy Miller's neck. It's a long way over to -the North corridor, you know, and the hall doors all squeak; but I -thought I could get away with it. Well, what did I do but run slap bang -into Miss Woodruff!" - -"Goodness!" gasped Mabel. "What _did_ you do?" - -"Well," continued Maude, "I never said a word. I just stared straight -ahead with my eyes wide open and pretended I was walking in my sleep, -with that silly washcloth dripping from my outstretched hand. And I had -her fooled. But just as I reached my own door I just absent-mindedly -turned around and stuck my tongue out at her--you know I always _do_ -stick my tongue out at her when she isn't looking--but this time I got -caught. Mean old thing! She switched the light on just in time to get -full benefit, so it was all up with little Maude." - -"What did she do then?" - -"Oh, she said a lot of awfully cutting things. She's a good teacher and -I _do_ respect her for that; but she doesn't have to be so sarcastic -when folks--well, stick out their tongues. I think it's a mean shame to -make me lose that concert and all that ice cream just for a little thing -like that. Cora says they sing _funny_ songs and there's always cake -with the ice cream. I'm going to get even with Miss Woodruff, see if I -don't. Well, cheer up, Mabel. I'll see you later." - -Evening found the two girls with their noses pressed against their -bedroom windows watching the long procession of girls and teachers out -of sight down the moonlit road. As usual, the Seniors led and the -younger girls brought up the rear. Mabel looked at the place beside -Marjory that should have been hers and sighed. She thought of that ice -cream and a large tear rolled down her cheek. - -Maude, wasting no tears, tiptoed to a room on the fourth floor. A key -clicked in a lock and in two minutes more, naughty Maude was bouncing -gleefully on Mabel's bed. - -"I've locked poor old Abbie in her bedroom," announced Maude. "And now -look at this!" - -Maude hurled a large scarlet bundle at Mabel's head. Fortunately, it was -a soft bundle. - -"Spread it out on the floor," directed Maude. "It's Miss Woodruff's -nightgown. Somebody told her that red flannel was a sure cure for -rheumatism, so she _wears_ that thing. It's perfectly enormous--it would -have to be or it wouldn't fit. Now, let's look in all the Lakeville -girls' sewing baskets for large white buttons and white tape--they won't -mind. We'll just embellish that nightie with a few nice pictures and -tack it up on Miss Woodruff's door--the girls will love it. We'll sew -those buttons on tight, too." - -Against the brilliant background, the naughty pair outlined grinning -faces with the white tape, making eyes and other features with the large -white buttons. A blazing sun adorned each wide front and Maude -accomplished a daring caricature of Miss Woodruff herself in the very -center of the broad scarlet back. Ordinarily, both Maude and Mabel hated -to sew on buttons; but now they fell upon the task with glee. - -"I've thought of something else," announced Maude, when this task was -finished. "Miss Woodruff hates tobacco smoke. There are several packages -of horrible cigarettes in Madame Bolande's room. You get the tin pail -that stands on the back porch. After awhile I'll build a tiny fire in -that and burn a bunch of those cigarettes just inside Miss Woodruff's -door." - -"Oh Maude--" - -"We've been so bad now that we might as well keep on," said Maude, -recklessly. "There's one thing sure; the next time they punish us they -won't leave us home--they won't _dare_. We'll have to keep Abbie locked -in until the very last minute so she won't undo any of our work. Now -I'll get a pitcher of water so we can keep the fire in our pail from -doing any harm; and anyway a little dampness will make that tobacco -smell worse." - -Maude and Mabel were in their beds and very sound asleep when the school -returned. Miss Woodruff went to the library to find a book before -ascending to her room; so most of the West Corridor girls had a fine -chance to see the strange and ludicrous object nailed to the poor lady's -door. Such a shout of laughter went up that Mrs. Rhodes hurried to the -corridor and Doctor Rhodes, startled at the unusual sound, followed -after. Poor Miss Woodruff arrived a moment later to find even Doctor -Rhodes convulsed with mirth. - -In one of his brief speeches to the school, Doctor Rhodes had once said -"Incapatiated" when he meant "Incapacitated." Perhaps he was remembering -the superior manner in which Miss Woodruff had corrected him. At any -rate, he now seemed able to enjoy a joke on that rather severe lady. - -Maude spent the next day in solitary confinement in the big lonely room -at the end of the North Corridor, far away from all her friends. She was -to stay there until she apologized. For some reason, Doctor Rhodes -failed to connect Mabel with the wicked doings of the previous night; it -is possible that Maude had shouldered all the blame; but when the second -day dawned, with Maude still obdurate, Mabel, without consulting any of -her friends, marched down to Doctor Rhodes's office. - -"Doctor Rhodes," said she, "I think you ought to know--that is, I think I -ought to _tell_ you--that _I_ sewed just as many buttons on that red -nightgown as Maude did; and I ought to be punished just as much." - -"Did _you_ take Miss Woodruff's silver cardcase?" - -"Why, no!" returned Mabel, indignantly. "Of _course_ I didn't." - -"Or Madame's cigarettes?" - -"No." - -"Or five dollars out of Madame's everyday hat?" - -"Oh, _no_. And Maude didn't touch the money or the card case. I'm sure -of that." - -"What about the cigarettes?" - -"She did take those and we both took the buttons and the tape; but -nothing else." - -"And you think you ought to be punished?" - -"Yes, Sir." - -"Perhaps you could suggest a suitable penalty?" - -"You might put me in solitary confinement in that room with Maude." - -Doctor Rhodes laughed and Mabel wondered why. - -"You'd better look up the meaning of the word 'Solitary,'" said he. "I -fear there are other reasons why your plan wouldn't work. You and Maude -are a pretty lively team. I think,"--with a shrewd glance at Mabel's -plump figure--"that this is a better punishment for you. No dessert for -dinner for a whole week." - -"Yes, Sir," said Mabel, looking as if a week seemed a pretty long time. - -"And you must apologize to Miss Woodruff." - -"I don't mind that," said Mabel. "I'm always having to apologize to -somebody, so I've had lots of practice." - -"That's an honest youngster," said Doctor Rhodes to himself when the -door had closed behind Mabel. "I'm sure she didn't take either that -cardcase or that money. And I don't believe that naughty Wilder girl did -either. Mabel is just a cheerful blunderer and Maude is just frankly -willful. They're both honest. But I'd give something to know who it is -that isn't--with all this smoke there must be _some_ fire." - -After Maude had spent two long days in the North Corridor bedroom, Miss -Woodruff thinking it was time for repentance to set in, tapped at the -door. Maude, supposing it was Annie or Mary with her supper tray, hopped -into the large black walnut wardrobe that stood against the wall and -drew the door shut, meaning to spring forth at the right moment and say -"Boo!"--but not until the tray was safe on the table. - -The room was dimly lighted. Miss Woodruff, thinking that the dark shadow -in the corner was Maude, stepped into the room and said, with dignity: -"Maude, I am ready to accept your apology." - -This, of course, was rather sudden. The culprit had no apology at her -tongue's end. Still, she had _something_--irrepressible Maude was never -_entirely_ at a loss. She opened the wardrobe door, smiled sweetly at -Miss Woodruff and said: - -"_Nous avons les raisins blancs et noirs mais pas de cerises._" - -Apparently Miss Woodruff didn't care whether there were cherries or not. -She went out and slammed the door. - - - - -CHAPTER XII - -A GROWING GIRL - - -After her third day of solitary confinement, Maude promised to apologize -properly to Miss Woodruff the next morning, immediately after prayers. - -"Miss Woodruff," said Maude, standing very slim and straight at her own -desk in the Assembly room, "I apologize for the things I did to -your--your _clothes_ the other night. I'm sorry it was necessary to do -them." - -"That will do," said Dr. Rhodes, raising his hand, hastily--for there was -no knowing how far irrepressible Maude might go, with all those other -girls ready to applaud. "I'm sure Miss Woodruff accepts your apology." - -"I do," replied Miss Woodruff, coldly, "but I should also like to have -my silver cardcase returned at once. I have always kept it on the right -hand side of my dresser, exactly six inches from my pincushion." - -"_Sacre bleu! Quel precision!_" breathed untidy Madame Bolande. - -"When I went to your closet to get that red--well, that red _garment_," -replied Maude, "I noticed that the top of your dresser was perfectly -neat and tidy. But I _didn't_ see any cardcase. It might have _been_ -there but I didn't notice it. I certainly didn't take it." - -"Very well," said Miss Woodruff. "You may now be seated. Classes -please." - -Mabel, the other culprit, was now behaving very well indeed. She was -learning her lessons, and, under the patient tuition of Miss Emily -Rhodes, was improving her naturally untidy penmanship. She was also -meekly, conscientiously and courageously going without dessert; and -never--it seemed to always hungry Mabel--had there been so very many -entrancing varieties of pie, so many choice puddings; and, of all weeks -of the year, that was the one that the fat cook chose for the -introduction of a brand new custardy affair that every one of the girls -declared "simply scrumptious." - -Usually, there was much swapping of food at meal time. Grace Allen -didn't like butter but Ruth Dennis did; and was glad to give her tapioca -pudding to Grace in exchange for Grace's daily butter. Augusta disliked -celery but adored pickles so she and Cora carried on an equally -gratifying exchange. Mabel always traded her lima beans for Alice -Bailey's cocoanut pie--Alice hated cocoanut--and of course, during that -dessertless week Mabel was obliged to refuse not only her own pie but -Alice's. But everybody liked the new custard. - -"Taste mine," tempted little Jane Pool. "It's just licking good. Come -on, nobody's looking." - -"No," sighed Mabel, "it wouldn't be honest. I _said_ I'd go without so -I'll go all the way--one week can't last forever." - -"Never mind, Mabel," comforted Maude, "I'll ask Nora to make this kind -_often_ next week and I'll give you my share just once so you can catch -up. Besides, I owe you that much--I led you into this scrape, you know." - -Going without dessert, however, was a small trouble compared with -mysteriously losing two full grown parents. Mabel's were still missing. -As she had no address except Berlin, she wasn't at all sure that her own -letters were reaching _them_. She and each of the other Lakeville girls -had had several brief, boyish letters from their friend and -fellow-camper, Laddie Lombard, the shipwrecked boy they had rescued at -Pete's Patch; but from her parents, not a word for so many weeks that it -made Mabel shiver to count them. - -Her thoughts, nowadays, were gloomy ones. What if she had to stay at -Highland Hall until she was faded and forty like poor old Abbie. What if -her skirts kept getting shorter and shorter (or what was more likely, -narrower and narrower) like Cora's. What if her middy blouses faded and -frayed like Sallie's, with no prospects of new ones. And what if she -_never_ saw her dear parents again--that was the worst thought of all. -Her plump easy-going mother, her kind, pleasant father. - -Yes, that was the worst thought of all. It weighed Mabel down. No matter -what else she might be doing at the moment, Mabel couldn't quite escape -from the steadily increasing weight of that puzzling trouble. - -"I'd give all four of my letters from Laddie," said Mabel, wistfully, -"for just a postal card with one little word on it from my mother." - -"Well," declared Gladys de Milligan, who also was watching the mail bag, -expectantly, "if I had a daughter as clumsy as you are I'd chuck her -into a boarding school and leave her there _forever_. I'd be _glad_ to -forget about her." - -"Anyhow," declared Mabel, crossly, "you don't need to chew gum in my -ear, even if you _would_ be that kind of a mother." - -The Lakeville girls tried to cheer troubled Mabel but she could see that -they, too, were becoming anxious. Indeed, Bettie had secretly written to -Mr. Black about it. Mr. Black, Bettie firmly believed, could fix -_anything_. - -"My goodness!" said Cora, one evening, when the girls were waiting for -Henrietta to come and tell them ghost stories on the spooky front -stairs, "here are the Christmas holidays coming right along and I don't -know what I'm ever going to _do_. I've written and written to my people -about the way I'm growing--told 'em I was seven feet tall if I was an -inch--and they won't _believe_ me. They think I'm _exaggerating_! Here I -am, growing a mile a minute; but my clothes, alas! are standing still. -I'm going home with Maude, to visit her perfectly scrumptious family, -and I haven't one single dud that's big enough either lengthwise or -sidewise." - -"Didn't the photographs work?" asked Helen Miller. For the Miller girls, -at Cora's request, had taken a number of snapshots of the growing girl -to be sent to her doubting parents. Perhaps Cora had grown a little at -the very moment in which she was snapped. At any rate the pictures were -slightly hazy as to outline; yet, to the girls, they looked convincingly -like Cora. - -"No," returned Cora, mournfully. "They didn't believe that it _was_ a -picture of me." - -"What are you going to try next?" asked little Jane Pool. - -"Nothing. I've given up. I've half a mind to stay right here for the -holidays." - -"Nonsense!" said Maude. "You can wear _my_ clothes--I've several things -that are too big for me--that new navy blue taffeta, for instance." - -"I _couldn't_ do that," said Cora, blushing until her freckles -disappeared. "Your people would know they were yours. I'd feel ashamed." - -"Yes, that wouldn't do," agreed Jean. - -"I know what to do," said Henrietta, who had arrived and was perched on -the substantial newel post. "We'll _all_ lend you things. You can take -that new white blouse of mine--it will have to shrink before _I_ can wear -it." - -"I'll lend you my pleated skirt," said Helen Miller, "you have it most -of the time, anyway." - -"I have a petticoat that would go with it," said Dorothy. - -"Please--please take my new umbrella," pleaded little Jane Pool, -earnestly. "I want to lend you _something_ and that's the only thing I -have that's big enough." - -"You're a bunch of darlings," said Cora, hugging them all by turns, "and -I'll be _glad_ to borrow your things." - -"Of course it's too late to be of any use for vacation," said Jean, "but -I have an idea. Why don't you ask Doctor Rhodes to write to your people -and tell them the horrible truth about your inches. Have Mrs. Henry -Rhodes measure you. Figures, you know, never--well, exaggerate. They may -believe Doctor Rhodes." - -"Angel child!" cried Cora, "I'll do just that. You've found the answer." - -Perhaps Jean had, for Doctor Rhodes, both amused and impressed by Cora's -remarkable plight, _did_ write to her people and the response was a -large box that arrived soon after Cora returned from Maude's. - -"And my goodness!" said exaggerating Cora, "there are tucks a mile wide -and hems a mile deep and a whole acre of cloth in _everything_." - -Three days after the evening on the stairs, the girls were all in the -school room when Sallie, a little late, came in with the mail bag. There -was a pleasing plumpness about the bag that day; and, as usual, all the -girls crowded into the space just below the rostrum, so that Sallie, the -post girl, looked down upon a small sea of eager, upturned faces. - -Sallie reached into the bag, as was her habit, and pulled out a letter. - -"Miss Eleanor Pratt," she read. One of the Seniors accepted it, calmly. - -"Miss Anne Blodgett, Miss Isabelle Carew, Miss Ruth Dennis, Miss Debbie -Clark, Miss Hazel Benton, Miss Gladys de Milligan, Miss Bettie Tucker, -Miss Augusta Lemon, Miss Beatrice Holmes--" Another Senior strolled -leisurely forward and condescended to accept a letter. Really, those -older girls were annoying; they were so _blase_ about their mail. - -"Miss Mabel Bennett," called Sallie, in her clear, strong voice. - -Mabel seized her letter and waved it, gleefully. "It's from _Mother_!" -she cried. "Hip, Hip, Hooray!" (There was nothing _blase_ about Mabel.) - -Sallie, beaming sympathetically, pulled another letter from the bag. - -"Miss Mabel Bennett," she announced. - -"It's from Mother," Mabel shrieked again. - -But when the third letter proved to be Mabel's, too, Mabel was too -breathless with excitement to do more than gasp. When she had received -five letters and four postal cards and a package containing thick, -remarkably substantial German handkerchiefs, one for herself and one for -each of her Lakeville friends, it was almost a relief to hear Sallie -read a different name; for even the lofty Seniors were staring at her in -astonishment. - -"It wasn't my _people_ that were lost," explained Mabel, after she had -read all this accumulation of mail. "For quite a long time Mother mailed -her letters in an old post-box that wasn't used any more for that -purpose. She didn't understand enough German when somebody told her that -wasn't the right one. But Father found out about it; and, after a long -time, they succeeded in getting the German postmaster to open the old -box and send her letters. So I'm not an orphan after all. And this week -I'm going to buy something lovely with every penny of my thirty cents -for Sallie, because she is." - - - - -CHAPTER XIII - -MANY SMALL MYSTERIES - - -Shortly before Christmas, Jean's father, Mr. Mapes, turned up just in -time to whisk the Lakeville youngsters aboard their train. The girls -were so glad to see a friend from home that they all but wept tears of -joy. Quiet Mr. Mapes was quite pleased and embarrassed at their -rapturous greeting--even Henrietta having surprised him with a kiss. - -"We'd be glad to see even a beggar from _home_," explained Mabel -earnestly and with her usual frankness--and wondered why Mr. Mapes -laughed. - -Mabel was to visit among her friends for the holidays. All the other -Highland Hall girls except homeless Sallie, Virginia Mason (a quiet girl -from far away Oregon) and poor old Abbie, who wasn't exactly a girl, -departed to their homes for a two weeks' vacation. - -It wouldn't be possible to describe _all_ the Christmas gifts that the -happy Lakeville girls received; but some of the more unusual ones -deserve mention. From Germany, Mrs. Bennett sent to each of the five -girls a lovely little Dresden pin of exquisite enamel. Mrs. Lombard, the -grateful mother of Laddie, the rescued castaway, presented to each a -beautiful gold locket containing a pleasing picture of her attractive -boy. Mrs. Slater had selected an interesting book for each of -Henrietta's chums; and from Mr. Black, each girl received a beautiful -leather writing case "with a place for stamps and everything," as Bettie -said joyfully. Mrs. Crane gave each girl a five dollar gold piece. But -Henrietta's father had sent nothing to his family. This was both -puzzling and alarming. He had never before failed to send wonderful -gifts at Christmas time. - -Of course the Lakeville girls had dispatched parcels to Sallie and had -written to her; so for once the post-girl had been able to deliver much -pleasant mail to herself. - -There was only one trouble with that vacation. It didn't last long -enough. - -"Dear me!" said Henrietta, when Mr. Black had returned them all safely -to Highland Hall, "those were the shortest two weeks that ever -happened." - -This second coming to Highland Hall, however, was quite different from -the first; and much pleasanter. The early arrivals greeted the late -comers warmly and there was much hugging and kissing in the corridors. -With one exception, all the girls and all the teachers had returned. The -exception was Madame Bolande. - -"I'm pretty sure she was fired," confided Sallie, inelegantly. "She was -in a furious temper when she packed her trunk the day after you left. -And I wish you could have seen her room afterwards. Dust and powder and -rouge all over the place--I had to help Abbie clean up. She wore her -stockings until the feet were gone and then threw them under the bed." - -"I knew she was too awful to last," said Hazel Benton. "But I did think -they'd be obliged to keep her for a whole year. I'm so glad they -didn't." - -At first there was no regular French teacher. Elisabeth Wilson, one of -the Seniors, attempted to carry on the classes; but found it difficult -to undo Madame's faulty work. Then one of the Theological students was -engaged temporarily; but so many extra girls among the day pupils -decided suddenly to take French that the young Theologian fell ill from -overwork. Then Henrietta offered to tide the classes over until Doctor -Rhodes should hear from the agency that was to supply the new teacher. - -The three Seniors were regarded by the rest of the pupils with -considerable awe, and it is time that you were hearing more about them. -In the first place they were quite old--sixteen or perhaps as much as -seventeen; but as Seniors sometimes do, they kept their ages a dark -secret. The other girls were permitted to spend only thirty cents a week -for candy and other eatables. Not so the Seniors. They could spend all -the money they liked, provided their parents supplied it, and they did. -They could even send to Chicago for large boxes of candy or cream puffs -or Angel's food cake and eat these delectable things at any hour of the -day or night, without interference. In the matter of clothes they were -not restricted to middies. They could wear what they liked and they did, -Eleanor Pratt was exceedingly dressy. Elisabeth Wilson was a walking -fashion plate and Beatrice Holmes of Indiana, managed to out-dress them -both. Occasionally, one or another of these superior young persons would -condescend to pass her box of chocolates to some of the younger girls; -but, for the most part, the proud and lofty Seniors, as Sallie said, -flocked by themselves and were not always polite when some thoughtless -young person from the lower forms "butted in." - -Their rooms were in the older part of the house and were much grander -than those of the other pupils. It meant a great deal to be a Senior--you -always spelled it with a very large S--at Highland Hall. - -But being a Senior did not exempt Miss Pratt, Miss Wilson or Miss -Holmes--never did any other pupil venture to address them as Eleanor, -Elisabeth or Beatrice--from losing certain, small belongings. - -Two weeks after the holidays, Miss Wilson reported the loss of a small -crescent pin, set with diamonds. Miss Holmes had searched her room in -vain for a valuable bracelet and Miss Pratt had broken a ten dollar bill -in order to buy a quarter's worth of stamps--and the change had vanished -from her purse. Yes, she _had_ been careless to leave it in the pocket -of her coat in the cloak room; but that was no reason why any one should -have taken it. - -"Anyway," said Sallie, "we know now that it isn't Madame Bolande who is -doing it; and that's something." - -"Of course," ventured Henrietta, "it couldn't be one of the Rhodes -family. I know there is some sort of a mystery about them. They all have -sort of a queer, shifty look about them; and they all shut right up like -clams when you ask questions. You can't even pry into poor old Miss -Emily's past without frightening her. This is an old school; but except -for Miss Julia I can't believe that the Rhodes people have been here -very long. Now _have_ they, Sallie?" - -"I can't tell you a thing," declared Sallie. "I promised not to and I -can't. There _is_ a sort of secret. It isn't anything _very_ bad. It's -just something that Doctor Rhodes thinks might make a difference in the -attendance if it were known--Goodness! I've told you more now than I -meant to. Please don't talk about it, Henrietta." - -"Of course I won't," promised Henrietta, "but I'm just as curious as I -can be and I'm going to pump poor old Abbie." - -But poor old Abbie showed unexpected strength of mind; she put her -fingers into her ears and refused to listen to Henrietta's -blandishments. - -"It ain't for me," said Abbie, "livin' here like I be, to be givin' -things away to prying young persons like you and that Jane Pool child -that's always pesterin' me about my past. I know what I know but you -ain't goin' to. What you don't know can't hurt you." - -Every week, some time between three and five o'clock on Saturday -afternoon, every pupil, not excepting even the lofty Seniors, was -expected to visit the huge attic above the older portion of Highland -Hall. Here, arranged in a neat border all around the big room, were the -girls' trunks. Only on Saturdays were the girls permitted to visit -them--it seemed, Bettie said, almost like getting back home to see them -again each week. - -Near the windows were benches and numerous brushes and boxes of -blacking. It was here that the girls blacked their shoes, or whitened -them, according to their needs. Saturday, likewise, was the day for -that. - -The third Saturday after Christmas, Mabel, always a little awkward, lost -her balance and fell backward into an open trunk. In her efforts to save -herself she clutched things as she crashed through the flimsy tray. She -came up with a ribbon belt in her hand. There was an odd buckle on the -belt. Mabel looked at it curiously. Bettie, polishing one of her best -black shoes glanced at it too. Then she looked at Mabel and lifted an -inquiring eyebrow. Then both girls stooped to look at the name on the -trunk. It was there in plain letters, "Gladys E. De Milligan." - -And then Gladys herself appeared suddenly at the top of the stairs with -a second armful of clothing to store in her trunk. She flew at surprised -Mabel like a small whirlwind and snatched the belt from her hand. - -"What do you mean," she stormed, "prying in my trunk! And taking my -things. I caught you doing it--I'll tell all the girls." - -"I _didn't_ pry in your trunk," protested Mabel. "I just _fell_ in. -Goodness knows I didn't _want_ to skin my shoulder on your old trunk; -and that belt is just what I got when I grabbed." - -"That's the truth," added Bettie. - -Gladys locked her trunk ostentatiously, pocketed the key and marched -downstairs. Mabel looked at Bettie, Bettie looked at Mabel. - -"The buckle on that belt looks a lot like the one that Helen Miller made -such a fuss about last fall," said Mabel. - -"I know it does." - -"Do you think we'd better say anything about it to the girls?" - -"Let's ask Jean." - -Now Jean was the kindest soul imaginable. Although she had known many -things to Gladys's disadvantage, she had kept silence herself and had -influenced her little friends to keep silence likewise. - -"Gladys may have found that buckle," said Jean, "and of course it's -possible that she and Helen had buckles just alike. I don't _like_ -Laura--I mean Gladys--but I don't believe we'd better say anything against -her to the other girls." - -"She says things against us," said Mabel. "She told Sallie that my -father was just a corn doctor and that all Bettie's clothes came out of -missionary boxes and that Marjory's Aunty Jane took in washing--and I -shan't tell you what she said about _your_ folks but it was just awful." - -"Well, let's not worry about it. The girls that we like best aren't -going back on us for anything Gladys can tell them and we don't have to -be mean just because _she_ is." - -"I suppose it is hard luck," said Bettie, "to be born the kind of person -Laura is. I agree with Jean. Let's forget her and think of pleasant -things." - -Laura was a clever girl in many ways. Naturally bright, she learned -easily. Naturally rather a forward child, not easily embarrassed, she -recited readily--in spite of her gum--and acquired good marks. She broke -very few rules. Even that rule that _every_ boarding school girl -breaks--the one about remaining in one's own bed from the time the bell -rings for "Lights Out" until it rings again for rising, even that rule -was seemingly unbroken by Laura. At any rate, no one ever caught her -breaking it. She was rooming now with Victoria Webster in the North -Corridor, Victoria having returned thither after the burglar scare was -over. - -Mrs. Henry Rhodes was matron of the North Corridor, where the Miller -girls, Ruth Dennis, Alice Bailey, Hazel Benton, quiet Virginia Mason and -some of the older girls roomed. Mrs. Henry, as the girls called her, was -easily the most attractive member of the Rhodes family. Quite a young -woman, she was both pretty and stylish in a quiet, very pleasing way. -Her abundant light brown hair was coiled neatly and becomingly about her -small head--she was slender--and not very tall--and Hazel Benton said that -she had an aristocratic nose. Most of the girls liked and admired her. - -She was not particularly severe or exacting in her duties as matron--Miss -Cassandra Woodruff was made of much sterner stuff, as the West Corridor -girls knew to their sorrow. Mrs. Henry had once been a boarding school -girl herself, likewise a college girl, and her sympathies were with her -charges. It was suspected that she didn't consider it a crime for -Dorothy Miller to slip across the hall into Ruth Dennis's bed to giggle -over some joke, or for Hazel Benton to slide into Alice Bailey's room -for a cough drop, or even for half a dozen of the girls to assemble in -Dora Burl's room for a smuggled in, midnight spread of cream puffs; so -it is possible that Mrs. Henry didn't listen, very hard when her charges -prowled about at night. - -In addition to being a popular matron, she had proved an excellent -drawing teacher. Also her needlework classes were turning out good work. -She had been married only a short time when her husband died; and, as -Cora put it, looked more like a young lady than a widow. - -"I wish," groaned Maude, the day after Miss Woodruff had caught her -after "Lights Out" on her way to Cora's room with a large box of cream -puffs under her arm, "that we could swap matrons with the North -Corridor. Mrs. Henry _knows_ that cream puffs have to be eaten fresh." - -"Yes," agreed Cora, "it was certainly a crime about those cream puffs. -Four dozen of them at sixty cents, besides what we gave Charles for -smuggling them in. Eight of us chipped in with our whole week's -allowance. And what did old Woodsy do but keep them in her warm room all -night, and then, after every last one of them had soured beyond hope, -she ordered them served for the whole school for lunch." - - - - -CHAPTER XIV - -UNPOPULAR MARJORY - - -Twice a week, from half past seven to nine, there was dancing in the -dining room. The tables were pushed back and the floor waxed. Sallie -Dickinson had to help with that, so, though she loved to dance, she was -usually too tired to do it. Miss Julia Rhodes and the three Seniors took -turns at the piano. Miss Julia played "The Blue Danube," and other -sentimental waltzes left over from her own rather remote girlhood. The -Seniors were much more modern. They played Sousa's rousing marches with -so much vigor that even Mabel, who had never really learned to dance, -felt simply compelled to get up and two-step. And when _two_ of the -Seniors, at separate pianos, pounded out "The Washington Post," stout -Miss Woodruff, who had been brought up to believe that it was wicked to -dance, kept time so vigorously with her feet that (in spite of her -hectic nightwear) she always suffered next day from rheumatism in her -plump ankles. - -Mabel's sense of rhythm was good and, for a heavy child, she proved -surprisingly light on her feet. At the same time she was clumsy and was -continually bumping into other dancers or getting in their way and being -bumped. Jean and Bettie danced only moderately well. Inexperienced Jean -was a trifle stiff as to knees and elbows and Bettie was not stiff -enough. Marjory was like a bit of thistledown, here, there and -everywhere, so that Jane Pool and little Lillian Thwaite were the only -persons sufficiently nimble to keep step with her. - -Henrietta danced very well indeed. She had had several terms of dancing -lessons and was, besides, naturally graceful. As a partner, Henrietta -was in great demand. In the early months of the school year, all five of -the Lakeville girls had been fairly popular, but now, since soon after -the Christmas holidays, something was wrong. Except for the girls from -her own town, no one but Sallie, Maude Wilder and Jane Pool asked -Marjory to dance. Little Lillian Thwaite had even gone so far as to -refuse Marjory's invitations. - -"I'm engaged for _all_ the dances," fibbed Lillian, glibly. - -Marjory might have believed her if she had not later heard Lillian -asking Gladys for the next two-step. For some reason Marjory was -becoming more and more unpopular and the little girl was quite troubled -about it. Any little girl _would_ have been. - -Gladys danced almost as well as Henrietta did; but Henrietta was the -pleasanter dancer to look at. She carried herself prettily, her clothes -seemed always just exactly right and Henrietta herself, with her -sparkling eyes, her vivid coloring, her dark, becoming curls, was always -an attractive sight. Gladys was invariably overdressed for these -occasions. Her hair was over-done and her complexion entirely unnatural. -She arched her back in an artificial way, crooked her elbows at curious -angles and managed to stick her left little finger out in a most -peculiar and quite ridiculous manner. Added to this, she invariably -chewed gum quite as industriously as she danced. - -"It wouldn't be so bad," commented Mrs. Henry Rhodes, viewing this -spectacle with amusement, "if Gladys chewed in time to the music; but -she doesn't." - -Even the frozen countenance of the older Mrs. Rhodes thawed into -something like a smile when Gladys danced and chewed. Still, apparently -many of the girls liked to dance with Gladys; but those who did held -aloof from the four Lakeville girls and more particularly from Marjory -and Mabel. - -"I know what I think," said Marjory, confiding in Mabel one evening when -they were the only girls who had not been asked by some one else to -waltz. "Laura Milligan has been saying things about us again, and more -and more of the girls are believing what she says. It gets a little -worse every dancing night. It's terrible to be _unpopular_." - -"I know it," agreed Mabel. "The only friends we have in this school now -are the girls that won't associate with Laura. Maude just hates her and -so does Sallie. Jane Pool does, too. And I don't think Victoria Webster -likes her any too well, even if she _does_ room with her." - -"The Seniors make fun of her," said Marjory; "I've seen them do it. Miss -Wilson imitates the way she chews gum and Miss Pratt sticks her little -finger out the way Laura does. If Augusta wasn't just a silly goose -herself she'd never waste a minute on Laura. And the Miller girls and -Isabelle haven't as many brains in their three heads as little Jane Pool -has in her one--I heard Miss Woodruff tell them that in school yesterday. -And Grace Allen hasn't any mind of her own at all. She just thinks what -Laura _wants_ her to think, and then passes it on." - -"The friends we have are _nice_ girls," returned Mabel. "Maude, Cora, -Sallie and the others. Just the same it makes me just mad to be snubbed -and cold shouldered and left out by _anybody_." - -"Me too," said Marjory. "I know you can't waltz, but let's get up and do -it anyway. We don't need to _look_ like wallflowers even if we are." - -There was another evidence of Marjory's growing unpopularity. Once in -two weeks there was a general spell down in the Assembly room. Some of -the girls loved it, some of them hated it, according to their ability to -spell; but they all quivered with excitement while it was going on. - -Two of the Seniors marched importantly to the far corners of the room -from which point, turn and turn about, they chose sides; and of course -it was considered an honor to be among the first called--and a disgrace -to be among the last. - -Jean and Marjory spelled very well indeed and were usually among the -first to be chosen. Mabel spelled just about as badly as anybody could -and was always the last. She _expected_ to be. She had grown accustomed -to her place at the end of the line and felt as if it belonged to her. -Bettie, Grace Allen, Augusta Lemon and Cora were easily downed; but -sometimes survived the first word. Isabelle Carew could spell if she -kept her mind on it, but once Miss Woodruff had given her the word -"Claritude," and she had gone to dreaming in the middle of it. She -spelled it "Clar_ence_." Of course, after that, everybody knew that -Isabelle could not be considered a dependable speller. - -But Marjory was. Her ears were keen and she liked to spell. It was a -difficult matter to spell her down. Sometimes _both_ Seniors, in their -eagerness to get her, called her name in the same breath and then -squabbled just like ordinary girls over which should have her. But now, -for some undiscoverable reason, Marjory was being left with Mabel until -the very last moment--until every other possible girl had been chosen. -And this dreadful thing had happened _twice_. - -The first time this happened, Marjory was so disconcerted that she -almost forgot how to spell the very easy word that fell to her lot. The -second time she was glad to hide behind tall Isabelle, who stood beside -her; for there was a large lump in her throat, tears in her gray eyes -and a tell-tale pink flush dyeing her small fair face from brow to chin. - -Truly it was a terrible thing to be an unpopular person. Marjory wished -she could sink through the floor, even if she landed, as she thought she -_might_, in the laundry tubs beneath. - - - - -CHAPTER XV - -A SURPRISING FESTIVAL - - -It was a dark afternoon outside and in. Sallie and the Lakeville girls -were darning stockings in Henrietta's room and the light was really too -poor for so gloomy an occupation. They were glad when Maude dropped in, -swept the stockings from the table and seated herself thereon. A few -moments later Cora and little Jane Pool strolled in, followed shortly by -Debbie Clark. - -"Come on in, girls," said Maude. "'_Nous avons les raisins blancs et -noirs mais pas de cerises._' In other words, there are no chairs but -help yourselves to the floor. You're just in time. Here's Mabel cross as -two sticks, Marjory terribly doleful for some unknown reason and -Henrietta sulking every day at mail time and for hours afterwards. Such -a grouchy bunch! What shall I do to cheer you up?" - -"It is rather dark just now," admitted Jean, "but you know we're all -going to the ice cream festival in the basement of the Baptist church -tonight. That ought to cheer most anybody." - -"Except Augusta Lemon," said Cora. - -"Why?" asked Henrietta. "Because we have to go early and get away from -there before the Theologs arrive on the scene at eight thirty?" - -"No, but she's torn a great jagged hole in the front of her best dress -and spilled ink on her second best frock. Since she's been going with -Gladys, she feels as if she _had_ to be dressy." - -"We ought to help her out," said kind-hearted Jean. - -"So we ought," said Maude, a wicked light beginning to dance in her -golden brown eyes. "I have a beautiful idea. I think we ought to help -her out a whole lot." - -"How?" asked Marjory. - -"Well, you know what a goose she is--how easy it is to make her do what -you want her to do--" - -"Yes," said Cora, "she hasn't any backbone." - -"Not a particle," agreed Sallie. - -"Well, then, I'll persuade her to let me dress her up for tonight. Let's -borrow the very gayest things we can find. Let's see how far we can go. -Let's make her look perfectly awful." - -"Oh, no," pleaded Jean. - -"Now be good, Jean, and don't spoil our fun," begged Maude. "We just -want to cheer these gloomy children up. I know Augusta will be a -cheerful sight when we get her all dolled up." - -"I'll do her hair," laughed Cora. "I'll _curl_ it." - -"You _couldn't_," declared Marjory. "It's the straightest hair that ever -grew." - -"I'll try, anyway. But where are the gay clothes coming from?" - -"There's that fearful sport skirt of Hazel Benton's," suggested Sallie. -"The one with the very wide green and white stripes. You might borrow -that, Maude." - -"And my bright pink sweater," offered Debbie Clark. - -"Dorothy Miller has a pair of awfully pink silk stockings," said little -Jane Pool. "And Augusta herself has a pair of those silly high heeled -pumps like Gladys's. Wouldn't it be fun to put pink bows on them!" - -"Ruth Dennis has some on her lamp shade," offered Sallie. "And her -curtains are tied back with pink ribbons. They'd do for her hair." - -"Good," laughed Maude. "Now there ought to be a blouse--who has the -gayest one?" - -"Isabelle has," said Mabel. "That robin's egg blue one." - -"Good," said Maude. "Now I'll go and gather in all those duds and dump -them in here. And then Cora and I will call on Augusta. After we get her -talked over, you can help dress her, Henrietta. The rest of you giggle -too easily--you'd give the show away. But you can peek in one at a time -through the transom if you're very careful." - -"I can provide a gorgeous string of bright red beads," offered -Henrietta. "And I know where I can get a pair of earrings. She'll be a -perfect scream." - -Augusta was not at all a pretty girl. She had a large, rather stupid -face (Henrietta said she looked like a sheep) a meager amount of very -stiff and very straight taffy colored hair, her complexion was pale and -pasty and her figure was bad; mostly because she was not careful to -stand nicely. She proved as easily led as Maude had predicted. She -accepted the girls' offer of assistance with alacrity. - -"You'd be lovely with curls," persuaded Cora, wickedly. "I happen to -have a curling iron and an alcohol lamp in my pocket right now. I was -just carrying them around--well, just carrying them around, you know. -Matches too. Well now, we'll just light up the little lamp--like that--and -we'll try a little curl--like this. Sit still so I won't burn your -ears--they stick out a good deal so I have to be careful. Here's -Henrietta--she'll tell us a lovely story while I curl. You're going to be -so beautiful that nobody will know which is you and which is the ice -cream." - -"Here's this adorable skirt," said Maude, returning with a gay armful of -garments. "But you ought to have a bath." - -"I had one last night," said Augusta. - -"Then I'll dress your feet," said Henrietta, grabbing the pink silk -stockings and flopping down on the floor. - -"But they're _pink_," objected Augusta, - -"They are Dorothy Miller's very newest ones," persuaded Maude, not -disclosing the fact that a color-blind aunt had given them to Dorothy -for Christmas. "She got them because--because her aunt read in 'The Well -Dressed Woman' that pink silk stockings should always be worn to ice -cream festivals." - -"Did she really?" demanded round-eyed Augusta. - -"Pink and green," declared Maude, hastily holding up the starched skirt -to hide her own smiling countenance, "are complementary colors, Mrs. -Henry says. You wear them together. The pink brings out the green and -the green brings out the pink. And robin's egg blue--that's your soul -color, Augusta." - -"It doesn't match the skirt," objected Augusta. - -"It matches your _eyes_," said Maude. "Oh, Henrietta! Her feet are -beautiful! Yes, I _like_ the bows on her pumps." - -"Ouch!" gasped Augusta, "you _did_ burn my ear." - -"I'll be more careful," promised Cora, whose shoulders were shaking. -"Just two more lovely curls and I'll be done--you never saw such adorable -curls. _Much_ nicer than Gladys's." - -"Now the pink sweater," said Henrietta. - -Suddenly there was a crash outside the door, a sound of giggling and of -swift scurrying. It was Mabel's turn at the transom; and the chair had -tipped over. Her friends hustled her across the hall along with the -chair and examined them both. There were bruises but nothing broken. - -"What was that?" gasped Augusta. "Something hit my door." - -"Nothing there," said Cora, peering into the hall. "The corridor's -perfectly empty. It was probably Miss Woodruff rising from her nap." - -"Wouldn't it be better," suggested Maude, thoughtfully eying gorgeous -Augusta, "if she were to wear her everyday dress over these things when -she goes down to dinner!" - -"Yes, indeed," agreed Henrietta. "I'll tell you what, Augusta. Let's -keep this a lovely surprise for the girls tonight. Not the curls. We'll -just slick those down a bit with a wide black ribbon. But we'll pull -some black stockings over the pink ones and cover your skirt and blouse. -The first minute after dinner we'll rush right up and peel you and put -on the pink bows and beads and things. _This_ is just sort of a dress -rehearsal." - -"The Highland Hall girls simply won't know you when they see you at the -festival," assured Maude, when Augusta had agreed to keep the secret -until her arrival at the church parlors. Poor Augusta was not accustomed -to so much attention from Maude, Henrietta and Cora, all of whom she had -admired from a distance, and it pleased her. And, in their hilarious -state over the success of their joke, the three naughty girls failed to -realize that in making a laughing stock of poor silly Augusta they were -not playing fair. - -It is true that they suffered a few twinges during dinner time when -pleased Augusta beamed at them with a new friendliness and insisted on -dividing her dessert among them; but when the proper time came, they -peeled her remorselessly, bedecked her with the ridiculous pink bows and -smuggled her into the procession without giving the secret away. - -The girls not in the secret _were_ surprised; but after all, it was the -plotters themselves who were the most completely astonished. - -Augusta in all her pinkness--not to mention her blueness and -greenness--was a conspicuous object; she was visible from any place in -the big room. Now, the Theological students were not to arrive until -much later; but the younger boys from Hiltonburg were there in full -force. There was an expectant flutter among the Highland Hall girls. On -a similar occasion, introduced by some of the day pupils, these same -boys had treated several of them to ice cream. Perhaps they'd do it now. -Extra ice cream would be very welcome for they had all spent their -weekly pocket money and Doctor Rhodes felt that he was sufficiently -generous when he provided one helping apiece for his large flock. - -But now, with one accord, all the boys at the festival, attracted by -Augusta's brilliant attire and not yet of an age to be critical, were -seized with a yearning to treat gorgeous Augusta to ice cream. They -begged to be introduced. They begged to be allowed to offer Augusta ice -cream and yet more ice cream. And cake and yet more cake. - -The wondering girls, staring at blushing Augusta, were amazed to see -that she was actually pretty, in spite of her outrageous clothes, for -her curled hair fell tenderly and becomingly about her glowing face, her -eyes were like stars and she fairly radiated happiness as she ate dish -after dish of ice cream. There seemed to be no limit to her capacity. - -"And here _we_ are," breathed Henrietta, "sitting in a long row like so -many sheep--" - -"And only one dish apiece," groaned Maude. "Next time I'll pin all the -pink bows on _myself_." - - - - -CHAPTER XVI - -MORE MYSTERIOUS HAPPENINGS - - -Very soon after this surprising occasion, there was another social event -and another surprise for our young friends; but not a _pleasant_ -surprise for anybody. A disgraceful thing happened. Miss Julia Rhodes's -music pupils gave a public concert in the Assembly room. It was not the -concert that was disgraceful; though, owing to the embarrassment of most -of the performers, the music was bad enough; and Hazel and Cora felt -that they had completely wrecked the occasion when, in stooping to draw -out the bench on which they were to sit while playing their duet, they -unexpectedly bumped heads, much to the amusement of the audience and to -the detriment of their duet. - -No, bad as it was, it wasn't the concert but what happened while it was -going on, that publicly disgraced Highland Hall. A number of the village -people were invited to the concert and the day pupils, of whom there -were perhaps a score, had been asked to bring their parents and friends. - -All these guests had hung their wraps in the lower hall, where -ordinarily the day pupils hung theirs. Several of the women had -carelessly left their purses in their pockets. When they attempted to -pay their carfare on the way home, not one of them had a single penny. -Some pilfering person had taken every scrap of cash from every purse, -and in some cases even the purses were missing. - -The principal losers wrote indignant notes to Doctor Rhodes, who -naturally was anything but pleased. - -Right after prayers the next morning, Doctor Rhodes called the school to -order. His face was sterner than usual and his voice was unusually -harsh. He told the girls what had occurred, and what a disgrace it was -to any school to have such very unpleasant things happen to its trusting -guests. - -"Moreover," said he, "many losses of jewelry and money by the pupils in -our own dormitories have been reported to me from time to time; and, -while it would have been possible, night before last, for a thief to -have slipped into that lower hall from outside, I have a feeling that -there is some one right in our own school who isn't--well, to put it -plainly--quite as honest as she might be. I don't like to say this or to -think it. I am sorry for the necessity. - -"It has been suggested that the person taking these various things might -save herself trouble if she were to leave them on the table in the -library some time during the day. That room is never occupied during -school hours; so the repentant thief would be entirely safe from -observation. I am giving some one a very good chance to get out of an -unpleasant predicament. I hope she will take advantage of it and mend -her ways from this time forward." - -Of course after that, even a very stupid person could have guessed the -topic of conversation wherever little groups of girls gathered together. -Oh, how their tongues did wag! Oh, how they whispered and nodded their -heads! And oh, how many more young persons had lost things that they -hadn't hitherto mentioned. Of course they wondered all day long what was -happening in the library. But the day passed and the library table was -still empty. Nothing had been returned. - -Jean and Bettie were dressing for dinner the next night when Sallie, in -a most unusual state of excitement, burst into their room, and flung -herself upon Jean's bed. - -"I'm--I'm so mad I could scream," sobbed Sallie, thumping the pillow with -her clenched fist and lashing the air with her feet. "I could kill all -that Rhodes family. I--I--I--" - -But now Sallie's words were drowned in sobs. - -"Goodness, Sallie, don't cry so," said Jean. "You're in an awful state." - -"Who _wouldn't_ be in an awful state if--if--" More sobs. - -"There, there," comforted Jean, patting the heaving shoulders. "Get a -glass of water for her, Bettie. That's right. Now take a little drink, -Sallie." - -"If--if it were anybody but you," said Sallie, suddenly jerking herself -upright, "I'd throw that water straight in your face! I'm so _mad_!" - -But Sallie clawed the wet hair from her own face, drank the water and -handed the glass to Bettie. - -"There, now," said she. "I guess I can talk. You know where I room up on -the top floor with Abbie? Well, _you_ know and everybody else knows that -Abbie has no money; and that I have just about as much as Abbie has -which is just none at all. We are the only people in this school who -have _no_ spending money. The other Doctor Rhodes used to give--" - -"The _other_ Doctor Rhodes," gasped Bettie. - -"I didn't mean to say that," returned Sallie, quickly. "What I mean is -just this. I have no money and everybody knows it. Very well, then. I'm -the very person that would steal money. And jewelry. I--or poor old -Abbie." - -"But you wouldn't," soothed Jean. - -"But--but some folks _think_ I would. Now, a real paying pupil would get -mad and go home if Mrs. Rhodes searched her bureau drawers, wouldn't -she?" - -"I should say so," agreed Jean. - -"Well, Mrs. Rhodes and Mrs. Henry Rhodes searched mine and Abbie's." - -"But they didn't _find_ anything," comforted Bettie, "so you don't need -to care." - -"But they _did_. There was a pocketbook under the pin cushion. Mrs. -Drayton's calling cards were in it. She lost hers here the other night, -you know--and that wasn't the worst. There was money in it--more than two -dollars." - -"Were you right in the room all the time?" queried horrified Bettie. - -"No, I happened to go upstairs quietly and there they were looking in -all our bureau drawers and under our mattresses and even in the pockets -of our clothes. They had already found the purse." - -"Was Abbie there?" - -"No, she was down in the kitchen. Doctor Rhodes sent for me and for -Abbie to go to the office. He asked us which of us took that pocketbook -and I could see that poor old Abbie was just as surprised as I was--you -know you can always see just what she thinks. And, oh! Abbie thought _I_ -took it. She gave me _such_ a suspicious look. - -"And then, Doctor Rhodes asked her if she had ever known of my stealing -anything before that. Oh, _think_ of him asking that! And Abbie--well, -you know Abbie is never very positive about anything. She said 'I don't -know. I don't guess I ever did.' But I could just see that she thought I -_had_ taken that miserable purse. She's so simple minded that she -believes anything you tell her. She could see that those Rhodes people -were accusing me, so she believes, of course, they were right." - -"But _we_ don't," Jean and Bettie assured her. - -"But other people will. I don't know what to do. I'd run away if I had -any place to run to." - -"If you ran away," said Jean, wisely, "they'd be _sure_ you had done it. -It's braver to stay right here and go on just as usual. _We_ know you -didn't do it--why, we _know_ you didn't. And tomorrow when I have my -drawing lesson I'll tell Mrs. Henry Rhodes that you told me all about it -and I'll let her see that Bettie and I believe in you. And she'll tell -Doctor and Mrs. Rhodes--I'll ask her to. Mrs. Henry understands girls; -and she always helps us when we ask her to." - -"Don't worry," comforted Bettie. "It'll come out all right--I know it -will. Things always do if you just wait long enough." - -"I wonder," said Isabelle's fretful voice in the hall, "what's happened -to dinner--it's ten minutes past the time." - -"My goodness!" cried Sallie, "I forgot all about that bell." - -"I wish," said Jean, after Sallie had scurried away down the corridor, -"that Sallie wasn't a boarding school orphan. She's much too nice. I -like her ever so much." - -"Yes," agreed Bettie, "she's one of the sweetest girls in this school -even if she hasn't any clothes or pocket money or anything. And I'd -believe in her even if they found a bushel of strange purses under her -pin cushion." - - - - -CHAPTER XVII - -HENRIETTA IS WORRIED - - -"I used to think I _liked_ to get letters," said Henrietta, walking up -and down the long veranda, arm in arm with Hazel Benton and Jean, "but -now I don't. My sweet old grandmother doesn't say much but I can see -that she's worried to death because she doesn't hear from my father--she -always asks if _I've_ heard. We haven't either of us had a word since -last June. Of course, often it is two or three months between letters -because he gets into such unget-at-able places; and when there, gets so -interested in what he is doing that he doesn't realize how the time is -getting away, and quite often there are no postoffices that he can -possibly reach. But he does try to write often enough to keep us from -worrying. Then there are some people in England who look after his money -and other business matters for him. Well, grandmother says _they_ -haven't heard from him; and she thought perhaps I'd brought my last -letter from him with me--it had the name of a place that he _might_ have -gone to in it. But I left it in Lakeville--I think I can tell her just -where to look for it--in one of those lovely little boxes that he sent me -from India." - -"It must be lovely," breathed Hazel, "to get presents from India." - -"It is--when I'm getting them. But now I don't like any of Grandmother's -letters. I just hate to open them. She's trying not to frighten me and -at the same time she's just scaring me to pieces. I didn't think much -about it before I left home last fall, but when I didn't get a single -thing from him at Christmas time (he _always_ sends me things for -Christmas) I was sure there was something wrong. And then, of course, I -began to think of all the things that _might_ happen to a man that looks -at a map and then plunges right into it, whether it's wet or dry, the -way Daddy does. And goodness! It's a wonder there's a man left on this -earth. I can imagine such _awful_ things. I wake up in the night and -worry for hours." - -"What does your father do for a living?" asked Hazel. - -"He doesn't do anything for a _living_," explained Henrietta, who for -some time had been wearing a worried expression that was new to her. "He -just does what he does because he's perfectly crazy about digging up -things--like tombs and buried cities and old marble statues. He'd rather -find the nick that came out of a prehistoric platter than to own a brand -new set of dishes." - -"He must be quite handy with a shovel by this time," said Hazel. - -"Oh, he doesn't do the digging _himself_," explained Henrietta. "He -hires folks--natives mostly. They do the actual digging but he is always -right there to make sure that they work carefully. Otherwise they'd -smash valuable finds and that would be worse than not digging them up at -all. He knows a wonderful lot about pottery and old metals and marbles -and--just loads of things. He's an archaeologist." - -"No wonder you were able to spell the whole school down on that word, -yesterday," said Hazel. "It must be wonderful to have a father like -that." - -"It would be," returned Henrietta, soberly, "if he didn't have to take -such dreadful risks." - -"He has been lost several times," comforted Jean, "and he has always -turned up again all right." - -"Yes, but once he was sick and almost died of a horrible fever; and -another time some Arabs robbed him and kept him for three months in a -perfectly dreadful prison, and another time his guides got frightened -and deserted him and he had to buy himself back from the folks that -captured him." - -"No wonder you can tell us stories on the front stairs," exclaimed -Hazel. "But isn't there any way to search for him?" - -"Well, there's this about it. If Mr. Henshaw, in London, gets really -worried, he'll send a relief expedition to hunt him up. They did it once -before." - -"Well," said Hazel, "I hope they'll find him. And that reminds -me--speaking of lost things and things that you dig up--my precious lapis -lazuli beads are gone. I wore them to church two Sundays ago; and I -_know_ I put them back in their case, in my bureau drawer. When I opened -it this morning, the case was empty. I reported it to Doctor Rhodes at -once and it's on the bulletin board right now. Those beads don't look -like so very much but they cost a young fortune. They're _good_. You -see, I have a daughterless aunt who gives me lovely things--except when -she goes alone to pick them out as she did those pink stockings; she's -color-blind, unfortunately. Never anything useful, you know, just -luxuries. Mother says Aunt Annabel hasn't a sensible idea in her head." - -Jean laughed suddenly. Then she explained the cause of her mirth. - -"I had a funny thought," said she. "If Hazel's aunt and Marjory's Aunty -Jane were shaken up in a bag, it might make two average aunts, mightn't -it, Henrietta? Marjory's aunt doesn't believe in luxuries--" - -"Then," interrupted Hazel, with an odd, searching look at Jean, "Marjory -doesn't have very many?" - -"None at all," returned Jean. "She's really an abused child. But I'm -sure her aunt thinks all the world of her." - -"Marjory was crazy about those blue beads of mine," said Hazel. "I let -her wear them once in awhile before Christmas." - -"That's so," said Henrietta. "You and Marjory were quite chummy for -awhile, weren't you? Why aren't you chummy now, if a lady may ask?" - -"I don't know," returned Hazel, evasively. "That is, I don't care to -say. We just aren't friends." - -"If it's anything that Gladys de Milligan has said," offered Henrietta, -"you don't need to believe it. That girl has tried to say mean things to -me about every girl in this school. She's a wretched little beast and I -detest her." - -"I don't _like_ her," said Hazel, "and I don't listen to her when I can -help it, but some of the things she's said have been _true_." - -"That's the worst of Gladys," said Jean. "She always manages to mix a -little truth in with her yarns; and that makes people believe them." - -"Mercy!" whispered Henrietta, a few minutes later. "How long have Gladys -and Grace been walking just behind us? How much do you suppose they -heard?" - - - - -CHAPTER XVIII - -A STRING OF BLUE BEADS - - -That very night, during the dancing hour, Marjory Vale was one of a -group of girls clustered about Henrietta, who was demonstrating a new -dance, that later became exceedingly popular. - -Marjory, in the middle of the floor, was plainly visible when she pulled -her handkerchief from her pocket. Something came with it--a long string -of dull blue beads. The metal clasp had been caught in the hemstitching -of the handkerchief but now came loose, allowing the heavy beads to land -noisily on the hardwood floor. Marjory gazed at them for a long moment. - -"For goodness' sakes!" gasped Marjory, genuinely surprised. "How did I -do that?" - -"My beads!" shrieked Hazel, springing from her chair and pouncing on the -necklace. "Marjory Vale! _You_ took those beads out of my drawer." - -[Illustration: "My beads!" shrieked Hazel, pouncing on the necklace] - -"I never did," said astonished Marjory, turning crimson and looking the -very picture of guilt. "I noticed those beads on your neck the night of -the ice cream festival--I haven't seen them from that moment to this. I -don't know how they got in my pocket. Just before dinner time I rushed -up and got into this dress--I always dance in this one, you know, and had -laid it out on my bed before I went to walk. We were late getting back -and I had to hurry into my clothes. And this is the first time I've -taken my handkerchief out tonight." - -"I suppose it _is_ your handkerchief," said Hazel, rather unpleasantly. - -"Why, no," said Marjory, "it isn't. It has Dorothy Miller's name on it." - -"Then you couldn't have gotten it by accident," said Hazel. "The North -Corridor washing comes up on a different day from yours." - -"I don't _know_ how I got it," said Marjory, two large tears rolling -down her cheeks. "But I--I think you're just _mean_ to me, Hazel. And I -_liked_ you." - -"Come and sit down," said Sallie, slipping an arm about Marjory. "I know -just how you feel." - -A curious thing had happened just after those heavy beads crashed to the -floor. The older Mrs. Rhodes, seated near the wall to watch the dancing, -turned her glittering black eyes toward Mrs. Henry Rhodes and the two -women exchanged a most peculiar look. Then, with one accord, they rose -and left the room. - -Five minutes later, Mrs. Henry had taken a curious bundle from the very -back corner of Marjory's bureau drawer. She placed it on the bed and the -two women proceeded to untie a large handkerchief, such as most of the -girls wore with their middies. - -The bundle contained two of the purses lost on the night of the concert -but they were now empty, a ring that Mrs. Rhodes herself had lost, a -wrist watch belonging to one of the Seniors, a number of handkerchiefs -marked with other girls' names, a silk sweater that belonged -unmistakably to Augusta and various other small but incriminating -objects. Nearly everything still bore its former owner's name. - -"So it's Marjory Vale!" said Mrs. Rhodes. - -"It looks that way," said Mrs. Henry, "but--" - -"Tell Doctor Rhodes to come right up here," ordered the older woman. -"Then you tell the Vale girl that she's wanted in her room." - -Marjory found the Rhodes family standing beside her bed and pointing -accusingly at the opened bundle. - -"What have you to say to this?" demanded Doctor Rhodes. - -"What _is_ it?" asked Marjory. - -"Don't try to brazen it out," said Mrs. Rhodes, in her most terrible -manner. "You know very well what it is. We found this bundle in your -bureau drawer hidden under your clothes. Whose sweater is this?" - -"It looks very much like Augusta's," returned Marjory. - -"Whose watch is that?" - -"I don't know. It isn't mine." - -"Is this your ring?" - -"Not any of those things are mine. Those handkerchiefs seem to be Miss -Wilson's. There's a name on them." - -"Where is the money that was in these pocketbooks? Mrs. Bryan lost seven -dollars and Mrs. Brown lost five--their cards are still in their purses." - -"I'm sure I don't know. I've had my thirty cents a week and that's all. -If you really found those things in my drawer, somebody else must have -put them there. I didn't." - -The Rhodes family didn't know exactly what to think. Marjory was -sometimes thoughtlessly just a little bit impertinent, sometimes -inclined to giggle when the occasion demanded sobriety, sometimes -fidgety when quietness would have seemed more fitting; but Mrs. Henry -Rhodes who, of the three, knew her best, had never known her to attempt -to lie. If anything, indeed, she could recall times when Marjory had -seemed almost too truthful. - -"I think," said Mrs. Henry, with a kind hand on Marjory's shoulder, "we -had better let this matter rest a little until something else comes up. -There is something very queer about it. That pocketbook in Sallie's room -and now this. And everything so clearly marked." - -"But I don't _want_ this matter to rest," protested Marjory. "I want it -cleared up right away tonight. My goodness! This is just awful. I do -love those beads of Hazel's; but I didn't take them. And, oh dear! There -_are_ girls that are going to believe I did unless you clear things up -at once. I don't _want_ folks to think things like that about me." - -"Of course we'll do what we can," assured Mrs. Henry, "but it may take a -little time. You must be patient for a little while, even if you have to -rest under a suspicion that you don't deserve. Shall I take these things -away?" - -"Please do." - -"And you know nothing at all about them?" asked the older Mrs. Rhodes. -"You're not keeping them for Sallie Dickinson?" - -"For Sallie? Oh, _no_. Sallie wouldn't have taken them--I'm sure of -that." - -"What about your roommate?" - -"Henrietta? Why! Henrietta wouldn't either." - -"Don't worry too much," advised Mrs. Henry. "You'd better go to bed and -forget your troubles for tonight." - -When Henrietta went to her room almost an hour later, she found poor -little Marjory huddled in a small heap on her cot, weeping bitterly. -Between sobs she told Henrietta what had happened. - -"Cheer up," said Henrietta, kissing Marjory's hot ear because that was -the only dry spot in sight. "We wanted to come sooner but we didn't -dare; you know it's against the rules to go to our rooms during a social -evening; but Jean is going to slip in after 'Lights Out' and cuddle you -a little. That's a good deal for Jean to do, you know, when she always -behaves as well as she can. And it isn't as bad as you think. I believe -in you--that's one. The rest of the Lakeville girls believe in you--that's -four more. You believe in yourself, that's six. Sallie and little Jane -Pool adore you, Maude swears by you and there are others--" - -"It's the others that worry me," sighed Marjory. "They're going to be -just beastly to me, I know." - -Marjory was right. If several of the girls were not "Just beastly" they -were pretty close to it. One of Hazel's beads had been broken and that -fact made Hazel more unforgiving than she might have been. Before long, -too, the story of the black bundle found in the little girl's room -leaked out (no one knew just how), and many were the scornful glances -cast at poor Marjory. If she had been unpopular before, she was -considerably worse than unpopular now. She seemed to shrink visibly -under the scathing looks of her schoolmates. She even began, it was -noticed, to wear a guilty look that proved exasperating to Henrietta. - -"Hold your head up," Henrietta would say, vigorously shaking her little -friend. "You haven't a thing to be ashamed of. For mercy's sake, look -folks right in the eye as you used to. You're not half as bad as you -_look_. You're a _good_ child. Well, then, _look_ like a good child." - -"I can't help wondering," confessed poor Marjory, "if I took those -things in my sleep. Those blue beads--I just loved them." - -"And that horrible magenta sweater of Augusta's--I suppose you loved that -too." - -"Well, of course, I'd _have_ to be asleep to take that. But _do_ you -think I _could_ have taken those things in my sleep?" - -"Of course you didn't, Marjory. You didn't take them at all. It was some -kind of an accident. I've thought sometimes that poor old Abbie wasn't -quite right. You know how absent minded she is. I don't think she'd -steal anything; but she goes around in sort of a daze and her hands keep -plucking at things, as if her mind were in one room and her body in -another, like the time she set the dining room clock back and then -accused everybody else of doing it. She's always doing things like that. -And you know she's always had to do such a lot of picking up after years -and years of careless girls--well, perhaps she's gotten the habit of -picking up things unconsciously and putting them in places where they -don't belong." - -"Well, anyway," pleaded Marjory, "do watch me. If you catch me taking -things in my sleep I hope you'll be able to prove that I _am_ asleep. -And let's all of us keep an eye on poor old Abbie daytimes. You _might_ -be right about her." - -"A letter for Miss Henrietta Bedford," said Sallie's voice at the door. -"Charles was late again today. Hope it's a nice one, Henrietta." - -Henrietta ripped her letter open hastily and read it. - -"It _isn't_ a nice one. It's from my grandmother. That London man that -looks after Father's affairs has started for China to hunt for him. Mr. -Henshaw thinks he went to Shanghai but isn't sure. You see, girls, there -really _is_ cause for alarm. I'd like to go right over there and help -search for him; but of course I couldn't. And it's awfully hard to have -nothing to do but wait." - - - - -CHAPTER XIX - -SALLIE'S STORY - - -During the dark days when Marjory and Sallie were under a cloud of -suspicion; when Henrietta was worried and unhappy about her much loved -and missing father and when Maude was again in disgrace with Miss -Woodruff, it was natural that this little group of warm friends should -spend the leisure moments of the long afternoons together. And of course -Cora, Jane Pool, Jean, Mabel and Bettie, always loyal, no matter what -happened, stayed with them. But, in spite of the fact that these were -the unhappiest days that these particular girls had ever spent, they -were not without some brighter moments. And Maude Wilder, you may be -sure, managed to provide some of the brightest. - -On one of these afternoons, Maude found it necessary to explain to -Sallie (who slept on the upper floor and had therefore missed the fun) -the cause of her present disgrace. - -"Of course I ought not to have done it," said Maude. "But you know they -took us to the movies Saturday afternoon to see 'Treasure Island.'" - -"Yes," said Sallie. "I had to stay home to clean the silver--Annie had a -sore finger." - -"And you know how sad we all were over the hymns Sunday night?" - -"We always are," returned Sallie. - -"Well, when we were all trailing sadly up the front stairs to bed, -afterwards, I had a lovely idea. I thought it would be fun to dress up -just like one of those lovely 'Treasure Island' pirates so I did -it--bloomers, sash, black eyebrows, whiskers, black hat with sweeping -plume and everything. I was a bold buccaneer all right, wasn't I, -girls?" - -"Yes," assured Cora, "she looked the part, provided you didn't examine -her too closely." - -"Of course, after I was all fixed up, I wanted other folks to enjoy the -fun too; so I started out in this corridor. I had a lovely time. I poked -my head in at one door after another and growled in a deep bass voice: - - "'Fifteen men on the dead man's chest-- - Yo-ho-ho, and a bottle of rum! - Drink and the devil had done for the rest-- - Yo-ho-ho, and a bottle of rum!' - -"Of course Isabelle shrieked and Augusta screamed and Lillian yelped -like a puppy and Marjory squealed; and altogether this corridor was full -of lovely noises when I slipped out of it. I got across the square hall -all right and into the North Corridor. I had a lovely time there, too. -Victoria just laughed, but Gladys gasped like a fish and pretended to -faint and the Miller girls fell into each other's arms and bleated. It -was just heavenly. And then suddenly it was all over. The bell rang for -'Lights Out,' and there was I at the far end of the North Corridor. All -that long way from my own room." - -"What _did_ you do?" asked Sallie. - -"Well, you know a swarthy pirate doesn't light up very well in the dark; -so, knowing that I was no longer a fearsome sight, I started to sneak -back to my own room. I _started_ all right, but just then Mrs. Henry's -door opened and Miss Woodruff came out. I'd have been all right even -then, but as luck would have it, the hairbrush that I had thrust into my -manly belt dropped with a horrid clatter on the hardwood floor. - -"But I was right near the vacant room at the end of the North Corridor. -The door was open and I slipped in. And slid under the bed. And, my -goodness! You could hear my heart beat all over the place; and you know -what ears our dear Miss Woodruff has. - -"What did she do but come into that room and sit on the very bed I was -under and _listen_. It was awful. She sat and sat and sat and listened. -And I knew that Mrs. Henry was standing just outside her own door -listening too. I didn't dare breathe, but my heart kept right on -thumping like a brass knocker on a front door. It was moonlight outside, -the shade was up part way and she was sitting on the side next the -window. Her skirt was pulled up a little way at the back so I could see -her thick ankles very plainly and a little of her fatted calf above -them. - -"Girls, I just couldn't help it. I _had_ to pinch her leg. I _had_ to do -it. I know it was crazy. I know it was the very last thing I _should_ -have done; but my thumb and finger went right out and did it. - -"She let out the grandest shriek you ever _did_ hear, and streaked out -of there as if a whole regiment of pirates were at her heels. Mrs. Henry -switched on all the lights and came on a run; and all the North Corridor -girls popped out of their rooms and Miss Woodruff came back. And there -was I, a crushed and humiliated pirate, crawling out on all fours; but -Miss Woodruff looked so funny that I just looked up at her and said as -sadly as I could: '_Nous avons les raisins blancs et noirs mais pas de -cerises._' And of course all the North Corridor girls roared. I knew -they would." - -"What _did_ she do to you?" asked Sallie, when the girls' shrieks of -mirth had finally subsided. They loved Maude's tales of her own dreadful -doings quite as well as Maude loved to tell them. - -"She said I was a bad influence to you younger girls--" - -"You're not," said Henrietta. "Not one of us would attempt to follow in -your wild footsteps. We wouldn't dare." - -"And she said that I ought not to give way to my wicked impulses--" - -"They're, not really wicked," said Jean. "At least you never do anything -sneaky and you always tell the truth." - -"And," finished Maude, "I'm perfectly incorrigible and I shall never -grow up to be a lady." - -"I think you will," laughed Henrietta. "The _good_ die young, you know." - -"Didn't she punish you?" asked Sallie. - -"_Didn't_ she?" returned Maude. "I have to learn and recite a whole -Chapter of American History. Prose, mind you. And she picked out the -very dullest chapter in the whole book." - -"I'll say this for Miss Woodruff," laughed Henrietta. "Sometimes she -shows remarkable ingenuity in her punishments. That one will keep Maude -out of mischief for some time." - -"I wanted dreadfully to go to that movie," confessed Sallie. "I read -that book last vacation and I loved it. But Mrs. Rhodes keeps finding -more and more things for me to do Saturdays and I just can't get through -in time to go any place." - -"Tell us about your own people," pleaded Jean. "You know you always -promised to." - -"Yes," begged Bettie, "begin way back at the very beginning and tell us -how it all happened. Perhaps our friend Mr. Black might tell us what to -do in a case like that--we write to him every week you know. He might -know how to find some of your lost people." - -"I'm sure it's too late to do any good," said Sallie, soberly. "But I'll -tell you about it. To begin with, I was about nine years old when my -mother died. We were living then in a little bit of a town in Wisconsin. -We had always moved about a great deal. You see, my father was always -trying new things and new places--he used to say that he was a rolling -stone; and then my mother would say: 'Never mind, John, you'll roll to -the right spot some day.' - -"Well, after my mother was gone, we went to Chicago and lived for a -little while in a big apartment house. The only person that we knew very -well was an old man that everybody called 'Grandpa' but he wasn't really -my grandfather--or anybody's that I know of. He had a couple of rooms -next to ours. I think he must have done some sort of writing for a -living--copying perhaps--but I'm not very sure about that part of it. -Anyway, he used to carry written papers away in an old black portfolio -and come home with it empty. And when he wasn't doing that, he was bent -over his desk writing. He was very absent minded--always hunting for his -spectacles when they were on top of his head and often putting his -teakettle on to boil and letting it go dry. Father used to remind him to -put his coat on when he was going out. - -"I suppose my father found me a good deal of a nuisance daytimes. -Perhaps he was more tied down than he liked to be and there were no -relatives to look after me. I know that my mother's people were dead and -my father said once that _he_ had nobody in the world but me. - -"Anyway, he decided to put me into a girls' school. He picked one out, -bought me some clothes and a small trunk and told me that I must keep my -new things nice and clean, because, in just about a week, I was going on -the cars to a good school for little girls, where there would be lots of -good women to take care of me while he was away at work." - -Sallie's face wore a strange but very sweet expression while she was -telling her story. The girls gazed at her sympathetically and listened -intently. There was not a sound in the room but Sallie's gentle voice. - -"The very next day," Sallie continued, "my father was taken sick. I -don't know what ailed him, but he was _very_ sick. He gave Grandpa some -money and asked him to take me to that school when the time came and -Grandpa promised to do it. Of course I didn't want to go when Father was -so sick; but Grandpa said I must be good and not worry my father, so I -_had_ to go. Well, I suppose it hadn't occurred to my father to write to -that school to reserve a place for me--I know now that that is the proper -thing to do; but lots of parents don't seem to know about it. Several -have turned up _here_ with an unexpected girl on opening day; but this -is a very large school and perhaps not one of the most popular ones so -it doesn't make so much difference--there are always vacant rooms. - -"But when Grandpa presented me at that other school--and I couldn't tell -you where it was if you offered me a million dollars--it was full and -they couldn't take me--or at least they wouldn't. They gave Grandpa quite -a long list of other schools and some catalogues and we went to two -other schools before we found one that would take me." - -"Was it this one?" breathed Bettie. - -"Yes, this very one. But, by the time we reached this place, we had been -getting on and off trains all day. I was so sleepy that I tumbled off my -chair and I guess poor old Grandpa was just about walking in his sleep. -We'd had a _dreadful_ day. Somebody, I don't know who, led me off and -put me to bed. That's the last I've ever seen of either my father or -that poor old Grandpa." - -"But didn't you write?" queried Jean. - -"Yes, indeed. So did Doctor Rhodes--not _this_ Doctor--hum--well, this -Doctor's cousin. But our letters came back from the Dead Letter Office." - -"What does a dead letter look like?" demanded Mabel, with sudden -curiosity. - -"Just like any other kind," returned Sallie, "except that they come in a -special envelope." - -"Then," said Jean, "for anything you know to the contrary, your father -and this grandfather person may still be living in that apartment, in -Chicago?" - -"No," returned Sallie. "They're not. You see my tuition was paid for the -full school year. It was getting along toward the summer vacation when -Doctor Rhodes began to write to my father. Afterwards he went to that -apartment in Chicago to ask about him; but they could tell him nothing -more about him. Then Doctor Rhodes went to a number of hospitals and -learned that a John Dickinson had been discharged, after a long, long -illness; and that he was still very far from strong when he left the -hospital to look for work." - -"The apartment people told Doctor Rhodes that poor old Grandpa had had a -breakdown and had been placed in an asylum. Doctor Rhodes visited that -place but the poor old man had forgotten all that he had ever known of -either me or my father; and quite soon after that he died." - -"Then," said Henrietta, "your father may still be living." - -"Yes," returned Sallie. "But, if he were, wouldn't he hunt for me until -he found me? There's this about it. I'm sure that he thought that he was -putting me in a place where I'd be safer and better cared for than I -could be with him." - -"Did he have very much money?" asked practical Henrietta. - -"I don't think he had a great deal. He used to say that he was a poor -man; and the houses we lived in were always rather small and poor. My -mother, I think, had belonged to nice people. As nearly as I can -remember, she spoke nicely and wouldn't let me use slang; and I _think_ -her father was a clergyman--I can remember an old photograph; but I'm not -very sure about that. - -"And here I am now, just like poor old Abbie--a boarding school orphan, -with not a relative in the world." - -"No, you're _not_ like Abbie," declared Jean. "We won't _let_ you be -like Abbie. You're smart enough to crawl out of your hole; but Abbie -never was." - -"Now," pleaded Henrietta, "tell us the secret about the Rhodes family. -We're dying of curiosity about that." - -"No," replied Sallie, firmly. "If I were paying my way with real money I -_might_ break my promise and tell. But I don't know that I would, -either; it would take a lot of courage to break a promise to Doctor -Rhodes. But, of course, as long as I owe him for my bread and butter, I -just couldn't do it." - -"Of course you couldn't," agreed Maude. "It wouldn't be honorable." - -"That's just the way I feel about it," sighed Sallie. "And there isn't -really anything very dreadful about that secret after all." - -"Except our curiosity," said Henrietta, "that's just _eating_ us." - -"Pile off this bed, girls," said Cora, who had looked at her watch. -"It's ten minutes to dinner time and Sallie has left all your hair -standing right on end." - -"Say, Sallie, ring the old bell fifty-nine seconds late," pleaded Maude. -"I have to change my dress and the other one buttons behind." - -"I'll button it all the way downstairs," promised Cora. - - - - -CHAPTER XX - -A JOYFUL SURPRISE - - -Marjory was still more or less in disgrace the day that Doctor Rhodes -announced that at last he had secured a new French teacher to take -Madame Bolande's place. - -"Her name is--Ah! I've forgotten it. No, Miss--er--Miss Flower. That's it. -Miss Flower. She is not a French woman but comes very well recommended. -It has been difficult at this particular time to find exactly the right -person; but I think you will all be pleased." - -Doctor Rhodes was to prove a better prophet than he suspected. When the -time came, some of the girls were _more_ than pleased. - -"Flower," whispered irrepressible Maude, into a convenient ear. "She -must be a regular daisy." - -"Perhaps she's a Texas sunflower," returned Victoria. - -That afternoon, of course, all the Highland Hall girls, bristling with -curiosity, congregated on the veranda to watch for the station hack. - -"I'm mighty glad to give up my job," said Henrietta, pausing near one of -the many groups. "Eighty minutes of hard labor a day are quite a strain. -That last Theolog was used up in less than a week and all my skirt bands -are getting loose--all that hard labor with French verbs. I hope Miss -Flower is an improvement on Madame Bolande." - -"Madame Bolande is the best French teacher _I've_ had," said Gladys de -Milligan, rather pointedly. "I haven't learned a thing since she left." - -"Of course, if you _like_ that kind," retorted Henrietta. "Come on, -Hazel. Let's stand on the railing and see if the old 'bus is on the way. -I don't have to be dignified any more." - -Ten minutes later, a young woman descended from the timeworn hack. As -she paid the driver, she stood in a patch of sunlight. From the veranda -she was plainly visible and rather more than sixty eager young eyes, -with no intention of rudeness on their owners' part, took in every -detail of the new teacher's neat costume and dwelt pleasurably on her -very attractive countenance. But suddenly there was a most remarkable -commotion on that veranda. Five girls were scrambling down the steps, -regardless of seated schoolmates, and five joyful voices were shrieking: - -"It's Miss Blossom! It is! It is! It's our Miss Blossom! Our own Miss -Blossom!" - -"And _this_," cried Mabel, triumphantly, "is the Flower we get!" - -Much to the new teacher's surprise and bewilderment, she was seized and -hugged and kissed and squeezed by five excited girls. - -"Well, I declare," said she, when she could get a good look at them. "I -_wondered_ if this school always welcomed new teachers this way. If it -isn't Bettie, and Jean and Marjory and Henrietta and Mabel! Isn't this -great. And I thought I was going to be all alone among strangers. This -is certainly too good to be true. Jean, you look just the same and good -enough to eat. Bettie, you're taller and plumper too--you're looking -fine. Marjory, you little mite; you aren't as big as you were the last -time I saw you--are they abusing you at this place? Here's Henrietta as -lovely as ever--but you're pale, my dear. And Mabel--Why, Mabel, I do -believe you're taller--and thinner. And _aren't_ you good looking! But -you all look as sweet as peaches and cream to _me_." - -"If we'd all picked out the person that we wanted most to come to this -place," declared Mabel earnestly, "that person would have been you." - -Every one liked Miss Blossom, the pleasant young woman who had spent a -summer in Lakeville and had played in Dandelion Cottage with Jean, -Bettie, Marjory and Mabel; and had later paid them a visit at Pete's -Patch, where she had met pretty Henrietta. - -Never was teacher more popular. Before long, almost every girl in the -school was completely in love with the charming young woman. And now, -some of the girls who had listened most credulously to Gladys's -unpleasant tales about the Lakeville children, began, little by little, -to doubt these tales. Miss Blossom was so very attractive, so genuinely -good, so admirable in every way, that it couldn't be possible that she -would _like_ those four Michigan girls if Laura's tales were entirely -true. And there was Henrietta, too, evidently firm in her belief in -Marjory's honesty. Surely if those two really particular persons -considered Marjory a nice child, perhaps she wasn't as black as she -appeared to be painted. - -The next dancing evening, Victoria Webster delighted Marjory by inviting -her to two-step and Debbie Clark asked her for a waltz. - -One night, almost a week after the new teacher's arrival, Jean and -Bettie were spending an evening in Miss Blossom's own room. They had -slipped away from the West Corridor without telling the other Lakeville -girls where they were going. They appeared to have some weighty matter -on their minds and were evidently not quite at ease. - -"We want to tell you something," explained Jean, fidgeting a little in -her chair. "It's a long story and some of it is quite horrid; but we -need your help." - -"We _wanted_ to come sooner," added Bettie, "but we thought we ought not -to bother you until you were settled and a little bit used to the -school." - -"Very thoughtful of you," assured Miss Blossom. "But now we have a long -evening before us and I'm ready to listen with all my ears." - -So Jean, with some help from Bettie, told about the various thefts of -money and other things, about Marjory and the blue beads, about Sallie -and the stolen purse under her pincushion and the handkerchief full of -purloined articles in Marjory's drawer. About Laura and her mean little -way of saying unpleasant things about the Lakeville girls. - -And then they told Miss Blossom what they had been careful to mention to -no one else. They recounted their past experience with Laura in -Lakeville; told how she had maliciously destroyed the wonderful vine -that grew in their garden; and how now she had stolen the priceless -treasures from their precious treasure boxes. How she had taken even the -precious handkerchiefs that Miss Blossom herself had embroidered for the -girls. - -"Miss Blossom," confessed Jean, who was obviously not enjoying her task, -"we haven't known _what_ we ought to do. We thought, if Laura had -changed for the better, that it wouldn't be right for us to tell that -she had changed her name and done things to her hair; and that when we -knew her in Lakeville, she was common and dishonest and all that. When -she came here she seemed improved in sort of a way; even if it wasn't -exactly a way we liked. And of course we didn't want to be unfair to her -in any way or to do anything that wasn't kind. We _couldn't_ like her; -but we _were_ perfectly decent to her. And even now, we may be mistaken. -We may be wronging her; but we can't help thinking--Well, here is this -thing about Marjory and that other thing about Sallie--" - -"Those pocketbooks," said Bettie, "in their two rooms. Marjory and I are -almost sure that one person did that." - -"I think so too," said Jean. "But I've thought and thought and thought; -but I just didn't know what I ought to do about it--or if I really ought -to do anything. But there is poor Marjory getting thinner and thinner -and our poor sweet Sallie--we do love Sallie, every one of us--with no -people of her own to take her part. It does seem as if something ought -to be done." - -"Don't worry about it any more," said Miss Blossom, with a wonderfully -soothing hand on Jean's troubled brow. "Something _is_ going to be done. -Our Marjory is going to hold her head up again and our Sallie is going -to be proved honest; but you don't need to think about it for another -minute. You did perfectly right in coming to me and I'm glad you came. -But now you must run along to bed--there's the nine o'clock bell. Good -night and pleasant dreams to both of you." - -Miss Blossom spent the next half hour with the Rhodes family. She told -them what she knew of the Lakeville girls and of Gladys de Milligan, who -had once lived in Lakeville as plain Laura Milligan. - -"A silly girl with a foolish mother," commented Doctor Rhodes. "Yet, -strangely enough, there is no pupil in this school who has higher marks -in her studies or for general deportment than this overdressed Milligan -girl." - -"And I'm sure," said Mrs. Henry, with a twinkle in her blue eye, "that -Gladys would come first in any gum chewing contest." - - - - -CHAPTER XXI - -A GIRL LEAVES SCHOOL - - -The next morning, during school hours, Mrs. Rhodes and Mrs. Henry Rhodes -searched Laura's room. There was nothing in it that did not belong to -either Laura or her roommate Victoria Webster. Under the cover on the -dresser top they found Laura's trunk key and carried it to the attic -trunk room. - -There was nothing unusual about the tray of Laura's trunk except the -large hole that Mabel had made by tumbling into it. But when the tray -was lifted out and several layers of clothing were removed, it looked -very much as if all the mysteries were solved. A fat little roll of -banknotes, tied up neatly with a pink ribbon, a candy box full of silver -coins, several pairs of silk stockings marked with the names of the -three Seniors, every article of jewelry that had been reported missing, -as well as some others that the careless owners had not yet missed. - -[Illustration: It looked very much as if all the mysteries were solved] - -"My opera glasses!" exclaimed Mrs. Henry. - -"My real lace collar!" cried Mrs. Rhodes. "I suppose this _is_ Gladys's -trunk?" - -"Oh, certainly. Can't you smell the perfume? Nobody else uses this kind. -Besides, her name is on the outside." - -"Yes, that's right. Now, I wonder what we'd better do about this." - -"We'll have to talk it over with Father. I'm afraid there's no doubt -this time." - -"I'm sure there isn't," returned Mrs. Rhodes. "It's the de Milligan girl -without question. I don't know why I didn't suspect her sooner." - -"Well, _I_ didn't," said Mrs. Henry. "And she was right in my own -corridor. I'm awfully sorry about all this." - -"I'd have been sorrier," returned the older woman, grimly, "if it had -been any other girl. I never did like this one." - -When Laura was called into Doctor Rhodes's office and invited to explain -how all those things had found their way into her trunk, she appeared to -be very much surprised. She was _sure_ she didn't know. She said she -supposed that Sallie Dickinson had put them there, or if not Sallie, one -of the maids; or possibly Marjory Vale. Marjory was ever a deceitful -child, much given to thievery. She herself had often warned the other -girls against Marjory. - -Laura, standing with her back against the wall, seemed quite calm and -unconcerned, except that she shifted her chewing gum from side to side -with greater frequency than usual. - -Doctor Rhodes had rather a terrible eye. Two of them in fact. He fixed -them both on Laura's unperturbed countenance and gazed so very sternly -at her that presently Laura began to quail. She gulped suddenly and -swallowed her gum. And then she began to stammer excuses. - -She liked pretty things. She couldn't resist taking things when it was -so easy to do it. Her fingers _liked_ to take things. She didn't always -want what she had taken. Sometimes she wished afterwards that she hadn't -taken them. Her father was stingy and wouldn't give her expensive -trinkets. Her mother _would_ but didn't have the money. Her mother -_wanted_ her to have nice things. - -When did she take the things? Oh, at night sometimes. Her roommate, -Victoria Webster, slept like a log and didn't miss her if she left the -room. Or daytimes, by getting upstairs ahead of the other girls it was -easy enough to dash into a room, grab a bracelet or a pin left -carelessly about and hide it in her pocket. There were plenty of chances -like that, when girls were so heedless with their belongings. Really, it -was the girls' own fault _much_ more than hers. Yes, she _had_ put those -beads in Marjory's pocket while the dress was on Marjory's bed, and she -had placed that purse in Sallie's room. She _wanted_ people to think -they had taken them--it had seemed a clever thing to do--perhaps it wasn't -as clever as she had thought. But if Doctor Rhodes would just forgive -her _this_ time, she wouldn't touch another thing, _ever_. - -"But what about Sallie?" questioned Doctor Rhodes, hoping to find a -little redeeming conscience in Laura. "And that other youngster, -Marjory? How are _they_ to be cleared?" - -"I don't care about _them_," returned vulgar little Laura, -hard-heartedly. "They're just nobody. Marjory's folks don't amount to -anything--just a queer old aunt in a small town--and everybody knows -Sallie is just nothing--no folks or money or anything else. Now listen -(Laura _always_ said 'Now listen'): _My_ father has made money in the -automobile business. He's richer--" - -"Do you mean to say," demanded Doctor Rhodes, "that you'd actually be -willing to let those honest little girls rest under a suspicion that -they don't deserve just because they happen to be poorer than you are? -That you'd hide behind them--" - -"I don't care anything about _them_," repeated Laura, stubbornly. -"They're nothing to _me_." - -"However," returned Doctor Rhodes, "in simple justice, they will have to -be cleared--and they are _going_ to be cleared. _I_ care, if you don't, -what happens to those children. It's my duty to protect my pupils--" - -"Well, then," interrupted Laura, hopefully, "why not protect me? -Folks'll forget all about it after awhile and _nobody'll_ be hurt so -very much. Aw, come on, now. Just forget it all." - -"I'm going to tell the truth," declared Doctor Rhodes, who was finding -Laura quite the most detestable child he had so far encountered. "There -is no place in this school for a dishonest girl or for a girl with so -little kindness for her fellow pupils. There is such a thing as school -spirit--" - -"Well, anyhow," pleaded Laura, "just wait another two weeks. I'm not -coming back after Easter vacation; so you might as well wait until then -before you give me away, if you're going to do it. My mother has a -friend that says he'll give me a good job in the movies; and that's what -I'd _like_ to do. You can give those things back to their owners after -I'm gone and say any old thing you like about me. It won't hurt me any -then." - -"Wouldn't you _rather_ have people remember you with liking and -respect?" asked Doctor Rhodes, thoroughly shocked by Laura's hardened -conscience. "Have you no shame at all?" - -Laura shrugged her shoulders, a trick she had perfected by watching -Madame Bolande. She tilted her chin and partly closed her eyes--to show -her complete indifference to what people might think of her. She was not -at all pretty when she did these things. - -"I can see no reason for sparing you in any way," said Doctor Rhodes, -coldly. "You may go to your room now and write for your mother to come -for you at once. If she isn't here inside of three days I shall -telegraph for her. Within five minutes after your departure, I shall -state on the bulletin board that Miss Gladys de Milligan has been -expelled under circumstances that absolutely prove the innocence of -every other pupil in this school." - -All this was done. Untruthful Laura, making her farewells airily, told -her friends that she was merely going home a little ahead of time in -order to have a longer vacation for spring shopping and necessary -dressmaking. She'd see them all again right after Easter, and bring back -lovely presents for all of them. She borrowed Augusta's best middy scarf -in order, she said, that her mother might select about a dozen like it -for her to give to the other girls. Augusta, of course, never saw either -cheap little Laura or the precious scarf again. - -Laura was certainly not a nice child; but circumstances were against -her. She possessed a decidedly foolish, unladylike and not altogether -truthful mother so perhaps Laura's lack of good qualities was not -entirely her own fault. With a really nice mother, she might have been a -really nice girl; but Mrs. Milligan's daughter had very little chance. - -During the last three days of Laura's stay, it seemed to Jean that -things were not clearing up as rapidly as Miss Blossom had predicted. -She wondered if, after all, nothing had been done for Marjory. Poor -little Marjory, in spite of Jean's encouraging words, in spite of Mrs. -Henry's reassuring smiles and Miss Blossom's hopeful glances, could see -no way out of her troubles. Hazel still drew her skirts aside when -Marjory passed and snippy little Lillian Thwaite still almost tipped -over backwards in her efforts to turn her very small nose up in -Marjory's presence (for sticking-up purposes, it was really a very poor -nose). And to Jean's surprise, there was Laura, apparently perfectly -unconcerned, going on just as she always had. Was nothing _ever_ going -to be done to clear Marjory and Sallie? - -Notwithstanding many unusual kindnesses from her Lakeville friends--even -always-hungry Mabel begged her to eat part of her favorite -dessert--puzzled Marjory felt that the sky was dark above her and the -world a terrible place for little girls just her size. And then, quite -suddenly, Laura was whisked away by her mother, and Doctor Rhodes, chalk -in hand and frowning prodigiously, was approaching the fateful bulletin -board. - -You can imagine how, five minutes after Laura's going, the always -curious girls flocked to the bulletin board to see what Doctor Rhodes -had posted thereon. How eagerly they read the astonishing announcement -and how their tongues wagged afterwards. How glad Marjory and Sallie -were to have the mystery cleared away and how relieved the Lakeville -girls felt at having their precious Marjory emerge from the cloud that -had obscured her happiness for so long a time. - -"Right after Gladys's mother came this morning," said Sallie, "there was -_something_ going on in the office. It sounded very much like a very -angry woman telling Doctor Rhodes just what she thought of him; but of -course I didn't stay to listen--I _wanted_ to just awfully. But when I -went back afterwards with the message I was waiting to deliver, the lady -was gone and poor Doctor Rhodes was mopping perspiration from his -forehead, although the room was quite cold. I guessed he'd been having a -right trying interview with somebody. He looked perfectly wilted." - -Mabel giggled. "I guess he had one all right if it was Mrs. Milligan. We -used to hear her in Lakeville." - -But Jean watched the smoke of the train that was bearing tawdry little -Gladys Evelyn de Milligan toward Chicago, and out of this tale, and was -sorry. - -"Poor foolish Laura," she breathed, "I'm so sorry you had to be you. You -were smart enough to have made a perfectly lovely girl and I did have -hopes of you." - -"_I_ didn't," said Mabel, "and I'm glad I don't have to be polite to her -any more. It's hard enough to be polite when you really _want_ to be. -But when you're all impolite inside--" - -"We know what you mean, Mabel," laughed Henrietta. "And now that I know -the horrible secret you've been keeping from me all this time I am -filled with admiration for all four of you. I remember now that you told -me long ago about a horrid child named Laura; but I never dreamed that -she and Gladys were the same person. And you, Mabel, with your 'impolite -inside' are a complete surprise. I didn't think you could keep a -secret." - -"Jean _made_ us," returned Mabel. - -"Well," assured Henrietta, "I think you were right to give Gladys a -chance. It was noble of you to do it even if it hasn't turned out as -well as you expected. And isn't it great to have Sallie and Marjory -cleared! And there's Hazel apologizing this very minute for being so -nasty to Marjory about those blue beads." - -"She's _lending_ them to Marjory," gasped Jean. "She's fastening them -about Marjory's neck." - - - - -CHAPTER XXII - -A MYSTERY CLEARED - - -For the proverbial nine days, tongues wagged furiously at Highland Hall; -but seemingly to good purpose. The girls who had allowed doubts of -Sallie and Marjory to creep into their hearts now strove earnestly to -make up for their former unjust suspicions. Even the Seniors came down -from their lofty perches long enough to stuff both girls so full of -cream puffs and chocolate creams, dill pickles, ripe olives and angel's -food cake that for three days after this never to be forgotten feast -they were unable to eat their regular meals. - -"As for my legs," laughed happy Marjory, after the next social evening, -"they're just ready to drop off--I've had so many invitations to dance." - -"So have I," said Sallie. "Isn't it great!" - -"And the way those two Seniors scrapped over Marjory at the spell down -today!" exclaimed Maude. "They both called at once and she was the very -first one called. The rest of us were green with envy." - -"We've all been more popular lately," said Bettie. "I'm afraid Laura did -us more harm than we realized." - -"I think so, too," said Jean. "I've felt all this week as if large black -clouds had rolled away and let a great big chunk of sunshine drop right -down into Highland Hall." - -"There's one cloud left," mourned Henrietta. "I don't get a single scrap -of encouraging news about my father; and now, every time I look at poor -old Abbie, I say: 'Just suppose anything happens to my grandmother and -the family money. Where will _I_ be? Right here washing windows like -Abbie and looking for seven years' bad luck because I've smashed a -looking glass.'" - -"Poor Abbie has enough foolish superstitions to keep her in bad luck for -ninety years," laughed Jean. "You and Sallie seem to be haunted by the -same nightmare. I'll promise you both this; on the day that you and -Sallie get to looking just like Abbie, I'll start for Europe on foot." - -With Laura gone, Highland Hall seemed really a different place. Now, -except for occasional scraps among some of the older pupils, one -realized that there was a wonderful spirit of friendliness among the -girls. Even the once frosty Seniors had thawed to an unusual degree. - -"They've gotten used to themselves," explained Sallie, who had had -almost six years' experience with Seniors of assorted kinds. "At first -they are always so set up over all their privileges that they just can't -associate with ordinary girls; but after a few months of solitary -grandeur they are _glad_ to climb down off their perches and associate -with the rest of us. Now that they're asking us to their spreads and -coming to ours they're having much better times than they did earlier in -the year." - -"Of course," said Maude, with one of her funny grimaces, "you can't -'spread' so very much on thirty cents a week; but our popcorn party was -all right and when we all chipped in and bought a barrel of apples--that -was great. The Seniors' heels looked just like anybody else's when they -dove to the bottom of the barrel for the last ones. And our molasses -candy pull in the laundry--" - -"Ugh!" groaned Mabel, "I was just like a web-footed duck--my hands, I -mean. Cora had to scrape me all over with a knife and she didn't care -how much skin she got. It was even on my shoes--" - -"What! Your skin?" - -"No, the candy. Some folks can pull it when it's hot and sticky but I -never can. It just gets all over the place." - -"Anyway," said Marjory, wickedly, "the Seniors laughed until they cried, -seeing you try, so you contributed something to the entertainment." - -"Isn't it lovely to have friends?" said Sallie, a little later, when she -was seated beside Marjory on the veranda steps. - -"Yes," returned Marjory, a little wistfully, "but I'm not sure that I'm -exactly pleased with some of my newest ones. Augusta and Grace Allen -told me yesterday that they never _did_ like Gladys. And Isabelle says -she's ashamed to have Clarence know that she ever went with Gladys. -Isn't that just awful--to go back on anybody like that! Of course I don't -care much for Isabelle or Augusta, anyway; but I did think I might like -Grace. But now I'm not going to. I like friends that _stick_." - -"So do I," agreed Sallie, heartily. "And I think we both have some of -the sticking kind." - -One spring morning just after morning prayers when all the pupils were -gathered in the Assembly room and Miss Woodruff was ready to call the -roll, Doctor Rhodes stood up and said: "One moment, please." - -There was a little creaking all over the room as the girls settled -themselves in listening attitudes. Doctor Rhodes was sure to be -interesting. - -"I have a little confession to make," said Doctor Rhodes. "Perhaps some -of the older girls will remember that I called them into my office -immediately on their arrival last fall, told them a piece of very sad -news and asked them to keep a secret for me." - -Some of the seats creaked again as several of the older girls nodded -their heads. - -"I believe," continued Doctor Rhodes, "that you have all faithfully kept -that secret, which is still a secret from the new girls. This is it. I -am not the Doctor Charles Rhodes, whose name is in our catalogue and -_has_ been in our catalogue for nearly thirty years. I am his cousin, -Doctor Julius Rhodes; a physician, not a Doctor of Laws--you have noticed -the letters LL.D. after my cousin's name. - -"Some of you will remember that Doctor Rhodes was ill last June at -Commencement time. He died in July. I was his nearest relative; and, in -time, when his affairs are finally settled, I shall inherit his estate. -The lawyers considered it unwise to announce Dr. Rhodes's death at that -time, though of course there were the usual notices in the papers. But -no changes were made in the catalogue and no formal notices were sent to -the pupils; as it seemed almost certain that any such announcement would -cause the attendance for the following year to fall off, perhaps to the -lasting detriment of the school. The lawyers suggested that I take -charge of the school and keep it going, particularly as Doctor Charles -Rhodes had expressed a wish to that effect. - -"I was handicapped in one way. The courts were not yet ready to hand -over to me the surplus fund of school money in the bank. I had very -little capital to put in and certainly no experience with boarding -schools for girls. I was not a teacher. Perhaps you have noticed that -your instructors, with two exceptions, are members of my own family. -They very kindly consented to help me through this first year; and I -think you will agree that they have proved fairly good teachers, even if -that hasn't always been their regular profession. Miss Woodruff, of -course, and Miss Blossom are regular teachers. I thought I might venture -to afford two. - -"I think you will agree that my most serious blunder was the engaging of -Madame Bolande--I assure you that I didn't see her first. Except for that -one regrettable mistake, everything has gone so well and so -prosperously, that I have decided to tell the whole truth now (and take -the consequences if there are any) instead of waiting, as my lawyers -advised, until my cousin's estate is fully settled. I shall feel happier -with everything quite open and above board. That's all, except that I -feel much indebted to the young ladies who have so kindly kept my secret -to the present time." - -Of course, for a day or two after that, Highland Hall buzzed again with -excitement and the newer girls besieged the older ones with questions. - -"Doctor Charles Rhodes," explained Sallie, "was a perfectly lovely old -man. Everybody just adored him; he was so gentle and sweet. He hadn't -any family of his own left; but he seemed, some way, as if he were -everybody's grandfather. He was wonderfully good to me and to poor old -Abbie too. In his time we had our pocket money just as the other girls -did--out of his own pocket, I suppose. If Abbie had been bright to start -with she wouldn't have been the forlorn creature that she is now. He -gave me every chance to learn; and I'm sure that Abbie had the same -chances but was too stupid to take them. Probably no one but a kind man -would have kept Abbie; she's never been good for very much. - -"But when this new Rhodes family came, it was all so different. At -first, I didn't like Doctor Julius Rhodes at all--or any of his family. -But after awhile I began to see that things were not so terribly easy -for _them_. The housekeeping job proved awfully hard on poor Mrs. Rhodes -and she just sort of stiffened up under it in a queer way. I guess she's -a good deal of a mummy anyway and this job makes her more so. She _is_ -harder on Abbie and on me than the old housekeeper used to be; but at -that her looks are the worst part of her." - -"Well," agreed Henrietta, "she can't help her looks--that's the way she -was made." - -"I like Dr. Julius Rhodes much better than I did at first," continued -Sallie. "I hated him at first. Of course he doesn't look one bit like -his cousin; that was one reason. In the next place, I hated having those -people flock down here in my dear old Doctor Rhodes's own home; and in -the third place, it didn't seem quite right to me to keep a thing like -that hidden--to let people go on supposing that it was still Doctor -Charles Rhodes when it wasn't. But I overheard Dr. Rhodes and one of -those lawyers talking in the office one day and I gathered then that -Doctor Rhodes didn't like keeping that secret himself--he _wanted_ to -tell, but the lawyer said it wasn't good policy. And now, even if this -Doctor Rhodes isn't a lovely, gentle, sweet old man like Doctor Charles, -I think he makes a very good head for this school. And when he is able -to handle the school funds, there will be more regular teachers and he -won't have to work his family quite so hard." - -"At that," said Maude, "the family isn't so bad. Mrs. Henry is a dear, -everybody says that old Miss Emily is terribly thorough and Miss Julia -certainly makes the girls practise. And you all know, I'd _gladly_ swap -Miss Woodruff for any one of them--I still have seven pages of American -History to learn by heart and recite." - -"But tell me," pleaded Henrietta, "did they really open the girls' -letters, as Cora thought they did, to see if they'd written home about -that secret." - -"Mercy, no!" replied Sallie. "They _have_ to look over the addresses on -those letters. They do it every day. Your folks wouldn't get half of -your letters if they didn't--the girls are always leaving off towns or -states or stamps. But only _one_ of them ever writes 'Dear Clarence' on -the outside of her envelope." - - - - -CHAPTER XXIII - -PIG OR PORK? - - -The spring did perfectly wonderful things to the land adjacent to -Highland Hall. It was really time that _something_ was happening to -improve that rather cheerless prospect. During the fall and winter -months, the landscape had been mostly brown and gray and black, often -more or less disfigured with patches of dingy snow; and a general misty -bleakness surrounded the big, rather ugly building. But, with the coming -of spring all this was changed. One could now see why the school -prospectus had stated that Highland Hall was "beautifully located." - -The building stood at the top of a broad knoll. The level portion of -this was covered by a well kept lawn--tall, lanky Charles, with his sandy -hair on end and his angular elbows greatly in evidence, might be seen -galloping over it with his lawn roller, getting certain bare spots ready -for seed. The sloping banks were grassed also but this grass grew at its -own sweet will; and then, quite suddenly it _wasn't_ grass but long -stemmed violets. You could gather tremendous bunches of them and still -there were millions left--popular Miss Blossom was fairly besieged with -bouquets. Then, farther down the hillside were great patches of snowy -bloodroot and miniature groves of mandrake with their hidden, creamy, -heavily perfumed cups. There were wild crab-apple trees wreathed with -wonderful pink and white buds and blossoms. The edges of the unsightly -ditches along the road suddenly became brilliantly green and pink with -oxalis and there were sheltered nooks along the margin of the grove that -were blue with mertensia or purple with the spider lily. Even the dry -prairie was bursting forth with bloom; the lovely lavender of the bird's -foot violet and later the showy blossoms of the shooting star. There -were gorgeous blue jays and orioles in the trees and meek gray doves in -the hedges. - -All the girls except Henrietta seemed bubbling over with happiness these -days. Even Sallie, dreadfully shabby as to clothes and growing shabbier, -was more cheerful, because she loved the spring season at Highland Park; -and because she had never before possessed so many warm friends among -the pupils. But Henrietta was visibly drooping. Her eyes wore a -strained, anxious look and every day at mail time, her brilliant color -deserted her, leaving her pale and trembling and quite unlike her usual -vivacious self. At sight of a telegram arriving for Doctor Rhodes--and he -often received as many as four a week--Henrietta's lips would turn -absolutely white. And several times, on the days when her grandmother's -letters came with no news of her still missing father, the girls had -found her weeping. It was decidedly unlike Henrietta to weep. - -But even Henrietta loved the wild flowers. Sallie knew where to find the -choicest blossoms and Doctor Rhodes, glad to have the girls spend their -leisure hours outdoors, even if it did increase their appetites -alarmingly, extended their bounds a good half mile toward the south so -the girls could roam at will. - -One beautiful day, when school was dismissed earlier than usual, Mabel -asked permission to take her friends as far as the cottage that -contained Charles's interesting family. - -"I'm awfully fond of children," explained Mabel. "I get lonesome for -them when I don't have any. Several times I've given candy and little -presents to Charles to take home to those cunning babies; but I'm just -dying to see them again and some of the girls want to go, too." - -"I've no objection to your _seeing_ them," said Doctor Rhodes, with a -friendly chuckle, "but you are strictly forbidden to accept any -invitations to stay with that family and you are not to bring any of -them home with you." - -"I won't," promised Mabel. "Thank you ever so much for letting us go." - -The long walk over the blossoming prairie was wonderful and the other -delighted youngsters thanked Mabel for planning the trip. The children -at the cottage proved interesting and sweet and the girls loved them. -Tommy remembered Mabel and said: "Please stay wiz us, you is nicer than -Lizzie," which pleased Mabel very much indeed, though of course she -_didn't_ stay. The shy twins soon became friendly and even the baby was -smiling and responsive. Mrs. Charles had been making cookies and -generously passed them around. Then Maude looked at her watch and said -that it was time to start back. - -The girls decided to go home by the road that wound along over the -prairie and somewhat west of the more direct but pathless route they had -taken _to_ the cottage. It was longer but Sallie said that interesting -things grew along the edges. Even Sallie, however, was surprised at one -thing they discovered. Mabel, who was trudging sturdily along, a little -ahead of the others--and of course she had a right to lead the procession -since it was her party--suddenly stopped short. - -"Mercy!" she gasped. "What's that!" - -"What's _what_?" asked Sallie, crowding to the front. "Is it a new -flower? Oh! Why, that looks like a little pig!" - -"But 'way out here!" cried Maude. "It couldn't walk so far and there are -no farms along here." - -"But the farmers 'way south of here," returned Sallie, "send them in to -the packing houses or down to the trains along this road. Probably this -one got spilled out of somebody's wagon and the driver never missed -him." - -"No doubt," said little Jane Pool, "the other piggies squealed so hard -that the poor man never heard the cries of distress from this one." - -"It's so little and pink and clean," said Bettie, admiringly. - -"But so naked," objected Marjory. "It really seems as if it ought to be -wearing baby clothes--little woolly ones. I'm glad it's a warm day." - -"See," said Mabel, "it's sucking my finger--I think it likes me." - -"It's hungry," said Sallie. "It seems too bad to leave it here to -starve." - -"But _we_ don't want any pig," objected Henrietta. "I don't think I -_like_ pigs." - -"I'm sure _I_ don't," said Maude. "Come on, girls, let's climb up the -ladder to that windmill over there and walk all around it on that -ledge--I think it's wide enough. We don't want to be bothered with any -pigs." - -But the lonesome little pig had no intention of being left behind. It -trotted along at the girls' heels and squealed piteously in its efforts -to keep up. - -"Poor little thing," said Bettie, "it's just starving." - -"And tired," said Mabel. "Every minute or two it loses its footing and -rolls right over. It thinks it belongs to us." - -"You're afraid to pick it up and carry it," teased Marjory. - -"I'm not," said Mabel. "I'm going to do it. The rest of you can climb -all the windmills you want to, but I'm going to be kind to this pig." - -Whereupon kind Mabel picked up the pig and carried it. At first, -however, the little animal squirmed and struggled so much that Mabel had -all she could do to keep from dropping him. - -"But what are you going to do with him?" queried Bettie. - -"Oh, I'll just slip around to the kitchen door--if I ever get that -far--and ask Charles to take care of him." - -"Charles won't be home," said Sallie. "That's the time of day he goes to -the station to get the bread." - -"Then I'll take him up to my room," said Mabel, whose pet was now quite -satisfied in her arms. "Perhaps you could bring up a cup of milk for -him." - -"Mabel never comes home empty handed," laughed Marjory. "And she isn't -particular what she brings, as long as it's alive." - -"Won't Isabelle be pleased?" laughed Maude. - -"Lend him to me, Mabel. I'll put him in Miss Woodruff's bed." - -"No you won't. I'm not going to have him abused." - -"Well, beware of Isabelle," giggled Marjory. - -Forewarned is forearmed. Mabel succeeded in slipping the pig into her -bedroom closet without disturbing Isabelle who was busy writing what she -was pleased to call "a poem." She sent them, as she confided to Mabel, -to her friend Clarence. Of course, when Isabelle had a pencil in her -hand and that faraway look in her eye she was not likely to notice mere -pigs. - -Sallie had contrived a nursing bottle for the infant. Mabel, seated on -the closet floor, succeeded in feeding her charge and presently made a -nest for him by dumping the stockings out of her round mending basket; -but to her surprise the pig, not being built that way, refused to curl. -His tail curled beautifully but the rest of him wouldn't. In no way, in -fact, was he as accommodating an animal as a kitten or even a puppy. - -"If he'd only just _cuddle_," groaned Mabel, "he'd be so much more -comfortable to live with." - -It was somewhere about midnight when Isabelle became aware of the pig. -Mabel had been aware of him for a great many sleepless hours. Either he -had had too much to eat or not enough. Perhaps he was only lonesome. At -any rate he was quiet only when Mabel held him close to her own warm -body and kept one or more of her fingers in his mouth. She had spent -part of the night on the floor among the shoes; but the floor was hard -and Mabel was sleepy; so finally she had crept into her own bed and -taken the infant pig with her. - -But nothing she could do seemed to please him. His squeals became louder -and louder and more and more frequent. At last one of his very best -squeals escaped from under the bedclothes. - -"My goodness!" gasped Isabelle, suddenly sitting up in bed. "What's -that! Was that you, Mabel?" - -"No," returned Mabel, truthfully. "I didn't speak." - -"It wasn't a 'speak'--it was more like a squeak." - -Piggy chose that moment to let out a smothered "Wee Wee!" in spite of -Mabel's restraining hand. - -"Mabel, it _is_ you. Are you sick?" - -"I--I'm not sleeping very well," offered Mabel, trying not to giggle. -"I'm quite restless." - -"I thought I heard you eating things in the closet while I was writing. -Perhaps you've made yourself sick." - -By this time Mabel was about helpless with laughter--it was so amusing to -be taken for a pig. But just then her charge took a mean advantage of -her. He squirmed suddenly, rolled out of bed and landed with a thump and -an astonished grunt on the floor. - -"My Uncle!" gasped Isabelle, leaping out of bed and switching on the -light. "Are you killed!" - -"For goodness' sake keep still," growled Mabel. "It isn't me--it's my -pig!" - -[Illustration: "For goodness' sake keep still," growled Mabel] - -The pink pig scuttling here and there across the floor was too much for -Isabelle. She plunged into bed again and sat there with horrified eyes -on the pig. Suddenly, as he dashed in her direction, she squealed and -the pig squealed and they both squealed--a regular duet. - -Miss Woodruff in her red flannel nightdress was the first to arrive at -the party. - -"What!" she demanded, pausing in the doorway, "does _this_ mean?" - -Piggy chose this moment for a mad dash for freedom. In his flight -through the doorway he brushed the lady's bare ankles. Miss Woodruff's -wild shrieks were added to Isabelle's. - -Of course everybody in the West Corridor was awake by that time. Brave -Victoria Webster, now that Gladys was gone, was again rooming with -Augusta and Lillian Thwaite. Pausing for nothing, Victoria rushed -through the dark halls toward the portion of the house occupied by -Doctor Rhodes. Her lusty cries of "Fire! Fire!" brought all the Rhodes -family in bathrobes of assorted colors, to the West Corridor. - -By the time they arrived, Lillian and Augusta had added their shrieks to -Isabelle's. - -"Stop this noise," commanded Doctor Rhodes, shaking Augusta. "What are -you screaming for?" - -"I don't know," chattered Augusta. - -"What are _you_ screaming for, Lillian?" - -"Ow! Ow! I--I don't know." - -"Miss Woodruff--" - -"Why!" gasped Miss Woodruff, suddenly remembering her scarlet attire and -bolting for her own room, "I don't know." - -"Well, Isabelle, what are _you_ screaming for? You seem to be the last." - -"I--I saw a pig!" shuddered Isabelle. - -"Nonsense!" returned Doctor Rhodes. "You _couldn't_ have seen a pig. -You've been having a nightmare--you ate too much roast pork for dinner." - -"No, no," insisted Isabelle, "it _was_ a pig." - -"There's no such animal as a night pig," returned Doctor Rhodes, with -dignity. "Now get back to your beds, all of you, and don't let me hear -another sound from any of you tonight, about pigs or anything else." - -Mabel, tired as she was, stayed awake for an hour wondering what had -become of the poor little pig. Although she listened with all her ears, -not even the faintest squeal could she hear. Finally she dropped asleep. - -"Mabel," said puzzled Isabelle, the next morning, "I really _thought_ I -saw a pig last night. Did _you_ see one?" - -"I thought I _heard_ one," returned Mabel, who was busy in the closet, -stuffing a milky bottle into her pocket. "But of course no pig could -climb all those stairs." - -"That's so, too," said Isabelle. "It _may_ have been that pork--I forgot -to eat my apple sauce." - -"I'm sure it was pork," agreed Mabel, wickedly and truthfully. - -At breakfast time Mabel found a note under her plate. - - "Dear Mabel: Found at 7 A. M. one pig rooting under the dining - room table for crumbs. Charles is building a pen for him in the - back yard and all is well--thought you'd like to know. - - Sallie." - -At recess time, Mabel led Isabelle to the new pig pen. Maude and little -Jane Pool were looking over the edge. - -"Jane and I thought somebody ought to give him a name so _we_ did," said -Maude, with a wicked glance at Isabelle. "Don't you think 'Clarence' -would be a sweet name--for a pig?" - -Then, with a gleeful shout, the naughty pair sped away to eat pie under -the porch. And Sallie appeared with a message for Mabel. - -"Doctor Rhodes wishes to see Miss Bennett in his office," announced -Sallie. - -"I'm told," said Doctor Rhodes, when Mabel stood demurely before him, -"that Highland Hall has mysteriously acquired a pig. It occurs to me -that you may be able to shed some light on the subject." - -"Yes," said Mabel, "you've guessed right. I brought that pig home. -Somebody had to--he was _so_ lonesome." - -"But didn't I tell you--" - -"You didn't say _pigs_. You said any of Charles's family." - -"Hum--so I did. And you kept that animal in your room?" - -"I tried to." - -"Then Isabelle really saw a pig?" - -"She wasn't sure at breakfast time," giggled Mabel. - -"You haven't any _more_ pets concealed on the premises, I suppose! An -extra pig or two or a young hippopotamus or anything like that?" - -"No," giggled Mabel, "and I don't _want_ any more for a long time. A pig -is a fearful responsibility." - -"You've been punished enough, I see. Well, don't let it happen again." - -"I won't," promised Mabel, cheered by a certain twitching line in Doctor -Rhodes's cheek. "I've had enough pets to last a long time--besides one -roommate is just about all Isabelle can stand." - - - - -CHAPTER XXIV - -STILL NO NEWS - - -It was raining that Thursday morning and nobody was pleased. The -recitation rooms were dark and gloomy on rainy days and all plans for a -pleasant afternoon outdoors were spoiled. Naturally the girls hated the -idea of being confined to the veranda when prairie, grove and meadow -were so much more inviting. The morning had seemed long and poky, -lessons had proved uncommonly monotonous, there was nothing at all -interesting for lunch and study hour had dragged; but at last, here was -Sallie with the mail bag. Everybody but Henrietta brightened -perceptibly. Henrietta looked as if she were trying--without very much -success--to brace herself for a trying ordeal. - -Mabel, however, looked cheerfully expectant. Nowadays there was always -at least one letter a week for Mabel from Germany, and when it came -Mabel always felt quite distinguished; she was the _only_ girl who -received letters from a foreign land. She felt especially elated -whenever Miss Wilson, the very stiffest of the Seniors, begged for the -stamps to send to her brother who was making a collection. On this -particular day, there were letters for most of the Lakeville girls and -for Mabel too; but all four of them were casting anxious glances in -Henrietta's direction. They had acquired the habit. Their hearts were -wrung by her obvious suffering and by the courage with which she endured -it. This long suspense was really getting to be hard on _all_ of them. - -"Miss Henrietta Bedford," called Sallie. - -Henrietta, pale and trembling, forced herself to step to the platform, -received her letter, carried it to the window and nervously tore it -open. Jean had followed her quietly and stood waiting to comfort her in -case of need. After a moment or two, Henrietta pointed silently to the -opening words and Jean read: "Still no news of your dear father." - -Presently Jean and Henrietta left the room and the sympathetic eyes of -the other girls followed them to the doorway. - -"That's worse than losing a relative by sudden death," said Eleanor -Pratt, soberly. - -"Yes," agreed Elisabeth Wilson. "This suspense must be perfectly -harrowing--in fact, I can _see_ it is. Poor kid! I'm so sorry for her I -don't know what to do." - -"There isn't anything one _can_ do," said Beatrice Holmes. "I've watched -her every day at mail time and it's just pitiful to see how she hates to -open her letters." - -The mail distributed, some of the girls went to their respective rooms -to remove from their persons the ink stains, chalk dust and other -visible signs of a busy session in school. Others flocked to the veranda -to stroll back and forth like caged lions grumbling in captivity. - -"This is a beastly rain," said little Jane Pool. "The ground is just -soaked." - -"'It isn't raining rain, today,'" quoted Grace Allen, "'it's raining--'" - -"Water," said unpoetical Mabel. - -"Violets," concluded Grace. - -"Water," insisted Mabel. - -"Violets," said Grace. - -"Both wrong," said Debbie Clark. "It's roses. We've _had_ violets." - -"I don't see any of those, either," said Mabel, crossly. "It's just -plain water. I can't even go to look at my pig." - -"You ought to sit beside him with an umbrella," teased Debbie. "He may -be getting drowned." - -"He's all right," assured always-comforting Sallie. "Charles moved him -into the barn--he knew it was going to rain. Hello, Maude, why so -pensive? What mischief are you cooking up now?" - -"That's just the trouble," complained Maude. "Nothing _will_ cook. I've -been trying hard to think of something awfully wicked to do to cheer -poor Henrietta up. The trouble is, when I really _want_ to be bad I -can't do it. _My_ badness always breaks out of its own accord when I -least expect it; just when I'm really _trying_ to be good. When it's -really necessary for me to be wicked, as it is right now, I surprise -everybody--and especially dear Miss Woodruff--by being too good to be -true. A regular angel child!" - -"Still," offered Hazel, "you managed to start something yesterday. I -thought I'd _die_ when I looked out the window and saw all you girls -turning somersaults on the lawn." - -"What was that?" asked Isabelle. "I must have missed something." - -"You missed a lot," assured Maude. "Charles left a large heap of stuff -he had clipped from the hedges and the grass he had raked up after -galloping around all the morning with his lawn mower, in a lovely big -pile right in front of the office windows. Well, the minute I saw it -yesterday afternoon, I forgot that I was a boarding school 'Young -lady'--I was back in my childhood--I was a girl again." - -"What did you do?" demanded Isabelle. - -"You mean, how _many_ did I do." - -"You didn't _really_ turn somersaults!" - -"I _did_, and I loved it. And that was too much for Victoria. She did -some, too--just lovely ones. So did Cora and Jane and Bettie--nearly all -the West Corridor girls. All they needed was little Maude to start -them." - -"You'd have thought they weren't more than six years old," said Hazel. - -"What _did_ Miss Woodruff say?" - -"She _was_ going to stop them," returned Hazel, "but Doctor Rhodes and -Mrs. Henry and Miss Blossom came out on the porch and clapped their -hands and Doctor Rhodes said he'd give a prize for the girl that could -do the best handspring. He offered a quarter, and who do you think got -it!" - -"Victoria Webster, of course." - -"Dead wrong. It was Eleanor Pratt." - -"What! Not _Miss Pratt_!" - -"Yes. Fancy a Senior doing a handspring! She rushed right down and did a -perfectly lovely one and Doctor Rhodes presented her with the quarter. -The other two would have tried it next; but just then Charles came with -the wagon to pick the stuff up and he was none too pleased at finding it -all over the place so we helped him load the wagon. Next time he cuts -the grass he's going to make us a perfectly grand pile. He said he'd -bring us up some of that long stuff from the meadow and we can have a -regular party. It beats gym all hollow." - -"I'm going in," said Isabelle, "it's too wet out here." - -"So am I," said Hazel. - -"And I have to dust the drawing room," said Sallie. "All those pictures -of former graduating classes; all those proud Seniors in their white -frocks. It's particularly harrowing just now because I haven't a decent -rag to wear myself." - -Presently the porch was deserted and the bored girls went to their own -rooms. - -One of Sallie's many duties at Highland Hall was to answer the doorbell -at such times as the two neat maids were busy in the kitchen. Sallie had -just dusted the class of 1897 and was beginning on the frame of class -1898, when the doorbell rang. It had taken her almost an hour to get -that far because she had found a new interest in the pictures. She was -examining the frocks and wishing that _she_ might have tucks like these -or ruffles like those or sleeves like some other one. - -Ten minutes later, Sallie, very demure in the white apron that Mrs. -Rhodes compelled her to wear when she opened the big front door to -chance visitors, rapped at the door of room number twenty. Marjory -opened it. - -"A gentleman in the library to see Miss Henrietta Bedford," announced -Sallie, sedately. But Sallie's eyes were dancing and she was a little -breathless as if she had been running--as indeed she had--all the long way -from the front door. - -"A gentleman!" exclaimed Henrietta. "I don't _know_ any gentleman. Do -you mean Doctor Rhodes?" - -"I do not," returned Sallie. "But don't be frightened--there isn't -anything about this to frighten you." - -"Some one from Lakeville? Not Mr. Black?" - -"No. You must come down and see for yourself. I was told to bring you." - -"I believe you and Maude have been up to some trick. You're just fooling -me. There _couldn't_ be a gentleman in the library to see me." - -"But there _is_," declared Sallie. "You'll just hate yourself if you -don't hurry. Do start. I want to see you moving before I deliver this -Special Delivery letter to Isabelle--two cent stamps aren't swift enough -for Clarence." - -Henrietta laid her hairbrush down deliberately and started leisurely -toward the door. - -"Come on, Marjory," said she, "I ought to have a chaperon if there -really is a gentleman, but I'm pretty sure it's Maude--she loves to dress -up and play jokes on us. She might as well have two victims." - -"Do you suppose," queried Marjory, in an awe-stricken whisper, when the -pair had reached the top of the last long flight of stairs, "that it's -that silly Theolog that wrote you a note after he saw you at the -concert? There really _is_ a hat on the hat rack." - -"That's what I'm wondering," admitted Henrietta. "The silly goose makes -eyes at me every Sunday. But surely he wouldn't have the nerve to _call_ -here. If that's who it is, I shall walk right back upstairs. I _know_ -it's _some_ joke. Sallie's eyes were just dancing. Just at first I was -frightened but I could see by Sallie's face that it wasn't anything -dreadful." - -"You go ahead," said Marjory. "If it really is _your_ visitor--" - - - - -CHAPTER XXV - -AN EXCITING FATHER - - -A tall man, who was very good looking indeed, stood beside the library -table. A man of perhaps forty, with a fair skin, bronzed by much -exposure to the sun, abundant light hair that grew in a pleasing way and -fine blue eyes. He was gazing expectantly toward the door. - -Henrietta, after one look at the visitor, was across the room with her -arms about his neck. - -"Daddy! Why, _Dad_!" - -Marjory, wisely concluding that no chaperon was needed, slipped unheeded -from the room and fled away through twisting hallways and long corridors -to the West wing where she found that Sallie had already spread the -news. - -"Henrietta's father," breathed Bettie, "isn't that great! And only two -hours ago Henrietta was weeping on her bed because her grandmother's -letter was so discouraging." - -"Does he look like Henrietta?" asked Jean. "You know we've never seen -him." - -"Not a bit," said Marjory, "he's fair--a regular blond. And oh, so good -looking. She's like the pictures of her dark mother, you know." - -"He looks just like an earl or a duke or something like that," said -Sallie. "When the Seniors see him they're going to be glad that they -were polite to Henrietta. He's the best looking father that ever came to -this school and I ought to know, because I've been making a study of -fathers for a long, long time. Of course, most _any_ kind of a father -looks mighty good to _me_. I don't envy Henrietta her good clothes, her -pretty looks or her pretty ways; but I _would_ like to wake up suddenly -and find myself down in that library shaking hands with a _father_." - -In the meantime, Henrietta, who had been almost speechless at first, was -making up for lost time. There were traces of tears on her cheeks but -her eyes were joyful. - -"So you went right straight to Lakeville from San Francisco and as soon -as Grandmother told you where I was you came right here?" - -"And I didn't bring you a single thing. My luggage is still in Shanghai, -I suppose. I believe I picked up some odds and ends in Canton. I was -there for a very short time and foolishly neglected to cable Henshaw. -When they rescued me from that coral reef, absolutely the only thing I -owned was half a pair of trousers. I had to borrow clothes from the -captain of the ship before I could land in San Francisco and I had to -telegraph to London for money with which to travel east. Your -Grandmother tells me that Henshaw has sent out a relief -expedition--perhaps he'll rescue my luggage. It seems to me I bought a -mandarin's coat and some beads--" - -"I wouldn't have cared if you hadn't bought me a single thing. It was -just you I wanted, Daddy. Don't _ever_ get lost again. It's too hard on -the family." - -"Do you know, it hadn't occurred to me that you were grown up enough to -worry; but, since you are, I suppose I'll have to mend my ways. I _have_ -been careless a great deal of the time. I haven't always written when I -_could_; and of course, sometimes, I couldn't. Now, couldn't we go -outside, some place? It seems dark and stuffy in here to a man who has -lived on a coral reef for months." - -"Why," cried Henrietta, "I do believe it's clearing up." - -Henrietta was right. The rain had ceased, the sun was making up for lost -time and in more ways than one it was now a pleasant day. On the veranda -the happy little girl introduced her father to such of her special -friends as were there and sent little Jane Pool flying after all the -others. The entire West Corridor rushed down and out, as Maude said -afterwards. Mr. Bedford bowed and smiled in a charming way and murmured: -"Delighted, I'm suah." He was not a talkative man, for which the girls -were sorry because his speech was so delightfully English that the -thoroughly American children were greatly impressed. They loved to hear -him say "Cawn't" and "Just fawncy," and "Chuesday"--for Tuesday. And they -were overjoyed when he asked Henrietta if she hadn't better put on her -"goloshes" before she walked on the wet grass. - -Henrietta took her father for a walk to the village. It is to be -suspected that she led him straight to the best candy store in the -village because she returned later with an enormous box of chocolates. -The girls were even gladder to see that her cheeks were glowing with -some of their former bright color. Her father was placed in the company -seat at Doctor Rhodes's own table at dinner time that night; Henrietta -sat demurely beside him; but occasionally she turned her head long -enough to make an impish face at the girls at her own table. - -"She'd rather be here," said Jean, sagely. - -"I wish she were," said Maude. "I love to hear her father talk." - -It was bedtime before the West Corridor girls had a chance to hear all -about it. They had flocked into Henrietta's room and most of them -undressed in there while listening to what she had to say. - -"I'm going to do something wonderful," said Henrietta. "First, I'm to -spend tomorrow in Chicago with Father, and then he's going right to -England. Grandmother is going to meet us in Chicago, and what do you -think! You couldn't guess in a thousand years. We are both going right -over to England with him so we can have a good long visit on the way. -We're going to stay just long enough for Grandmother to count her -relatives over there--Father says it won't be more than three weeks -altogether--and then we're coming back. I'm going to bring something to -every one of you. I may even get to Paris for just about a minute--Father -says he has to go there to tell something to the French Government about -something he dug up somewhere." - -"How lovely!" cried Jean. - -"How splendid," cried Bettie. - -"How grand!" cried Marjory. - -"How perfectly sweet," cried Cora. - -"How darling," cried little Jane Pool. - -"But, Henrietta," demanded Mabel. "You haven't told us where your father -has been all this time. Why didn't he write?" - -"Why, so I haven't," said Henrietta, "And this is my last chance--I'm -going early in the morning, with just a few duds in a suitcase. Well, -here's the story, all I could dig out of him. I'll sit on the dresser so -you can all hear. It's really quite a tale. - -"Well, first he went to Shanghai because he'd heard of a temple that was -different from most temples; but it was way up the Yengtze river--in -China, you know--so he rushed right up there to look for it. It was on -the estate of an old Chinaman who didn't want any Englishmen or other -foreigners poking round his old temple even outside--and it was said to -be certain death to go _inside_. But father _did_ manage to get inside -and was copying some of the inscriptions as well as he could--it was too -dark to use his camera and he didn't dare make a flashlight--when -something hit him on the head. He doesn't know _yet_ what it was. - -"The next thing he knew, he was in kind of a dungeon, all stone and -metal bars, under some building--that temple, perhaps, or possibly under -a warehouse near the river. He says he doesn't know why they didn't kill -him at once; but for some reason they didn't. Just kept him there and -gave him very little food once a day for weeks and weeks and weeks--he -does not know exactly how long. - -"Then, one night, when he had just about given up all hope of _ever_ -getting out of that place, four big, ugly-looking Chinamen came and tied -a bag over his head and bound his hands and feet and loaded him into a -boat and poled it down a river for hours and hours. They chattered a lot -in Chinese but Father couldn't understand them--his interpreter wasn't -with him when he went into the temple, and he doesn't know _what_ became -of _him_. After a long, long time, Father heard sounds like men -clambering aboard a vessel; but he thinks that the small boat he was in -was towed for a long time behind some larger boat. He slept for part of -the time, he says, and of course with that bag tied over his head he -couldn't see anything or even hear a great deal. - -"The next thing he was really sure of was that his hands were free. By -the time he got the bag off his head, there was an old Chinese -junk--that's a kind of a ship--way off in the distance, sailing away from -him. He was alone in the boat but in one end of it he found a jar of -water and some food. Also a long pole and a paddle. Of course he -couldn't reach bottom with the pole because he was out of the river by -that time and quite far out at sea--in the Yellow Sea or possibly the -Eastern Sea. You know how they run together along there; and he showed -me what he thought _might_ be the place, on the atlas in the library. - -"Well, Father thought other boats might come along that way so he stayed -right there for about six hours; but none did; so then he fastened the -long pole up like a mast and ripped open that bag that had been over his -head and used it for a sail. He found some bits of rope and string and -some old fishing tackle stuffed into the bow of the boat and used them -to tie his sail to the pole. - -"He sailed wherever the wind took him and after awhile he was picked up -by another Chinese junk. He thinks that the men aboard this one were -smugglers or pirates or something. He tried to get them to take him to -Shanghai or Hong Kong or some other Chinese port; but he was so ragged -and dirty that probably they didn't believe he'd be able to pay them -what he promised--even if they understood him--and all he could get out of -what _they_ said was something about 'Philippines.' - -"But they never got to the Philippine Islands, if that's where they were -bound for. There was a typhoon--a sudden, terrible storm--and they were -wrecked. My father and one very strong young Chinese sailor were thrown -by the waves inside a coral reef that stuck up like kind of a fence, in -a big half-circle. It made sort of a front yard to a small coral island -and the water was smoother inside so they managed to swim ashore. But -they were quite battered up at first and just crawled ashore on their -hands and knees and fell asleep on the first dry spot. - -"Their island was only a little one, just about big enough for two -persons to live on. Fortunately there was a small spring of fresh water -but it ran very slowly so that it took a long time to catch enough for a -satisfying drink; and the young Chinaman was smart about catching fish -and snaring sea birds and finding turtles' eggs. There were lots of -shell fish, too; and a box of rice washed ashore about the time they did -and they saved some of that, so of course they didn't starve. - -"But they had to stay there for months and months and months; until -another ship got blown out of her course and was almost wrecked on that -coral fence outside their little island. As soon as that storm calmed -down, the ship sent a boat ashore to explore the island. There were -English sailors aboard her but the ship was going to Calcutta. Father -says she was a rotten old tub but he and the Chinaman were glad to be -rescued by _anything_. He _wanted_ to go to England and he didn't want -to go to Calcutta; but after a day or two he had a good chance to be -transferred to a much faster and safer ship bound for San Francisco so -he took it. The Captain had to give him some clothes--he lost just about -all he had left when he was swimming to the island. He sent a wireless -to my grandmother from the American ship but for some reason she didn't -get it. And he didn't telegraph her from San Francisco because he -supposed she _had_ received the wireless." - -"Tell us all the _awful_ part of it," pleaded Mabel. "Cannibals and -tigers and things like that." - -"That's one trouble with Father's adventures," complained Henrietta. "He -doesn't _tell_ the ghastly details. He just gives the main facts. He -must have been almost dead in that dungeon, he must have hated that -nasty bag over his head, and he must have been almost drowned swimming -ashore and almost scared to death in that typhoon; but he doesn't _say_ -so. He did mention a shark in the lagoon--the Chinaman killed that with -his knife. Of course I'll be able to dig more out of him when there's -more time; but he won't tell me the _worst_ things; he never does." - -"_I_ think," said Jean, "you managed to get considerable." - -"Yes," agreed Maude, "you certainly own an exciting father." - -"I'm so glad I still _own_ him," breathed Henrietta. - -And then the girls slipped away to their own beds to dream of Chinese -temples, junks, dark dungeons, yellow pirates, sunny reefs and sunburned -fathers. And of course they were all glad to have their Henrietta again -happy and free from care; for they had all suffered with her. - - - - -CHAPTER XXVI - -HENRIETTA IS MYSTERIOUS - - -The girls began to miss Henrietta almost as soon as she was gone. For a -small person, she left a tremendous vacancy. She was so lovely, so -bright, so friendly with everybody and so very good to look at that it -seemed, as Sallie put it, as if the sun had suddenly deserted the whole -state of Illinois. Henrietta wrote to her friends, of course, but that -wasn't quite like having her actually on the premises. - -One day, however, when Sallie was distributing the mail, the post girl -experienced a joyful moment. She pulled a letter from the bag and read -aloud the name on the envelope: "Miss Sallie Dickinson." - -"Why," gasped Sallie, pink with surprise and delight. "That's for -me--from Henrietta." - -Henrietta had expected to return within three weeks. But did she? Not a -bit of it. She and her delightful grandmother, Mrs. Slater, were having -too good a time visiting their relatives in England to be willing to -return at once to America. They were shopping in London. - -"And oh, such shops as there are in London!" wrote Henrietta. "And oh, -such funny English as I hear! My cousins took me to something they -called a 'Cinema'--and what do you think it was? Just a movie. When I -come back I'll talk some _real_ English for you so you can see what it's -like." - -"I guess," laughed Jean, "Henrietta is more American now than she is -English." - -"I wish she'd come back," said Bettie. "The days seem twice as long with -her so far away." - -It was undeniably dull without Henrietta; but Maude managed on one -occasion at least to cheer the other girls considerably. She had been -unnaturally good for several weeks; but now the spirit of impishness -that sometimes controlled her had been bottled up too long for safety -and was just about ready to break loose. - -A full length mirror stood at the end of the West Corridor, across one -of the corners. It swung on pivots, from an upright frame. It was -possible to unscrew those pivots and remove the framed mirror from this -outer frame. Indeed, Sallie had once mentioned casually that this feat -might easily be accomplished by two girls, whereupon curious Maude had -examined the screws with much interest and had satisfied herself that -Sallie's statement was true. - -At certain times of the day, Miss Woodruff, who was as regular as a -clock in all her habits, strolled to that mirror to make certain that -her skirts hung properly; for no one was more particular as to her -appearance than was stout Miss Woodruff. She invariably wore gray, for -school use. She possessed three serge gowns, made precisely alike, from -the same piece of goods. She spoke of these garments as her "uniform." -When not in use, these gowns hung in her bedroom closet. - -But one dreadful day, when excellent Miss Woodruff looked in the glass -at the usual time, she started back in horror. There was her reflection, -dark gray frock, unmistakable hair-do and all, yet what in the world was -the matter with it? The face was different, the figure was shorter and -fatter and its outline was curiously lumpy in places. - -There were stifled giggles from the nearby doorways as the puzzled lady -leaned forward to look closer--at Maude. For of course it _was_ Maude, -attired in one of Miss Woodruff's gray gowns, with pillows stuffed -inside; and her hair, skilfully arranged by Cora, closely resembled Miss -Woodruff's. The naughty but ingenious girl standing just back of the -vacant frame, was faithfully imitating every movement made by Miss -Woodruff, every expression that flitted across her astonished face. - -"_Nous avons_," began Maude, stepping through the frame, with her hands -crossed meekly on her dark gray breast, "_les raisins blancs et noirs_--" - -But at this point, to the uproarious delight of the entire West -Corridor, Miss Woodruff seized her reflection by the shoulders and shook -it until pillows began to drop from beneath the gray gown. - -"Maude Wilder," gasped the breathless lady, finally, "you may keep right -on learning American History--two pages a day until Commencement." - -Ten minutes later, when Miss Woodruff took her daily walk on the long -veranda she was surprised to meet herself halfway, as it were. - -"Don't be cross," laughed Maude, slipping her hand under Miss Woodruff's -substantial elbow. "I just came down to apologize. I know I'm bad but if -I didn't keep this place cheered up, think how dull we'd be. We'd all -get in a rut. And you know I _do_ respect you, tremendously, even if I -do seem a little disrespectful towards your clothes at times. And I do -like you a lot, even if I can't help teasing you. Come on and be a -sport. Let's show the girls what lovely twins we make." - -"But--" - -"Come along, do," pleaded Maude's sweetly persuasive voice. "You _know_ -you aren't really cross about this. Let's be friends." - -"You're incorrigible," sighed Miss Woodruff, falling into step with her -wheedling tormentor. "I don't know what ever will become of you, but, in -spite of my better judgment, I can't _help_ liking you. And just to show -you that I can do it, I _will_ be a sport just for once." - -"Hurrah for the Woodruff twins!" cried Maude, enthusiastically. But -Maude's enthusiasm was doomed to wane. Sturdy Miss Woodruff, with a -wicked gleam in her eye, kept her absurd twin walking back and forth on -the veranda for a good two hours. The day was warm and the pillows tied -firmly about Maude's waist added nothing to her comfort; the girls on -the railing were obviously enjoying her predicament; but unmerciful Miss -Woodruff proved tireless. Maude was tired of being a twin long before -her teacher was; but revived somewhat when that surprising lady said, at -last: - -"Now, I _will_ be a sport. I'm going to excuse you from learning that -history. I think we're just about even without it." - -"I didn't think she had it in her," commented Maude, reclining at length -on the pillows she had gladly removed from her person. "There's more to -that lady than I supposed there was." - -There was much talk these days of Commencement. The three Seniors were -to be graduated and, by some mysterious process, the five Juniors were -to become Seniors. No wonder the Miller girls, quiet Virginia Mason, -Sarah Porter and studious Mary Sherwood of the North Corridor had led a -life apart from the younger girls. Of course, with a solemn thing like -that hanging over them, and only a year away, they _couldn't_ associate -with a flock of careless infants in the lower grades. - -There were to be Commencement clothes--white dresses, white shoes, white -stockings for everybody, young or old. There was to be a class -photograph of the Seniors, framed like all the rest, and hung in the big -drawing room for future classes to admire. There were to be Exercises. -Miss Julia's pupils were to play solos and duets; and everybody was to -sing the songs that they were now practising daily and there were to be -Essays. One of the Seniors, Miss Pratt, was known to be laboring over a -strange thing called a Valedictory, Miss Wilson was struggling with the -Class Prophecy and Miss Holmes was having a harrowing time with the -Class Poem. Mabel hoped that none of these mysterious things would ever -fall to _her_ lot. Cream puffs and unlimited chocolate creams, it -appeared, were not the only things that happened to a Senior. - -And now, everybody was discussing clothes. Should they wear silk -stockings or cotton ones? White pumps or Oxfords? Should their dresses -be tucked or ruffled, full or scant? Should their sleeves be long or -short or half way between? The Seniors were keeping _their_ clothes a -dark mystery; but all the other girls were willing to tell all they -knew. - -Jean, Bettie, Mabel and Marjory were to buy their dresses, shoes and -stockings in Chicago. Mrs. Henry Rhodes and Miss Blossom were to take -them to town for a whole joyous Monday. - -They loved every inch of the way to the city, where Mrs. Henry piled -them all into a 'bus at the station, took them to a big store on State -Street, and whisked them aloft in an elevator. She and Miss Blossom -spent a long morning trying fluffy white frocks on their lively charges. - -There were large numbers of just-exactly-right frocks for Marjory and -Bettie. They were easy to fit. Jean was tall and rather slender and it -was some time before the interested clerk could find just the right -pretty gown for Jean. As for plump Mabel---- Well, the sleeves were tight, -the waists wouldn't button and the skirts were too scant. - -"You see," explained the patient clerk, "she isn't a ready-made child. -She hasn't got her shape yet. But you'll be all right, dearie (she -called everybody 'dearie,' Mabel noticed), when you're older. Your -shoulders are fine and you're right good looking; but they don't put -cloth enough in Misses' garments these days for a real plump child. -We'll have to make you a dress to order. You can pick out the style you -like and our own Miss Williamson will measure you and in three days -you'll have your dress. You'll look just as nice as anybody and your -dress will be just exactly right." - -"Yes," agreed Mrs. Henry and Miss Blossom, "that's the thing to do." - -Then they all got into the elevator and went up still higher and the -Lakeville girls tried not to look surprised at finding a dining room so -near the sky. After they had had lunch and purchased shoes and stockings -it was time for their returning train. - -Sallie listened to the thrilling news of the new dresses and the lovely -new shoes rather soberly and with a lengthening countenance; but none of -the girls noticed that she was not rejoicing with them until thoughtless -Marjory suddenly asked: - -"What are _you_ going to wear, Sallie?" - -"I have an old white dress," returned Sallie, flushing painfully. "It -was new three years ago but I've worn it hard every summer, so it isn't -new any more. All the tucks have been let out and the hem has been faced -and it's still too short. Besides there's a bad rust stain on it and -it's too tight across the chest I don't know _what_ to do. I've been -thinking I'd better put on a cap and apron and just pretend to be one of -the regular maids. You see, ever so many parents and other guests will -be coming so I'll have to answer the doorbell and run upstairs to -announce guests and help in the dining room, anyway." - -"But you have to help with the singing," said Bettie. "You have the best -voice of all the girls. What are you going to do about that?" - -"Perhaps I can stand behind a tree," offered Sallie. "Or I might burrow -down in the tall grass and not be noticed. Of course I'd sing better if -my clothes were all right; but I'll just try not to think about them." - -The next day, some of the girls sat on a bench in the shady grove and -talked this weighty matter over. - -"It's a shame," said Jean. "Sallie's such a _dear_ girl--one of the very -sweetest girls in this school, _I_ think, and she has a lovely voice. -She ought to be able to stand right in the front row and be seen as well -as heard." - -"It isn't right," said Bettie, "for all the rest of us to be all dressed -up and having a good time when Sallie can't--just because she's a -boarding school orphan." - -"Sometimes I've offered to lend her things," said Jean, "but she doesn't -like it. I think it hurts her pride or something." - -"I thought we might write home for money," said Marjory, "and get her a -dress _that_ way; but I'm sure Aunty Jane wouldn't give me a cent for -it. She might, after a long, long time--if I'd begun to tease for it last -September, for instance, she'd begin about now to loosen up a little." - -"And my folks are too far away," mourned Mabel, "so _they're_ no good." - -"And mine," said Jean, "have to spend more on me now than they can -afford." - -"And of course," added Bettie, "the best _my_ folks could do would be -something out of a missionary box--something made of outing flannel most -likely. Those boxes do run just awfully to outing flannel. Of course -there's Mr. Black--but I wouldn't like to ask him." - -"No," agreed Jean, "it wouldn't be right. Of course, if we'd started -soon enough and saved all our weekly spending money--" - -"Oh, why didn't we?" cried Bettie. "I do wish we had." - -"If we four had saved _half_ our money," said Marjory, who had been -making figures with a stick in the sand, "we could have bought her a -more expensive dress than any _we_ are going to have. And shoes, too." - -"Just think of that!" said Jean. "Next year I'm going to save a few -cents every week--it's mighty useful to have money when something like -this comes up." - -"Of course," said Marjory, who had been making more sums in the sand, -"thirty cents isn't much when you put a nickel in the plate every Sunday -and chip in every now and then for spreads. Anyway, it's all gone and -poor Sallie hasn't a dress." - -At mail time the next day, the schoolroom resounded with excited and -delighted squeals. Sallie had had another letter from Henrietta. It was -mailed in New York; and Henrietta was coming back. - -"Grandmother is going to visit an old friend in Chicago," wrote -Henrietta, "and I'm coming back to study like mad to catch up with my -classes. Tell the girls to have all their note books ready for me and I -can _do_ it. And Sallie, dear, I'm bringing you a present. I have -something for all my best friends but if anybody can guess what I'm -bringing you I'll give her _two_ presents." - -Jean looked at Bettie. Bettie nudged Marjory and Mabel managed--but not -without difficulty--to wink at Jean. - -"It's a dress," whispered Marjory. "I'm _sure_ it's a dress." - -"That's just what I think," agreed Jean. - -Just two weeks before the close of school, Henrietta returned. She -arrived during school hours and slipped quietly into her seat in the -Assembly room; but she was so fidgety and there was such a fluttering -among the other girls, who declared afterwards that she looked good -enough to eat, that Miss Woodruff said: "Henrietta, I'll excuse you for -today. There's only an hour left anyway." - -"Thank you," said Henrietta. "I'm dying to unpack my new steamer -trunk--Charles brought it right up along with me." - -The girls found Henrietta's gifts in their rooms when they went upstairs -at two o'clock. She had tried to find lovely, unusual things for them -and had succeeded. A little gem of a picture in a silver frame for Jean, -some lovely blue beads almost like Hazel's for Marjory, an adorable -turquois ring for Bettie and an exquisite enameled locket for Mabel. -There was something for every girl in the West Corridor and a nice -little graduating present for each of the three Seniors. There were some -lovely white silk stockings "right straight from Paris" for Sallie. - -"The rest of Sallie's present is coming later," said Henrietta, "I -didn't have room in my trunk for it. And on second thought, I'm not -going to encourage any guessing. I _might_ give the secret away and that -wouldn't do. I'm not going to tell what it is, but I'll say this much. -_Don't worry about your clothes, Sallie._" - -"Did you get it in London?" demanded Mabel. - -"Yes," laughed Henrietta, "and that's the last word I'm going to tell -you about it." - -"I sort of hoped," sighed Marjory, "it might have been _Paris_, like the -stockings." - -But Henrietta only laughed harder than ever. - - - - -CHAPTER XXVII - -SALLIE'S PRESENT - - -Three days later, Henrietta, her eyes bright with excitement, rushed to -the dining room and fell upon Mary, one of the neat maids. - -"Lend me your cap and apron, quick!" demanded Henrietta, helping herself -to the needed articles. "Don't say a word. There's a hack coming up from -the station and I want to answer the doorbell--Doctor Rhodes said I -could. Sallie's in her room--I locked her in. I'm just getting even with -her for something. I'll bring your things back in just a few minutes and -tell you the rest." - -Henrietta did answer the doorbell. The visitor was ushered to the -library. Then away sped Henrietta up three flights of steps and through -a tiresome number of corridors until at last she reached Sallie's room -on the top floor. She unlocked the door noiselessly, rapped on the panel -and then announced, in a very good imitation of Sallie's own voice: - -"A gentleman in the library to see Miss Sallie Dickinson." - -"But there _couldn't_ be," said Sallie. "I don't _know_ any gentleman." - -"But you _do_--or if you don't, go down and get acquainted. Come on--you -look all right." - -"It--it isn't one of those Theologs--" - -"Come on," laughed Henrietta, "I'll race you to the first floor." - -"It's against the rules--" - -"There's nothing in the by-laws against sliding down the banisters. -These nice black walnut ones were just made for that purpose. Down you -go." - -"If I must, I must," said resigned Sallie, meekly lying flat on the -broad banister. "I know you're playing some trick on me." - -"I _thought_ you knew how to slide," laughed Henrietta, following suit. - -"Yes," confessed Sallie, tackling the last banister, "I've helped polish -them all--it's a wonderful saving of legs." - -"Go on in," urged Henrietta, at the library door. "Nobody's going to eat -you." - -Sallie saw a man standing by the table. A man who smiled pleasantly. She -looked at him. Suddenly her heart began to thump wildly. - -"Is it--Is it--" - -"Yes, it _is_," cried Henrietta. "Your father." - -Sallie's face was turning from white to pink and momentarily growing -brighter, but still she seemed unable to move. Henrietta gave her a -gentle shove toward her father's outstretched arms. - -"I found him in London," said Henrietta. "He'll tell you all about it. -Good-by, I'll see you later." - -It happened to be a warm day, so the girls had left their rooms and were -wandering in the grove, under the sheltering hickory trees where earlier -in the season, Charles had placed a number of benches. At sight of -Henrietta waving her arms wildly, the girls moved toward her. - -"Help yourselves to the benches," said Henrietta, seating herself on the -ground. "I have a tale to tell. How would you like to be just awfully -surprised?" - -"I guess we could stand it," drawled Miss Wilson, who, as usual, had a -large box of chocolates under her arm. "Have some candy?" - -"You wouldn't try to stop my mouth with candy," reproached Henrietta, -"if you knew what you are bottling up thereby. Something's -happened--something wonderful. Something perfectly _grand_." - -"Tell us," pleaded Jean, who could see that Henrietta was fairly -bubbling over with news, "Come on, girls. Here's a story." - -"Well," began Henrietta, "once there was a man who was always moving -around from one town to another looking for work. When he _had_ work he -wasn't always satisfied with it. Sometimes he gave up a fairly good job -and just went some place else because he happened to feel like it." - -"One of those rolling stones," suggested Maude. - -"Yes, a regular rolling stone. Well, after awhile he rolled out West. He -tried ranching at first; but he didn't care much about that. But there -was a sort of cowboy chap that he _did_ like--a young Englishman--and they -decided to be partners. They tried mining for awhile but that didn't pan -out so they went down to Texas. They worked for an old man down there -who was sick. They did something really worth while for _him_--something -about saving a lot of cattle for him--and he was so grateful that he died -and left his ranch to them." - -"Oh, Henrietta!" teased Hazel, "that _was_ gratitude." - -"Well, I mean that _when_ he died, he left his ranch to those two men. -But the ranch wasn't very much good--there was something wrong with the -soil and nothing would grow--not even grass. But now pick up your ears, -girls. One day, in one of the fields where the soil was _particularly_ -bad, the older man stepped into something soft and some queer greasy -stuff oozed up out of the hole. It was _oil_. Experts came and tested -it. They really had oil. - -"Well, even when they had sold all their cattle they hadn't money enough -to develop their oil mine--" - -"Oil _well_," corrected Miss Wilson. "My father has them--but go on." - -"Yes, oil well. So the cowboy suggested going home to England where he -had a lot of wealthy relatives and friends, to borrow the money. He -wanted, for one thing, to let his own relatives reap some of the benefit -if there _was_ any. Well, that cowboy was--and is--sort of a distant -cousin of my father's; and my father was one of the men he wanted -especially to see. - -"Now, here's the exciting part. His partner, the rolling stone, was with -him when he went to my father's rooms in London. And _I_ was there. And -when the cowboy introduced the other man to Father, I sat right up and -looked at him--he looked like somebody I _knew_. - -"Then Father introduced them both to me--he's always careful about things -like that, you know. And then I spoke right up and said: - -"'Mr. Dickinson, is your first name John? And did you ever have a little -girl named Sallie?' My goodness! You should have seen that little man's -face! All lit up with joy." - -"But," cried Jean, "you don't mean _our_ Sallie! You don't mean that -that was Sallie's _father_!" - -"I _do_," assured Henrietta. "Of course it seemed awfully nervy to speak -right out like that to a strange man, right before my proper father and -Cousin George. I never could have done it, if I hadn't known myself how -horrible it was to be a school orphan. After that, I told him all about -Sallie. And _he_ said that after he got out of the hospital he had -hunted for her just as long as he had had any money; but the poor old -man who had left Sallie at the wrong school couldn't remember anything -at all about it. Without money, and so weak that he could hardly crawl, -Mr. Dickinson couldn't do very much toward hunting Sallie up--and there -were so _many_ girls' schools in this part of the country. And after he -had drifted out West, he was always too poor to come back. This is the -first bit of luck he's had. But it's a _big_ bit. The oil well is all -right--he had to stop in New York to attend to some part of the -business--telegrams to and from Texas and things like that. That's why he -didn't come when I did. Sallie's father and the cowboy, too, will be -very rich men. Of course he was going to begin to search for Sallie just -as soon as things were settled; but I saved him a lot of time and -trouble. But, oh! _Such_ a time as I've had keeping this tremendous -secret." - -"Where's Sallie's father now," demanded Mabel. - -"In the library with Sallie." - -"I'm glad about the money," said Jean, earnestly, "but Henrietta, is--is -he going to be a _nice_ father for our Sallie?" - -"Yes, he is," returned Henrietta. "I watched him all the way over on the -boat and there isn't a single thing the matter with him." - -"That's great," breathed Mabel. "But what is he like?" - -"Well, he has pleasant eyes and a _good_ face and nice, gentle -manners--and he doesn't eat with his knife. Just after I found him I -began to tremble for fear he _mightn't_ be the kind of father we'd want -for our Sallie; but he _is_--just exactly. Perhaps he isn't one of those -terribly strong characters like Daniel Webster or Oliver Cromwell or -John Knox--but who'd _want_ a father like that! But I'm sure he'll be a -comfortable person to live with and Cousin George--the cowboy, you -know--likes him; and Father says George is mighty particular about his -friends. And of course he'll pay up everything Sallie owes this school -and give her everything she needs." - -At dinner time that night, Sallie's father sat in the place of honor at -Doctor Rhodes's table. And Sallie, such a radiant Sallie, with her head -high and her eyes bright, sat beside him, listening hungrily to his -words. - -And when Sallie's clear young voice was lifted in song at the -Commencement Day exercises, it didn't come from behind a tree. Lovely -Sallie didn't _need_ to hide behind a tree or to burrow down in the long -grass; for her Commencement Day gown was quite as new and beautiful as -anybody's and certainly no other girl wore a happier expression. - -"But it's her father she's the gladdest about," explained Mabel. "She -just _loves_ him." - -"I'm glad of that," said Bettie, who was sitting on her suitcase on the -baggage strewn veranda. "It wouldn't be much fun to go to Texas with a -father you _didn't_ love. And isn't it great! He's going to let her -visit Henrietta in Lakeville in August and go back to school with her -afterwards so we aren't going to lose every bit of our Sallie after -all." - -"And," said Jean, "Mabel is going to spend a week with me and then her -own people will be home. And there's Charles coming now to take us all -to the station. Good-by, old Highland Hall. You're going to be a big, -lonesome place without us." - -"A year is a funny thing," commented Bettie, with her last backward -glance at the tall building. "While it's happening, it seems to be a -million miles long; and then, the very next minute, it's all gone." - -"By this time tomorrow," breathed Marjory, "we'll be home; and all the -days will have wings. But Mabel, what in the world _are_ you doing?" - -"I'm--kuk--crying," gulped Mabel. - -"You funny old baby," laughed Henrietta. "You're too tender hearted." - -"It isn't that at all," sobbed Mabel, "but something just terrible has -happened. I forgot to label them and I kuk--kuk--can't remember which lock -of hair is Maude's and which is Cora's--and I just loved them both." - -"Well," soothed Marjory, "both girls are far from bald--you can easily -write for more hair." - -"Cheer up," comforted Jean, "I _did_ label mine and I can identify -_anybody's_ hair. And--and we _all_ hate to part with those girls; but we -must look respectable when we get to the station; and when Mr. Black -meets us in Chicago--" - -"We'll be mighty glad to see him," said Mabel, smiling bravely through -her tears, "and this time I'll try not to get lost." - -"Climb out, everybody," said Charles, stopping his car. "Here's the -station, right in the same old place. And there's your train, right on -time. And I hope I don't see another girl or another trunk for the next -four months. So long and good luck." - -THE END - - - - - -End of Project Gutenberg's Girls of Highland Hall, by Carolyn Watson Rankin - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GIRLS OF HIGHLAND HALL *** - -***** This file should be named 40403.txt or 40403.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/4/0/4/0/40403/ - -Produced by Roger Frank and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This book was -produced from images made available by the HathiTrust -Digital Library.) - - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions -will be renamed. - -Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no -one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation -(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without -permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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