CHAPTER VTWO SIDES OF A QUESTION
It could hardly be expected that, after her training of the past six and a half years, Toinette would at once respond to the wiser, more elevating influences now surrounding her. The old impulses would return, and a desire to conceal where no concealment was necessary often placed her in a false light. She distrusted those in authority simply because they were in authority, rather than that they ever made it apparent. It seemed to have become second nature with her, and bade fair to prove a work of almost infinite patience and love upon the part of the teachers to undo the mischief wrought in those miserable years.
But, after making a toy of the poor childfor all that time, fickle fate seemed about to make amends, and, although it was yet to be proven, Toinette was now launched upon a sunny sea, and destined to sail into a happy harbor.
She was sitting in her room one beautiful afternoon about a week after her arrival at the school, and, unconsciously doing profitable examples in rhetoric by drawing nice contrasts between her present surroundings and her former ones. Presently a tap came upon her door, and she called: “Come in.”
In bounced Ruth, crying: “Come on down to the village with us, will you? Edith and Cicely are waiting at the gate.”
“Which teacher is going with us?” asked Toinette, suspiciously.
“Teacher?” echoed Ruth. “Why, none, of course. Why don’t you ask if we are going in a baby-carriage?” and she laughed as she slipped her arm through Toinette’s.
“You don’t mean to say that we will be allowed to go by ourselves?”
“Toinette Reeve, I think you’ve got the queerest ideas I ever heard of! Come on!”
In spite of Ruth’s assurance, Toinette cast apprehensive glances about her, as though she expected a frowning face to appear around some corner and rebuke them. Instead, however, they came upon Miss Howard just at the end of the corridor, who asked in a cheery voice:
“Where away so briskly, my lady birds?”
“Only to the village; good-bye,” answered Ruth, waving her hand in farewell.
“Pleasant journey. You will probably run across Miss Preston down there somewhere, and can act as bodyguard for her.”
The girls walked briskly on, and presently Cicely asked:
“What are you going for, anyway?”
“Some good things, to be sure. I’m just perishing for some cream-peppermints, and my week’s pocket-money is scorching holes in my pocket as fast as ever it can.”
“Do you think Miss Preston would scold if I got something, too?” asked Toinette.
“What would she scold about? You didn’tstealthe money you’re going to buy it with, did you? And your stomach’s your own, isn’t it? Besides, when you’ve been here a while longer you’ll learn that Miss Prestondoesn’tscold. If she thinks a thing isn’t good for you to do, she just asks you not to do it, and she takes it for granted that you’ve got sense enough to understand why.”
“Oh, I guess you’re allsaintsin this school,” replied Toinette, sarcastically.
“Well, as near asIcan make out, you had a pretty good supply of sinners where you came from,” was the prompt retort.
When Ruth’s pocket was saved from destruction the girls started homeward. They had not gone far when three of the boys from the large school at the upper end of the town were seen coming toward them.
“Oh, jolly,” cried Edith, “there are Ned,Allan and Gilbert! Now we’ll have fun; they’re awfully nice. Allan has the dearest pony and trap you ever saw, and is just as generous as can be with it.”
The boys were now beside them, and, raising their caps politely, joined the party and were introduced to the new girls. This was a complete revelation to Cicely and Toinette, for at Miss Carter’s school boys had been regarded as a species of wild animal, to be shunned as though they carried destruction to all whom they might overtake.
But here were Ruth and Edith walking along with three of those monsters in manly form, and, still worse, talking to them in the frankest, merriest manner, as though there were no such thing on earth as schools and teachers. Toinette and Cicely dropped a little behind, and soon found an opportunity to draw Edith with them.
“Don’t forget that Miss Howard said that Miss Preston was down in the village. I’ll bet a cookie there’ll be a fine rumpus if she catchesus gallivanting with all these boys,” whispered Toinette.
A funny smile quivered about the corners of Edith’s mouth, but before she could answer Miss Preston herself stood before them. She had suddenly turned in from a side street. As though detected in some serious misdemeanor, Toinette and Cicely hung back, and Edith remained beside them.
With such a smile as only Miss Preston could summon, she bowed to the group, and said:
“How do you do, little people? Are you going to let me add one more to the party? I’m not very big, you know, and I like a bodyguard. Besides, I haven’t seen the boys in a ‘blue moon,’ and I think it high time I took them to task, for they haven’t been to call upon us in an age. Give an account of yourselves, young sirs. Before very long there is going to be a dance at a house I could mention, and you don’t want to be forgotten by the hostess, do you?”
Toinette and Cicely found it difficult to believe themselves awake. Touching Edith’s elbow, they indicated by mysterious signs that they wished to ask something, and dropped still further behind.
“What does it all mean, anyhow? She doesn’t really mean to have the boys at the house, does she?”
Edith’s eyes began to twinkle as though someone had dropped a little diamond into each, and, without answering, she gave a funny laugh and took a few quick steps forward. Slipping an arm about Miss Preston’s waist, she said: “Miss Preston?”
“Yes, dear,” turning a pleasant face toward the girl.
“The girls are planning a candy frolic for next Friday night, and were going to ask your permission to-day, only they haven’t had time yet. May we have it over in the kitchen of the cottage, and may the boys come, too?”
A merry smile had overspread Miss Preston’sface, and when Edith finished speaking, she said:
“Young gentlemen, I hope you didn’t hear the last remark made by my friend, Miss Osgood; at all events, you’re not supposed to have done so; it would be embarrassing for us all. But, since you did not, I’ll say to her: Yes, you may have your candy frolic, and that is for her ears alone. Now to you: The girls are to have a candy frolic Friday evening, and would be delighted to have your company.”
It had all been said in Miss Preston’s irresistibly funny way, and was greeted with shouts of laughter. Toinette and Cicely had learned something new. All now crowded about her urging her to accept some of their goodies, and, joining heartily in the spirit of good-comradeship, she took a sweetie from first one box and then another. Possibly another person, with a stricter regard for Mrs. Grundy’s extremely refined sensibilities, might have hesitated to walk along the highways surrounded by half a dozenboys and girls, all chattering as hard as their tongues could wag, and munching cream-peppermints; but Miss Preston’s motto was “Vis in ute,” and, with the fine instinct so often wanting in those who have young characters to form, she looked upon the question from their side, feeling sure that sooner or later would arise questions which she would wish them to regard from hers; and therein lay the key-note of her success.
She would no more have thought of raising the barrier of teacher and pupil between herself and her girls than she would have thought of depriving them of something necessary to their physical welfare. The girls were her friends and she theirs—their best and truest, to whom they might come with their joys or their sorrows, sure of her sympathy with either, and, rather than cast a shadow upon their confidence, she would have toiled up the hill with the whole school swarming about her, and an express-wagon of sweets following close behind. Thatwas the secret of her wonderful power over them. They never realized the disparity between their own ages and hers, because she had never forgotten when life was young.
CHAPTER VIDULL AND PROSY
It is to be hoped that those who read this story will not run off with the idea that I am trying to set Miss Preston’s school up as a model in every sense of the word, for I am not. I am simply trying to tell a story of boarding-school life as it really was “once upon a time.” And I think that I ought to be able to tell it pretty correctly, having seen with my own eyes and heard with my own ears many of the pranks related. The methods followed and the results obtained may be believed or not; that rests with the individual reading. Long ago, in my own childhood days, our “old Virginy” cook used to say to me: “La, chile, dey’s a heap sight mo’ flies ketched wid ’lasses dan vingegar,”and I have come to the conclusion that she had truth on her side.
The girls were by no means saints. Saints, after all, are rather ethereal creatures, and Miss Preston’s girls were real flesh and blood lassies, brimful of life and fun, and, like most lassies, ready for a good time.
As Ruth had said, there were no rules; that is, the girls were never told that they mustnotdo this, or that theymustdo the other thing. A spirit of courtesy dominated everything, and a subtle influence pervaded the entire school, bringing about desired results without words. The girls understood that all possible liberty would be granted them, and that their outgoings and incomings would be exactly such as would be allowed them in their own homes, and if some were inclined to abuse that liberty they soon learned where license began.
No school turned out better equipped girls, and none held a higher standard in college examinations. A Sunny Bank diploma was a sure passport.When the girls worked they worked hard, and when playtime came it was enjoyed to the full. Naturally, with so many dispositions surrounding her, Miss Preston often in secret floundered in a “slough of despond,” for that which could influence one girl for her good might prove a complete failure when brought to bear upon another. Never was the old adage, “What is one man’s meat is another man’s poison,” more truly illustrated.
But Miss Preston had a stanch friend, and trusted Him implicitly. Often, when perplexed and troubled, a half-hour’s quiet talk with Him close shut behind her own door would give her wisdom and strength for the baffling question, and when she again appeared among them the girls wondered at her serene expression and winning smile, for in that half-hour’s seclusion she had managed to remove all trace of the soil from the “slough,” and, refreshed and strengthened by an unfailing help, could resume her “Pilgrimage.”
She often said, in her quaint way: “The hardest work I have to do is to undo,” and that was very true. Many times the home influence was of the worst possible sort for a young girl, or else there was just none at all. Such girls were difficult subjects. Many had come from other schools, as in Toinette’s case, where distrust seemed to be the key-note of the establishment, and then came Miss Preston’s severest trials. The confidence of such girls must be won ere a step could be taken in the right direction. It was a rare exception when Miss Preston failed to win it.
“You feel such a nasty little bit of a crawling thing when you’ve done a mean thing to Miss Preston,” a girl once said. “If she’d only give you a first-class blowing up—for that’s just what you know you deserve all the time—you could stand it, but she never does. She just puts her arm around you and looks straight through you with those soft gray eyes of hers, and never says one word. Then you begin to shrivel up, andyou keep right on shriveling till you feel like Alice in Wonderland. You can’t say boo, becauseshehasn’t, and when she gives you a soft little kiss on your forehead, and whispers so gently: Don’t try to talk about it now, dear; just go and lock yourself in your room and have a quiet think, and I’m sure the kink will straighten out. I could lie flat on the floor and let her dance a hornpipe on me if she wanted to.”
It was not to be expected that all the other teachers would display such remarkable tact as their principal, but her example went a long way. Moreover, she was very careful in the choice of those in whose care her girls were to be given, and often said: “Neither schools nor colleges make teachers: it is God first, and mothers afterward.” And she was not far wrong, for God must put love into the human heart, and mothers must shape the character. When I see a child playing with her dollies, I can form a pretty shrewd guess of the manner of woman that child’s mother is.
Frolics and pranks of all sorts were by no means unknown in the school, and often they were funny enough, but what Miss Preston did not know about those frolics was not worth knowing. Her instructions to her teachers were: “Don’t seetoo much. Unless there is danger of flood or fire, appendicitis or pneumonia, be blind.”
Many of the girls had their own ponies and carriages, and drove about the beautiful suburbs of Montcliff. If the boys chose to hop up behind a trap and drive along, too, where was the harm? The very fact that it need not be concealed made it a matter of course. Friday evenings were always ones of exceptional liberty. Callers of both sexes came, and the girls danced, had candy pulls, or any sort of impromptu fun. Once a year, usually in February, a dance was given, which was, of course,theevent of the season.
During the week the girls kept early hours, and at nine-thirty the house was, as a rule, enroute for the “Land o’ Nod,” but exceptions came to prove the rule, and nothing was more liable to cause one than the arrival of a box from home. Upon such occasions the “fire, flood, appendicitis and pneumonia” hint held good.
CHAPTER VIITHE P. U. L.
“What upon earth are you doing!” exclaimed Toinette, as she opened Ruth’s door, in response to the “come in” which followed her knock, and stood transfixed upon the threshold at the spectacle she beheld.
“Cleaning house, to be sure. Didn’t you ever do it?”
“Well, not exactly that way,” was Toinette’s reply.
Ruth threw back her head and gave a merry peal of laughter.
“Itisrather a novel way, I will admit, but, you see, I hate to do things just exactly as everybody else does, so I sailed right in, head overears. To tell the truth, now I’m in, I wish it wasn’tquiteso deep,” and Ruth cast a look strongly savoring of despair at the conglomeration surrounding her.
She was seated in the middle of the floor, and almost buried beneath the contents of every drawer and closet in the room. Not only her own, but Edith’s belongings, too, had been dumped in a promiscuous heap on the floor, and such a sea of underclothing, stockings, shoes, dresses, waists, jackets, coats, hats, gloves, collars, ties, ribbons, veils, dressing-sacques, golf-capes and belts, to say nothing of the contents of both their jewel boxes, no pen can describe.
Not content with the contents, the drawers, too, had been dragged out to be dusted, and were standing on end all about her, a veritable rampart of defence.
“I shouldn’t think you would know where to begin,” said Toinette.
“I don’t, and I think I’ll leave the whole mess for Helma to tidy up in the morning,” andup jumped Ruth, to give the last stroke to the disorder by overturning the tray of pins and hairpins which she had been sorting when Toinette entered.
“There, now you have done it!” exclaimed Edith, “and I can tell you one thing, you may just as well make up your mind to put my things back where you got them, ’cause I’m not going to,” and she wagged her head positively.
“Oh, dear me, this is what comes of trying to be a P. U. L.,” said Ruth.
“A P. U. L.?” asked Toinette. “What in the world is that?”
“That’swhat it is! I found it stuck up in my room when I got back from recitations to-day. I’ve been in such a tear of a hurry for the last few mornings that my room hasn’t been quite up to the mark, I suppose, but Miss Preston never said a word, and now here’s this thing stuck here.”
Toinette took the sheet of paper which Ruth handed to her, and began to read:
THE PICK-UP LEAGUE
Do you wish to join the P. U. L.?
Then listen to this, but don’t you tell,
For it’s a great secret, and will be—well—
Wehope, as potent as “book and bell.”
A P. U. L. has a place for her hat,
And keeps it there; O wonder of that!
Her gloves are put away in their case;
Her coat hung up with a charming grace.
School-books and papers are laid away,
To be quickly found on the following day.
Then, ere she starts, so blithe and gay,
She tarries a moment just to say:
“Wait, just a jiff, while I stop to put
This blessed gown on its proper hook,
And tuck this ‘nightie’ snugly from sight
Under my pillow for to-night.
“And all these little, kinky hairs,
Which, though so frail, can prove such snares,
And furnish some one a chance to say:
‘Your comb and brush were not cleaned to-day.’
“Hair ribbons, trinkets, scraps and bits,
Papers and pencils and torn snips,
Left scattered about can provesuchpits!
Andinwe tumble, and just ‘catch fits.’
“And this is the reason we formed the league,
And will keep its rules, you had better believe:
To keep our rooms tidy, to keep things neat,
So much that is ‘bitter’ may be turned ‘sweet.’”
“DO YOU WISH TO JOIN THE P. U. L.?”
“DO YOU WISH TO JOIN THE P. U. L.?”
When she had finished reading, she sat down on the edge of the bed and laughed till she cried.
“Great, isn’t it?” asked Ruth. “That’s the way Miss Preston brings us up to schedule time. When I came home from the school-building this afternoon I thought I’d do wonders; and,” she added, ruefully, “I guess I’ve done them. Good gracious, I’m so hungry from working so hard that I just can’t see straight. Isn’t there something eatable in the establishment?”
“If that much work reduces you to a state of starvation, what will you be when it’s alldone?” asked Edith. “Thereweresome crackers on the shelf, but land knows where they are now; you’ve dragged every blessed thing off of it.”
“There are your crackers, right under your nose,” said Ruth, triumphantly, as she pointed to a box of wafers half hidden under Edith’s best hat. “There’s some tea in that caddy, and you can heat some water in the kettle. What more do you want?”
Edith scratched a match and held it to the little alcohol lamp under the tea-kettle, but no flame resulted.
“Every bit of alcohol is burned out. Have you any more?”
“Not a drop; used the last to get the pine-gum off my fingers after we came back from the woods last Tuesday. Here, take the cologne, that will do just as well,” and forthwith the cologne was poured into the lamp, which was soon burning away right merrily. The water was heated, the tea made, and four girls sat down inthe midst of the topsy-turvy room to sip tea and munch saltines.
“I came in to ask,” said Toinette, “whether you girls have any secret societies in this school; have you?”
“Nary one, as I know of,” answered the irrepressible Ruth. “Wish we had.”
“Let’s start one,” said Toinette. “We had two or three at Miss Carter’s; they had to be secret or none at all, and it was no end of fun. Papa wrote me that he was going to send me a box of good things before long, and when it comes let’s meet that night and have a feast. He will no doubt send enough for the entire school, he always does, and I want some of the girls to have the benefit of it.”
“Don’t believe you will have to urge them very hard,” said Edith, laughing.
“Good!” cried Ruth. “Which girls shall we ask?”
Toinette named eight girls beside themselves, saying:
“That will make an even dozen to start with. More may come later, but that is enough to begin; don’t you think so?”
“Plenty. If we have too many there will be sure to be someone to let the cat out of the bag. Come on, Cicely, let’s go hunt the others up,” and, leaving Toinette and Edith in the orderly (?) room, off they flew.
CHAPTER VIIICAPS AND CAPERS
The eight girls were quickly gathered in Ruth’s and Edith’s room and listening eagerly to the scheme afoot. It need not be added that it was unanimously carried, and it was only necessary to choose a name for the society.
“Let’s all wear masks and caps and cut all sorts of capers. It will be just no end of fun,” cried Ethel Squire, a pretty, bright girl of fifteen who was always ready for a frolic.
“Splendid!” cried Toinette, “and Ethel has given me a fine idea for a name; let’s call it the C. C. C.”
“C. C. C.? What under the sun does that stand for?” asked Helen Burgess, a quiet, serenelittle body, and a general favorite with the other girls.
“Guess,” said Toinette.
“Cuffs and Collars Club,” said May Foster; “mine cause me more trouble than all the rest of my toilet, so they are never far from my thoughts.”
“Cake and Cackle Club,” said another.
“Cheese and Cider; a delicious combination when you’ve acquired a taste for them!” said Marie Taylor.
“Clandestine Carnivori,” was the last guess, which raised a shout.
“Good gracious! let me tell you quickly before you exhaust the dictionary,” laughed Toinette; “how will the Caps and Capers Club do?”
“Hurrah!” cried Ruth, “just the very thing. We’ll all wear our bath-robes and white caps and masks. I’ve loads of white crepe paper, which will be the very thing to make them of, so let’s sit down and make them right away. Come on, girls, help clear up this mess, andthen I’ll find the paper. I can give the finishing touches to the closets and bureau drawers to-morrow.”
All turned to with more ardor than skill, and in a very few moments the conglomeration upon the floor had vanished. How it fared with Ruth and Edith when it came time to dress has never been disclosed. However, the room restored to outward order, twelve girls set to work to fashion caps and masks, and, as the last one was completed, the dressing-bell rang and all scattered to prepare for dinner.
The evening hours at Sunny Bank were very pleasant ones, for during the winter, while days were short and nights were long, there was not much opportunity for outdoor diversion. Immediately after dinner Miss Howard, the literature teacher, would place her snug little rocking-chair before the cheerful open fire in the big hall, and the girls would gather about her; some on chairs, some on hassocks, and some curled upon the large fur rug in front of the blazinglogs, while she read aloud for an hour. A fine library in Mont Cliff supplied books of every imaginable sort, and the girls were allowed to take turns in selecting them; providing, of course, their selections were wise ones. But with Miss Howard as guide they could not go far astray, and many a delightful hour was passed before the fire. Just at present the books chosen were those relating to English history, and contained good, hard facts, but, when the girls grew a little tired of such substantial diet, historical novels came handy for a relish. As England was cutting a prominent figure in the world just then, the girls were encouraged to keep in touch with the current events, and to talk freely about them. The last book read, at least the one they were just concluding, was one which brought into strong contrast the reigns of England’s two greatest queens, and the subject was discussed in a lively manner.
The book was finished shortly before the hour ended, and, laying it upon her lap, Miss Howardbegan to ask a few leading questions in order to get the girls started. As always happens, there were some girls not wildly enthusiastic over historical subjects, and such books did not hold their attention as a modern novel filled with thrilling situations would have done. But these were the very ones whom Miss Howard most wished to reach, and, feeling sure that her chances of doing so through such methods were far greater than could be hoped for if she pinned them right down to hard, dry facts, she took infinite pains to make her readings as interesting as much research and a careful selection of books could make them.
The conversation was in full swing, and Miss Howard, in high feather over the very evident impression the book had made, was congratulating herself upon her choice of that particular volume, when one girl asked:
“Miss Howard, what particular act of Elizabeth’s reign do you think had the greatest influence upon later reigns?”
“That is rather a difficult question to answer, Natala. It was such a brilliant reign and so fraught with portentous results in the future that it would be very difficult to say that this or that one act was greatest of all; although, unquestionably, the translation of the Bible was one of the greatest blessings to posterity. Who can tell me something of great interest which happened then?”
“I can!” cried Pauline Holden.
“I’m more than delighted to hear it,” answered Miss Howard, for Pauline was at once her joy and her despair. Affectionate and good-natured to the last degree, she was never disturbed by anything, but I put it very mildly when I say that Pauline did not possess a brilliant mind.
“Yes,” continued Pauline. “There are not many things in history that I care two straws about, but I remembered that because the names made me think of a rhyme my old nurse used to say when she put me to bed.”
“Miss Howard’s hopes received a slight shock, but she asked:
“Will you tell us what it is?”
“It was letting Matthew, Mark, Luke and John out,” triumphantly.
“Letting whom out?” asked Miss Howard, wondering what upon earth was to follow.
“Yes, don’t you remember they let them out during Elizabeth’s reign?”
“Let them out ofwhere?”
“Why, out of the Tower, to be sure, and it made such a difference in a history some man was writing just then, because they had had a lot to do with it somehow—I don’t remember just what it was. Maybe one of the other girls can.”
By this time all the other girls were nearly dying of suppressed laughter, and when poor Pauline turned to them so seriously it proved the last straw, and such a shout as greeted her fairly made the wall ring. It was too much forMiss Howard, and, with one last look of despair, she gave way and laughed till she cried.
When the laugh had subsided and they had recovered their breath, Miss Howard endeavored to explain to the brilliant expounder of English history that Queen Elizabeth had had more to do with keeping Matthew, Mark, Luke and John out of the Bible thaninthe Tower of London.
CHAPTER IXA MODERN DIOGENES
“Half-past nine. Sh! Yes, down in the old laundry.”
“Who’s coming?”
“The whole club. No end of fun.”
This whispered conversation took place in the upper corridor. Many of the girls had come from schools where frolics were looked upon as an almost heinous crime, and strict rules and surveillance had made their lives a burden to them.
It was about ten o’clock when ghostly figures began to slip through the dark halls. Lights had been extinguished at nine-thirty and all was now silent.
Miss Preston was in her room in a remotepart of the house, and most of the other teachers had rooms in the adjoining building. The laundry in this house was never used, and stout blinds shut out—and in—all light.
Tap, tap, tap.
“Who’s there?” was whispered from within.
“C. C. C., open for me.”
The door opened, and in skipped a figure arrayed like the six already assembled, in a warm dressing-gown and a high peaked paper cap, with white tissue mask and spy-holes.
All spoke in whispers, so it was almost impossible to recognize any one. But this only added to the fun and mystery. “Spread the feast, girls; the others will soon be here. Let’s see, how many are there? Seven! Why don’t the other five hurry? I wonder which ones here aren’t here?” one girl laughingly whispered.
“They’ll come, never fear, but their rooms are nearer ‘headquarters,’” said another.
“What luck! Miss Preston doesn’t suspect a thing. I met her in the hall just before ‘lights’bell, and she said as innocently as could be, ‘You look as though you were quite ready for the “land o’ dreams,” Elsie, but so long as you do not take a gallop on a “night mare” all will be well,’ and I could hardly help laughing when I thought how soon I might be equipped for one.”
“This fudge is my contribution,” said another.
“Hold on, girls! I’ve a brilliant idea,” said Toinette. “Who’s got a long hairpin? Good! that’s fine. Now prepare for something delectable,” and, straightening out the pin, she stuck a marsh mallow on it and held the white lump of lusciousness over the one candle until it was toasted a golden if rather smoky brown.
Tap, tap, tap.
“It’s the others. Quick! let them in, for it’s half-past ten already.”
The signals were exchanged, and in walked not five but nine more figures.
“Oh, girls, such luck! Just as I came out of my room I ran right into Maud Hanscomb’sarms, and shewouldn’tlet me go till I’d told her what was up and promised to let her and the other girls share our fun. She said they suspected something was up, and they were bound to share it. And such a spread! Land knows how they got it! Just look.”
The tubs were now groaning under their burden of king apples, cookies, which bore a striking resemblance to those served at dinner; crackers, which had surely rested in the housekeeper’s pantry, and, joy of joys, a huge tub of ice cream, to say nothing of what the original five brought.
“Now, girls, come on! Let’s eat our cream and make sure of it in case of accidents,” said the stout red ghost, in red cap and mask, who presided over the tub. “No time to get plates, so hand over anything you’ve got, and excuse the elegance of my spoon. It’s cook’s soup spoon, and may give the cream an oniony flavor, but that will add to the novelty,” she said as she served it.
“Who is she, anyhow?” asked one girl, who sat eating cream from a soap dish.
“Haven’t the least idea. One of the old girls, I dare say, but who cares when she can conjure up such delicacies?”
As midnight struck appetites and feast came to an end.
“I vote,” whispered one girl, “that we all take off our masks and have a good look at each other, so we’ll know who’s who when we meet in public.”
“It’s a go,” whispered several others, and off they all came.
“Let’s have more light,” said the donor of the cream, and reached up and touched the electric button.
“Oh! Oh! Oh! Don’t! Miss Preston will catch us!” cried dismayed voices, but Miss Preston herself stood before them, a red mask in one hand and a great spoon in the other.
“This isn’t the first spread I’ve attended,” she said, “and I hope it won’t be the last. I’vehad too good a time. I had an idea the old laundry would prove an inviting place to-night, but I never attend a feast without my tub and candle—or electric light in this twentieth century—for, like another mortal who had a fancy for tubs and a candle, I am in search of honest folk.
“Your spread was a great success, girls. Only next time let me know beforehand. I may not be able to be present in person, but I can still furnish the tub and light, and it will be a comfort to me to know the menu in order to guard against future ills. Good-night. I’m ready for my bed, and I shouldn’t wonder if you were, too,” and, with a flourish of her red cap and big spoon, Miss Preston slipped through the door.
Some very wise ghosts sped away through the dark corridors, and whispered conversations were held far into the “wee, sma’ hours.”
The next day the story was all over the school, and met with various comments. One of Miss Preston’s combined torments and blessings wasthe teacher of chemistry, a thoroughly conscientious woman, and exceptionally capable, but a woman who took life very seriously. Miss Preston used to say that Mrs. Stone must have been forty years old when she was born, and consequently had missed all her child and girlhood. She was kind and just to the girls, but could not for the life of her understand why theymusthave fun, and that fun in secret was twice the fun that everybody knew about.
Well Miss Preston knew that Mrs. Stone would take advantage of her privilege as an old friend, as well as one of the oldest teachers, and come in her solemn way to discuss the latest escapade, pro and con, so she was not in the least surprised when there came a light tap upon her door that afternoon, and Mrs. Stone entered. “‘Save me from my friends,’” quoted Miss Preston, under her breath.
CHAPTER X“THEY COULD NEVER DECEIVE ME”
“Well, Mrs. Stone, what can I do for you, and why such a serious expression?”
“My dear Marion,” said Mrs. Stone, using Miss Preston’s Christian name, as she sometimes did when more than usually solicitous of her welfare, “I’ve come to have a little talk with you regarding what happened last night, and I’m sure you will not take it amiss from one who has known you since your childhood.”
“Do I often take it amiss?” asked Miss Preston, with an odd smile.
“Indeed, no; you are most considerate of my feelings, and I fully appreciate it, considering our business relations. Of course, I have not the slightest right to dictate to you, nor wouldI care to have you regard it in the light of dictation. It is only my extreme interest in your welfare that prompts me to speak at all.”
“And is my welfare in serious peril now?” asked Miss Preston, half laughing as she recalled the previous evening’s prank and her own very thorough enjoyment of the fun.
“No, my dear, not in peril, but I fear that you will never grow to look upon your position in the world with sufficient seriousness, for, I assure you, your responsibility is enormous.”
“Would I could forget that mighty fact for one little fleeting moment,” thought Miss Preston, but, aloud, she asked:
“And do you think that I am not fully conscious of it, Mrs. Stone?”
“Oh, most conscious! most conscious! You could not be more conscientious, I am sure, but you sometimes let a misdemeanor, such as occurred last night, go unpunished, and it establishes an unfortunate precedent, I fear.”
“Did you ever know me to punish any girl placed in my charge?” asked Miss Preston, a slight flush creeping over her face.
“Certainly not! Certainly not!” cried Mrs. Stone, hastily, for she had touched upon a point which she knew to be a very sensitive one with her principal, and wished to smooth matters down a trifle. “I do not mean punishment in the generally accepted term, but do you think it wholly wise to let the girls feel that they can do such things and, in a measure, find them condoned?”
“Do you think that forbidding them would put an end to them?”
“Merely forbidding might not do so, but exacting some penalty for such disobedience would probably make them think twice before they disobeyed again.”
“Did they disobey this time?” Miss Preston asked quietly.
Mrs. Stone looked a trifle disconcerted as she answered:
“Possibly it was not direct disobedience, but it certainly savored of deceit.”
“I should be glad to have you ask any girl who has become a member of that comical C. C. C. if she thinks she has been guilty of deceit, and I’ll venture to say that she will look you squarely in the eyes and say: ‘Deceit! How couldthatfun be deceitful?’”
“Do you not think that it may lead to other undesirable lines of conduct?”
“It may lead to other sorts of innocent fun,” was the dry remark. “Mrs. Stone, were you ever young? Surely, you have not forgotten what the world looked like then. Wasn’t it invariably the thing you were least expected to do that it gave you the most satisfaction to do? Listen to me one moment, for, while I appreciate your sincere interest in my work and myself, I cannot allow you to run off with the idea that I regard my girls as prone to deceitful actions. It is just fun, pure and simple, and the natural result of happy, healthy girlhood. Far betterlet it have a safe vent than try to suppress it, and take very strong chances of directing it into less desirable channels. At the worst, a deranged stomach can follow, and a glass of bi-carbonate of soda-water is a simple remedy, if not an over-delightful one. I knew all about the feast several days ago, and took my own way of letting the girls know that I’d found it out. It was no use to forbid it for that night, for, just as sure as fate, they would have planned it for another, and devoured a lot of stuff far less wholesome than the contents of Toinette’s box and my tub. As it was, we all had a good time, and I’ll warrant you that the next time the C. C. C.’s meet I’ll get a hint regarding the tub, at any rate.”
“Perhaps it will prove so. I trust so, at all events. You are a far wiser woman than I am.”
“Perhaps no wiser, but better able to recall the things which helped to make my girlhood a sunny one, and school frolics played no small part in them.”
“I can but hope that the girls will refrain from practicing deceit. Of course, they cannot deceiveme; no girl has ever yet succeeded in doing so, although many have tried to. But I can invariably detect the sham, and meet it successfully.”
“I hope you may never find yourself undone,” said Miss Preston, with a laugh. “Girls are pretty quick-witted creatures.”
Girls are not blind to their elders’ weaknesses and pet delusions, and it was an understood thing among them all that Mrs. Stone was easily “taken in,” to use their own expression. Consequently, they told her things, and laid innocent little traps for her to walk into, such as they would never have thought of doing for a more wide-awake teacher, or, at least, one who did not make such a strong point of her power of discernment.
It was the very night after the Caps and Capers escapade that the girls were gathered in the upper hall talking about the previous night’s fun.
“It’s no use talking; youcan’tget ahead of Miss Preston,” said one of the older girls. “You may think you have, and feel aglow clear down to the cockles of your heart, then—whew! in she walks upon you as cool as—”
“Ice cream!” burst in another girl. “To my dying day, girls, I shall never forget that red ghost.”
“How did she ever find it out, I’d like to know,” asked Toinette. “Not a soul said a word, and my box didn’t come till the very last minute. I hardly had time to let the girls know, and how Miss Preston ever got her tub of cream in time is more than I can puzzle out. Maybe Mrs. Stores had it on hand.”
“Mrs. Stores! Yes, I guess so,” cried the girls, scornfully. “You don’t for one moment suppose thatshewould let us have a whole tub of ice cream, do you? Not much,” said Lou Perry.
“Why, if Miss Preston wanted it it would be different, you see,” answered Toinette.
“No, it wouldn’t, either. Miss Preston never bothers with the housekeeping or the housekeeper, although she is always just as lovely to her as she can be—she is to everybody, for that matter.”
“For my part, I’m glad she found it out,” laughed Cicely, “but if I’d suspected beforehand that she would, wild horses wouldn’t have dragged me into that laundry. It’s pretty easy not to be afraid of such a teacher; she seems just like one of us. Wasn’t she too funny with that big spoon and the red mask?”
“Are all the other teachers so quick to ‘catch on?’” asked Toinette.
“Most of them are sharp as two sticks,” replied Ethel, “but they never let on. There is only one who makes the boast that she has never been deceived by any girl, and we’ve all been just wild to play her some trick, only we’ve never yet hit upon a really good one.”
“You ought to get Toinette to do the scene from ‘Somnambula,’” said Cicely, laughing.
“What is it? What is it? What is it?” cried a half-dozen voices.
“The funniest thing you ever saw in all your born days,” said Cicely.
“Oh, tell us about it; please, do,” begged the girls.
“Let her do it for you; it will be ten times funnier than telling it.”
“When will you do it?”
“To-night, if I can manage it; it will be a good time after last night’s cut-up.”