CHAPTER IX
KATE SPEED
The train which the three Woodford girls were to take went to Waterville, at the head of Twin Mountain Lake. It was upon this picturesque body of water that the boarding school of Laurel Hall was situated. On reaching Waterville the girls must take a steamer to Laurelton, which was a village about six miles down the lake.
Twin Mountain Lake was about fifteen miles long and a mile in width, and the fact that it lay in a valley between two mountains was responsible for its name.
The lake was famous for its picturesque beauty. The shoreline was irregular and much indented, and small islands were scattered through it in a way to add to its mystery and charm.
No wonder the girl chums were anxious to reach romantic Laurel Hall, situated as it was in the most exquisite of natural settings.
There was quite a crowd gathered at the Woodford station when the train that was to carry the schoolgirls to Waterville steamed into it.
Mr. Morley and Mr. Appleby boarded the car with the girls, to carry their luggage and see them safely installed for the journey. When this was done a tremor of the train warned them that they must seek the platform with as little delay as possible.
Jo caught her father's coat as he turned to go.
"I'll be thinking of you and Mother all the time, Dad," she said in a hurried whisper. "And I'm going to pray that you get hold of that Andrew Simmer one way or another!"
Mr. Morley gave a wry smile and patted her hand.
"Let's hope I shall!" he said. Then he had to jump to reach the platform as the train moved off.
The girls peered through the windows and waved hands and handkerchiefs until the familiar faces were blurred by distance.
"Well, we're off!" said Nan, turning her head and regarding her chums with dancing eyes. "I've had a horrible feeling we'd never get to Laurel Hall ever since Jo scared us to death by saying she couldn't go."
"We're not there yet," Sadie reminded her, with a grin. "There's always the chance of a train wreck, you know."
"How cheerful! Sadie has such a lovely way of looking on the sunny side of things!" Jo was about to make further remarks in the same strain when her words were arrested by the inquiring glance of a girl in the next seat.
She was an expensively dressed girl—almost flashily dressed—and as Jo's eyes met hers she smiled and came over to the double seat in which the three girl chums were comfortably settled.
"I couldn't help overhearing what you said," she began in a high, mincing voice. "Is it possible that you are going to Laurel Hall, too?"
"Too," thought the girls. Was this flashily dressed, affected young person by any chance a fellow student?
"That's certainly the place we're bound for," returned Jo, as the questioner's eyes remained fixed on her.
"We're just entering," Sadie added.
Nan said nothing. She was busy forming an instinctive and intense dislike of the stranger.
"How lucky!" cried the latter effusively. "I'm a student at Laurel Hall, too—second year. How nice we should meet like this on the train!"
"Yes, isn't it!" said Nan, though the faint tinge of sarcasm passed unnoticed by the new girl.
"Won't you sit down?" asked Sadie, who was always polite, even to those for whom she did not care greatly.
"Just a moment," said the strange girl. "I have a friend here. I'll ask her if she won't join us."
"By all means!" Nan muttered as the girl turned away. "Why not invite the whole train? There's room for all!"
Jo choked on a laugh and raised a hand in warning to Nan. Their new friend was already returning. Another girl was with her.
This girl was introduced as Lily Darrow and the girl chums liked her at once. Lily Darrow was a quiet, sweet-faced young person with light brown hair and light brown eyes and a soft voice that seemed always just above a whisper.
Lily took the seat next to Nan while the girl whom they now knew by the name of Kate Speed perched herself on the arm of the seat beside Jo.
Kate had hair that was so fair it was almost white. Her eyebrows were of the same color and were about as much use to her as though she had had none at all. Her eyes were a deep violet blue and, being heavily lashed, saved her from that washed-out appearance so unattractive in any one.
Her clothes, which the Woodford girls had already briefly commented on, were as noticeable as her eyes, and made Kate Speed a conspicuous figure wherever she went.
"Too bad you haven't been to Laurel Hall before," she rattled on to the slightly bored girls. "Such a nuisance, getting acquainted, don't you think so? I felt frightfully out of things my first term. But now, of course, it's quite different. I may be able to do a lot for you girls, introducing you to the right people and all that," she added patronizingly.
The chums exchanged a glance, half amused, half annoyed.
"Thanks, so much," said Nan gravely. "I know we should never have been able to get along without you."
Kate Speed looked at her suspiciously, as though she detected sarcasm beneath the flattering statement. But Nan's face still wore its look of innocent gravity and Kate Speed rattled on in a more egotistic vein than ever.
"Laurel Hall is a lovely school and all that, and I really never would care to go anywhere else. There's only one fault I have to find with it."
"What's that?" asked Sadie, simulating a breathless interest.
"It's too cliquish," explained Kate, with a toss of her light head. "If the girls don't know all about you and your family, they are apt to be a bit stand-offish."
"Oh, Kate, do you think so?" Lily Darrow's protest was timid. "I've always thought the girls at Laurel Hall were the friendliest in the world."
"Well, of course, ifyouthink so, Lily Darrow, that settles it!" Again Kate Speed tossed her head and looked daggers at the timid girl.
Lily flushed and murmured something about "not meaning to contradict."
"You didn't mean to contradict! Well, I'd like to know what you did mean!" scolded Kate. "After this, Lily Darrow, I'll thank you to keep your opinions to yourself!"
Sadie, Nan, and Jo exchanged amazed glances. Who was this Kate Speed that she could talk to another girl, a student at Laurel Hall, in such a manner?
"And get away with it," Jo added later when they were alone. It was nearing lunch time, and Kate Speed and her companion had gone back to the dining car, leaving the three chums to the enjoyment of the sandwiches, fruit, and cake prepared by loving hands at home. Kate had tossed her head at sight of the homely lunch baskets and had hinted that she was far above dining in such a manner aboard a train! "Why, Kate Speed seems to own that girl body and soul!"
"She has some hold over her, that's a sure thing," Sadie agreed.
"Well, I feel sorry for any one in the power of that fair-haired cat," said Nan almost spitefully. She had conceived a tremendous dislike for their flashy new acquaintance.
"I scent a mystery here," remarked Jo, who was always scenting mysteries everywhere, "and I'm willing to bet that we'll be able to solve it before we've been at Laurel Hall very long."
"If we can rescue Lily Darrow from the clutches of Speedy Kate, we'll have done one good day's work," said Nan.
The girls chuckled.
"'Speedy Kate,'" laughed Jo. "That's a good one, Nan. Just fits her."
And by the name of "Speedy Kate" the fair-haired girl was known to the three chums of Woodford from that time on.
The rest of the trip to Waterville, upon which the girls had counted so much, was practically spoiled for them by the persistent company of Kate Speed and her meek little companion.
When the long train journey was nearing its close and they were speeding on to Waterville, the next stop, Nan happened to mention the fact that she played tennis.
"How nice!" cried Kate Speed. "You'll find I have quite a reputation on the courts at Laurel Hall. I'll take you on whenever you say," with a challenging look at Nan, "and wallop you with the greatest of pleasure!"