CHAPTER X
THE CHALLENGE
Nan Harrison met the insolent look of Kate Speed steadily. Presently a smile touched the corners of her mouth.
"All right," she said. "Try to do it!"
Kate might have said more, probably would have done so, had not the train just then slowed down. They were nearing the station at Waterville.
Kate gave a little scream and rushed to her seat to gather luggage and wraps.
Lily Darrow followed patiently after, handing Kate her belongings before she ventured to look for her own.
"Of all the unpleasant people that Kate Speed is the worst!" fumed Nan, as the chums pulled their grips down from the rack.
"Sh!" warned Sadie. "She'll hear you."
"Hope she does!" grumbled Nan, though it might be noticed that she lowered her voice. "Wallop me, will she? I'll show her!"
Jo chuckled.
"Go to it, Nan! I'm crazy to see the first match between you and Speedy Kate!"
There was no time for further conversation as the train was already drawing in at the station.
In the excitement of leaving the train and embarking on the steamer that was to take them down the lake to Laurelton, the Woodford girls temporarily lost sight of Kate Speed and Lily Darrow.
"Though how Speedy Kate thinks we are going to find our way to Laurel Hall without her is a mystery," chuckled Sadie.
"To hear her talk you'd think we needed a governess," Nan agreed disgustedly. "I only hope I don't have to see a great deal of that girl. I don't know how much of her I could stand!"
With a crowd of other people the three girl chums bordered the lake steamer and found comfortable places near the rail. From where they sat the beautiful waters of Twin Mountain Lake stretched invitingly before them. The sun, reflected in its rippling surface, shone dazzlingly. The irregular line of the shore, the numerous islands, black and mysterious, that bulked against the sparkling water seemed to beckon the girls on to new experiences, new adventures.
"We're off," cried Jo as the deck quivered beneath their feet with the throb of the engine. "If I'm dreaming, girls, please don't wake me up!"
There were several other girls of about their own age on the steamer, and the chums guessed that these were either students or, like themselves, prospective students of Laurel Hall.
Naturally these groups of young people interested the Woodford girls immensely, and the six-mile trip down the lake to Laurelton proved unexpectedly short.
Once they caught a glimpse of Kate Speed in a group of girls, talking animatedly. She never once glanced in their direction! But for this the chums were thankful.
"She seems to have fallen in with some old acquaintances. Naturally we are nothing to her now," said Nan, with a chuckle.
"She was peeved at the way you answered her tennis challenge," added Jo, laughing. "From the look on her face, I imagine you made a very dear enemy just then, Nan Harrison!"
"I'd a lot rather have some people for enemies than friends," retorted Nan.
When the steamer puffed up to the dock at Laurelton the girls disembarked like a group of chattering magpies.
For the most part they were nice-looking girls with eager, happy young faces that spoke of healthy minds and bodies, of good homes, and loving care.
"A pretty good crowd," Sadie whispered to Jo. "And they don't look at all like the sort Kate Speed said they were."
"We'll not take Kate Speed's word for anything," replied Jo. "I don't suppose she knows everything, even if she thinks she does."
Laurelton was an ordinary small country village with its main street, its few modest stores, and its unassuming cottages set well back from the street in ample grounds.
It was pretty in its way, but the girls were too intent upon "following the crowd" and finding the autobus to Laurel Hall to see much of the village on that first day.
There was a bus line that went straight past the gates of the school. Into one of the busses the girls crowded, the trio from Woodford feeling elatedly that they had at last embarked on the final stage of their journey.
The trunks and other luggage of the girls that had made the trip successfully with their owners were to remain in the custody of the boat company at the wharf until such time as the school truck should be dispatched for them.
It was a short ride from the village to Laurel Hall, almost too short for the three girl chums, who enjoyed every moment of the trip.
Kate Speed was in the rear seat of the bus with Lily Darrow and two other girls, who seemed to be very much of her own type.
There was a dark-haired girl in the seat next to Nan, and between Laurelton and Laurel Hall these two struck up quite a friendship.
The strange girl's name was Jessie Robinson, and she, like Kate Speed, had completed one year at Laurel Hall.
But there all resemblance ceased, for Jessie was a jolly, friendly girl who dressed in quiet good taste and appeared to be the exact opposite in every way of the flashy Kate Speed.
"Since you are new at the hall, I'd be glad to show you around if you like," she offered. "I know most of the girls and I can introduce you to some of them. It will sort of break the ice for you, anyway."
Nan promptly accepted the offer in the spirit in which it was made. She liked Jessie Robinson and found herself hoping that there were many more of her type at the Hall.
The auto bus swung round a curve in the road and revealed to view two immense stone pillars between which a wrought iron gate was hung.
This gate now stood open, and as the horn of the bus blew a sharp warning several girls in bright-colored frocks ran through the entrance and down to the road.
"Laurel Hall!" cried Sadie in great excitement, and clutched at Jo's arm. "Look Jo—there it is standing up on the hill. Isn't it the most beautiful building in the world?"
"Looks like some sort of castle, with its turrets and towers and ivy-grown walls," Jo agreed.
"All out for Laurel Hall!" boomed the driver of the bus, and brought his vehicle to a stop at the side of the road.
The girls scrambled out, dragging bags and other small luggage after them.
Some were greeted by acquaintances who had arrived before them at the Hall. Others went directly toward the school building as though they already knew their way about; while still others, evidently new arrivals, looked about them vaguely as though they were at a loss just what to do next.
The three chums from Woodford would have been among this last group had not Jessie Robinson come to their rescue.
"Do you know what rooms you've been assigned to?" she asked, as she led them up the broad drive past chattering groups of girls toward the Hall.
"Not the least in the world," Jo answered for her chums.
"We asked for a large room with three single beds in it so that we could be together," Sadie added.
"But whether we get it or not is another matter!" finished Nan.
Jessie laughed.
"Well, of course you take what you get and feel yourself lucky enough to get anything, with the waiting list we have," she said. "Miss Jane is fair, though," she added. "She always tries to give the girls what they want and everybody loves her. Just wait till you see her and you won't wonder why!"
Jessie was besieged at the school steps by a flood of acquaintances. She laughingly disengaged herself, however, and managed to reach the door of the Hall with her three new friends.
"Come up to my room later," she called back to the merry group. "We'll have a good pow-wow. I've loads to tell you."
Just inside the door was the office of Miss Jane Romaine, the head of Laurel Hall.
"There's Miss Jane now," whispered Jessie Robinson. "We'll have to go in and report, and then she'll tell you about your rooms."
The room was beautifully furnished with a heavy-pile rug, mahogany desk and chairs.
"It looks more like a sitting room than an office," Nan whispered to Jo. "Dad's office never looked like this!"
Jo nodded, but a sudden unhappy thought left its shadow on her face. Nan had reminded her of her own father and of his grave trouble.
However, Miss Jane Romaine looked up from her papers just then, and with a smile beckoned the girls closer.
"Well, Jessie," said the tall, thin lady with the beautiful dark eyes and white hair, "I am glad to welcome you back, my dear. I rather expected you among the girls who arrived yesterday."
"I was delayed a day by sickness at home," Jessie explained, and drew her new friends forward.
Miss Romaine's manner to the newcomers was cordial, friendly, simple. She asked their names, welcomed them both officially and personally to Laurel Hall and assigned them their rooms.
"Because you want to occupy a room together I have made a special concession in your favor," she told them with her pleasant smile. "I am going to give you the big north room overlooking the lake. It has an alcove, and you should be very comfortable there."
There was a stir in the rear of the room and a girl elbowed her way through a group of newcomers who were waiting to see Miss Romaine.
"The north room!" cried this girl, in a high, strident voice. "Why, they can't have that room! It belongs to me!"