CHAPTER XI
A VANQUISHED ENEMY
At the astonishing statement made by one of the schoolgirls, an excited murmur spread among the group gathered in the principal's office.
Miss Jane Romaine raised her fine brows and stared at the speaker.
"Nothing in Laurel Hall belongs to you or any other girl, Katherine," she said coldly, each word dropping like an icicle upon the surcharged atmosphere. "If you cannot enter this office in a becoming manner and wait to speak until you are spoken to, I am afraid I shall have to ask you to leave."
Kate Speed—for it was she—flushed angrily, started to speak, and then, at the last minute, thought better of it.
"Do I hear an apology?" Miss Romaine's tone was gentle, but underlying it was a ring of authority not to be denied.
"I'm—sorry," said Kate sullenly and as though she had to drag the words from between her unwilling lips. "But I thought——"
"Stand a little back, Katherine, please." Miss Romaine's voice was suddenly crisp and business-like. "There are several girls who entered the office before you, and each one must take her turn."
She smiled at the three chums from Woodford, handed them each a printed slip upon which were detailed the rules of the school, gave them the number of their room, and waved them pleasantly away.
"I see you have already made a friend of Jessie. She will explain anything that puzzles you," she said, and added: "I hope you will be very happy at Laurel Hall."
On the way out of the office the girl chums were forced to pass close to Kate Speed and her little group of indignant associates. The fair-haired girl, who had recently professed such a friendly feeling for them, shot them a look of venomous dislike now that fairly startled them.
Once outside the door in the corridor, they all turned to Jessie Robinson. They were surprised to see that she was laughing silently but gleefully.
"Well, I must say I can't see where the joke comes in!" Jo, puzzled, exclaimed.
But Jessie tugged at her sleeve and drew the other girls after her up the broad staircase.
"Oh, come away, do!" she gasped. "I never saw anything so funny as Kate's face, never!"
"But she seemed mad at us," said Nan. "What was she angry about?"
"Wait till we get to your room and I'll explain," said Jessie, still breaking forth into irrepressible chuckles. "It's all simple enough once you know the facts. Here we are!"
As she spoke their new friend opened the door at the end of the hall and with a dramatic gesture motioned them to enter.
"Behold! This, once Kate Speed's domain, now belongs to you. Advance, conquerors, and take possession!"
"Oh, my goodness, I begin to see light!" cried Jo. "Do you mean to say this room was Kate's last year?"
"Even so," returned their new friend. She flung herself upon one of the single beds and, knees hugged comfortably beneath her chin, regarded them gleefully. "Now do you begin to see why our lovely Kate regards you with disfavor?"
"I suppose she wanted the same room this year," said Sadie, looking thoughtful.
"Then she should have said so—and said so early," retorted Jessie Robinson. "That's the way with Kate. She takes it for granted that she's so important that people ought to know what she wants without being told. She could have had this room if she'd asked for it early enough, but I suppose you girls got in your application first, and so Miss Jane turned it over to you. She plays no favorites, anyway."
"No wonder the girl wanted to murder us!" said Nan. "I can't say that I blame her much, now that I know the dreadful truth."
"This sure is one great room!" murmured Jo, and wandered over toward the window.
"Look, girls!" she called a moment later.
Nan and Sadie ran to her while Jessie Robinson continued to hug her knees and regard the chums with gleefully speculating eyes.
"The lake!" Jo gave a hop, skip, and jump of happy excitement. "If that isn't a million-dollar view, I'd like to know what is!"
"Ooh, we're right on it almost—the lake I mean, not the view!" cried Sadie. "I never saw anything so pretty as that water in all my life!"
"What have we done to deserve it?" chortled Nan. "Girls, this is the luck of a lifetime!"
A glance about the room and from the windows of it would fully explain the girls' delight in the quarters they were to occupy at Laurel Hall.
The room, besides being unusually large, boasted an alcove, as well, and three big windows. While in reality very simply furnished, the apartment had an air of comfort, almost of luxury, that was very inviting.
Each bed had an immaculate spread, and at the foot of each a comforter, folded diamond-shape, spoke of cool country nights when extra bed clothes were necessary to comfort.
Two of the beds were side by side in the main room, while the third occupied the alcove. This gave an effect of privacy, almost as though the alcove were another room.
There were three dressers, each one standing formal and upright against the wall. A table, some chairs, among them three big easy-chairs, and a small desk in the far corner completed the furnishings.
But if the room within was inviting, surely the view without was even more so.
From two of their three windows the lake could be seen, rippling placidly in the valley with the grim towering bulk of one of the twin mountains in the background looming black against a brilliant sky.
"Look! There's a dock!" cried Sadie. "I suppose that must belong to Laurel Hall."
"And there's our boathouse, too," Jessie Robinson came to look over their shoulders. "That's where we keep our bathing suits, oars, paddles, cushions, and such things. It's quite a sizable boathouse and it has lockers just like a gym."
"Makes me want to get out my bathing suit right now," said Nan longingly. "I wonder when our trunks will be up from Laurelton."
Suddenly Jo's brows contracted in a frown of concentration and she pointed with some excitement toward the boathouse.
"I wonder what's the matter!" she said. "Look at those girls down there running about like——"
"Chickens with their heads cut off," Sadie finished. "Maybe there's a row or something."
"Might be worth investigating, anyway," said Jessie Robinson.
But as she turned from the window Nan caught her by the arm.
"They are coming this way. Maybe we can see from here."
"No, sir!" said their new friend sturdily. "When there's trouble brewing, little Jessie can always be found right in the middle of it. You wait here, if you like. I'm going down."
Of course the chums went with her, wondering about the excitement at the boathouse and what could have caused it.
They soon found themselves in a crowd of students surging eagerly to meet the party from the boathouse.
"Girls!" cried an advance envoy of the latter, "something dreadful has happened! The boathouse and the gym have both been broken into!"
It took a moment for the hearers to digest this astounding bit of news.
"You mean thieves?" some one cried.
"I'll say it was thieves!" cried several girls in chorus.
"Some of our swimming and gym suits have been taken!" cried another girl, her voice shrill above the din.
"And my tennis racket and a whole new set of balls!" wailed another.
"Doris Maybel, when did this happen?" Jessie Robinson elbowed her way into the throng. "Does Miss Jane know about it, yet?"
"I don't suppose so," said Doris, answering the last question first. "And it must have been last night that it happened, because some one has been about all day——"
"Girls!" The clear voice cut crisply across the excited babble of girls' voices. "What does this mean?"