although the booming sound of the great gong filled the air, the supper to which the head girls of the school were now going was a very simple affair. it consisted of milk placed in great jugs at intervals down the long table, of fruit both cooked and uncooked, and large plates of bread and butter.
such as it was, however, supper was a much-prized institution of mulberry court; only the fifth-form and sixth-form girls were allowed to partake of it. to sit up to supper, therefore, was a distinction intensely envied by the lower school. the plain fare sounded to them like honey and ambrosia. they were never tired of speculating as to what went on in the dining room on these occasions, and the idea of sitting up to supper was with some of the girls a more stimulating reason for being promoted to the fifth form than any other which could be offered.
on this special night in the mid-term the girls who were ignominiously obliged to retire to their bedrooms felt a sorer sense of being left out than ever.
as dorothy and her companions walked through the wide, cool entrance hall, and turned down the stone passage which led to the supper room, they were quite conscious of the fact that some of the naughtiest and most adventurous imps of the lower[pg 11] school were hovering round, hanging over banisters or hiding behind doors. a suppressed giggle of laughter proceeded so plainly from the back of one of the doors, that dorothy could not resist stretching back her hand as she passed, and giving a playful tap on the panels with her knuckles. the suppressed laughter became dangerously audible when she did this, so in mercy she was forced to take no further notice.
the girls entered the wide, long dining hall and immediately took their places at the table.
mrs. freeman always presided at the head of the board, miss patience invariably sat at the foot, miss delicia wandered about restlessly, helping the girls to milk and fruit, patting her favorites on their backs, bending down to inquire tenderly how this girl's headache was, and if another had come off conqueror in her tennis match. no girl in the school minded or feared miss delicia in the least. unlike her two sisters, who were tall and thin, she was a little body with a round face, rosy cheeks, hair very much crimped, and eyes a good deal creased with constant laughter. no one had ever seen miss delicia the least bit cross or the least bit annoyed with anyone. she was invariably known to weep with the sorrowful, and laugh with the gay—she was a great coddler and physicker—thought petting far better than punishment, and play much more necessary for young girls than lessons.
in consequence she was popular, with that mild sort of popularity which is bestowed upon the people who are all patience and have no faculty for inspiring fear.
mrs. freeman could be austere as well as kind, and mrs. freeman was ten times more loved than miss delicia.
[pg 12]
the girls took their places at the table—grace was said, and the meal began.
a sense of disappointment was over them all, for the new girl upon whom their present thoughts were centered had not put in an appearance—nothing was said about her—mrs. freeman looked as tranquil as usual, miss patience as white and anxious, miss delicia as good-natured and downy.
dorothy was beginning to whisper to her companion that all their excitement was safe to end in smoke, when the door at the farther end of the dining hall was softly pushed open, and a head of luxuriant nut-brown curling hair was popped in. two roguish dark blue eyes looked down the long room—they greeted with an eager sort of delighted welcome each fresh girl face, and then the entire person of a tall, showily dressed girl entered.
"my dear bridget!" exclaimed mrs. freeman, so surprised by the unexpected apparition that she was actually obliged to rise from her seat and come forward.
"oh, my dear, ought you not to be asleep?" exclaimed miss patience in thin, anxious tones from the other end of the board, while miss delicia ran up to the girl and took one of her dimpled white hands in hers.
"i did not feel tired, mrs. freeman," replied the newcomer in an eager, irrepressible sort of voice. "you put me into my room and told me to go to bed, but i didn't want to go to bed. i have had my supper, thank you, so i don't want any more, but i have been dying with curiosity to see the girls. are these they? are these my schoolfellows? i never saw a schoolfellow before. they all look pretty much like other[pg 13] people. how do you do, each and all of you? i'm bridget o'hara. may i sit near you, mrs. freeman?"
"sit there, miss o'hara, please," said mrs. freeman. she tried to suppress a smile, which was difficult. "girls," she said, addressing the fifth and sixth forms, "girls, this young lady is your new schoolfellow—her name is bridget o'hara. i meant to introduce her to you formally to-morrow, but she has taken the matter into her own hands. i am glad you are not tired, miss o'hara, for you have had a very long journey."
"oh, my!" exclaimed miss o'hara, "that's nothing. goodness gracious me! what would you think of thirty or forty miles on an irish jaunting car, all in one day, mrs. freeman? that's the sort of thing to make the back ache. bump, bump, you go. you catch on to the sides of the car for bare life, and as likely as not you're pitched out into a bog two or three times before you get home. papa and i have often taken our thirty to forty miles' jaunt a day. i can tell you, i have been stiff after those rides. did you ever ride on a jaunting car, mrs. freeman?"
"no, my dear," replied the head mistress, in a rather icy voice, "i have never had the pleasure of visiting ireland."
"well, it's a very fine sort of place, as free and easy as you please; lots of fishing in the lakes and in the rivers. i'm very fond of my gun, too. can you handle a gun, mrs. freeman? it kicks rather, if you can't manage it."
an audible titter was heard down the table, and mrs. freeman turned somewhat red.
"will you have some fruit?" she said coldly, laying[pg 14] a restraining hand as she spoke on the girl's beflowered and embroidered dress.
"no fruit, thank you. oh, what a lovely ring you have on! it's a ruby, isn't it? my poor mother—she died when i was only three—had some splendid rubies—they are to be mine when i am grown up. papa is keeping them for me in the county bank. you always keep your valuables in the bank in ireland, you know—that's on account of the land leaguers."
"i think, my dear, we won't talk quite so much," said mrs. freeman. "at most of our meals german is the only language spoken. supper, of course, is an exception. why, what is the matter. miss o'hara?"
"good gracious me!" exclaimed bridget o'hara, "am i to be dumb during breakfast, dinner, and tea? i don't know a word of german. why, i'll die if i can't chatter. it's a way we have in ireland. we must talk."
"patience," said mrs. freeman, from her end of the supper table, "i think we have all finished. will you say grace?"
there was a movement of chairs, and a general rising.
miss patience asked for a blessing on the meal just partaken of in a clear, emphatic voice, and the group of girls began to file out of the room.
"may i go with the others?" asked miss o'hara.
"yes, certainly. let me introduce you to someone in particular. janet may, come here, my dear."
janet turned at the sound of her name, and came quickly up to her mistress. she looked slight, pale, and almost insignificant beside the full, blooming, luxuriously made girl, who, resting one hand in a [pg 15]nonchalant manner on the back of her chair, was looking full at her with laughing bright eyes.
"janet," said mrs. freeman, "will you oblige me by showing miss o'hara the schoolrooms and common rooms, and introducing her to one or two of her companions? go, my dear," she continued, "but remember, bridget, whether you are tired or not, i shall expect you to go to bed to-night at nine o'clock. it is half-past eight now, so you have half an hour to get acquainted with your schoolfellows."
"my! what a minute!" said miss bridget, tossing back her abundant hair, and slipping one firm, dimpled hand inside janet's arm. "well, come on, darling," she continued, giving that young lady an affectionate squeeze. "let's make the most of our precious time. i'm dying to know you all—i think you look so sweet. who's that love of a girl in gray, who sat next you at supper? she had golden hair, and blue eyes—not like mine, of course, but well enough for english eyes. what's her name, dear?"
"i think you must mean dorothy collingwood," said janet in her clear, cold english voice. "may i ask if you have ever been at school before, miss o'hara?"
"oh, good gracious me! don't call me miss o'hara. i'm biddy to my friends—biddy o'hara, at your service—great fun, too, i can tell you. you ask my father what he thinks of me. poor old gentleman, i expect he's crying like anything this minute without his biddy to coddle him. he said i wanted polishing, and so he sent me here. i have never been in england before, and i don't at all know if i will like it. by the way, what's your name? i didn't quite catch it."
"janet may. this is the schoolroom where the[pg 16] sixth form girls do their lessons. we have a desk each, of course. that room inside there is for the fifth form. i wonder which you will belong to? how old are you?"
"now, how old would you think? just you give a guess. let me stand in front of you, so that you can take a squint at me. now, then—oh, i say, stop a minute, i see some more girls coming in. come along, girls, and help miss may to guess my age. now, then, now then, i wonder who'll be right? how you do all stare! i feel uncommonly as if i'd like to dance the irish jig!"
dorothy, ruth, and olive had now come into the schoolroom, and had taken their places by janet's side. she gave them a quick look, in which considerable aversion to the newcomer was plainly visible, then turned her head and gazed languidly out of the window.
bridget o'hara bestowed upon the four girls who stood before her a lightning glance of quizzical inquiry. she was a tall, fully developed girl, and no one could doubt her claim to beauty who looked at her even for a moment.
her eyes were of that peculiar, very dark, very deep blue, which seems to be an irish girl's special gift. her eyelashes were thick and black, her complexion a fresh white and pink, her chestnut hair grew in thick, curly abundance all over her well-shaped head. her beautifully cut lips wore a petulant but charming expression. there was a provocative, almost teasing, self-confidence about her, which to certain minds only added to her queer fascination.
"now, how old am i?" she asked, stamping her arched foot. "don't be shy, any of you. begin at the[pg 17] eldest, and guess right away. now then, miss collingwood—you see, i know your name—the age of your humble servant, if you please."
dorothy could not restrain her laughter.
"how can i possibly tell you, miss o'hara?" she replied. "you are a tall girl. perhaps you are seventeen, although you look more."
"oh! hurrah, hurrah, hurrah! what will my dear dad say when i tell him that? biddy o'hara seventeen! don't i wish i were! oh, the lovely balls i'd be going to if those were my years! now, another guess. it's your turn now—you, little brown one there—i haven't caught your name, darling. is it anne or mary? most girls are called either anne or mary."
"my name is ruth," replied the girl so addressed, "and i can't guess ages. come, olive, let us find our french lessons and go."
"oh, i declare, the little dear is huffed about something! well, then, i'll tell. i'll be fifteen in exactly a month from now! what do you say to that? i'm well grown, am i not, janet?"
"did you speak?" asked miss may in her coldest tones.
"yes, darling, i did. shall we go into the common room now? i'm dying to see it."
"i'm afraid i have no more time to show you any of the house this evening," answered janet. "the common room is very much the shape of this one, only without the desks. i have some of my studies to look over, so i must wish you good-evening."
bridget o'hara's clear blue eyes were opened a little, wider apart.
[pg 18]
for the first time there was a faint hesitation in her manner.
"but mrs. freeman said——" she began.
"that i was to take you round and introduce you to a few companions," continued janet hastily. "miss collingwood, miss o'hara—miss moore, miss o'hara—miss bury, miss o'hara. now i have done my duty. if you like to see the common room for yourself, you can go straight through this folding door, turn to your left, see a large room directly facing you; go into it, and you will find yourself in the common room. now, good-night."
janet turned away, and a moment later reached the door of the schoolroom, where she was joined by olive and ruth. "come," she said to them, and the three girls disappeared, only too glad to vent their feelings in the passage outside the schoolroom. dorothy collingwood lingered behind her companions. "never mind," she said to biddy, "it is rude of janet to leave you, but she is sometimes a little erratic in her movements. it is a way our janey has, and of course no one is silly enough to mind her."
"you don't suppose i mind her?" exclaimed bridget. "rudeness always shows ill-breeding, but it is still more ill-bred to notice it—at least, that's what papa says. she spoke rather as if she did not like me, which is quite incomprehensible, for everybody loves me at home."
there was a plaintive note in the girl's voice, a wistful expression in her eyes, which went straight to dorothy's kind heart.
"people will like you here too," she said. "i am certain you are very good-natured; come and let me[pg 19] show you some of our snug little arrangements in the common room, and then i think it will be time for bed."
"oh, never mind about bed—i'm not the least sleepy."
"but mrs. freeman wants you to go to bed early to-night."
"poor old dear! but wanting biddy o'hara to do a thing, and making her do it, are two very different matters. i'll go to bed when i'm tired—papa never expected me to go earlier at home. i declare i feel quite cheerful again now that i have got to know you, dorothy. janet is not at all to my taste, but you are. what a pretty name you have, and you have an awfully sweet expression—such a dear, loving kind of look in your eyes. would you mind very much if i gave you a hug?"
"i don't mind your kissing me, bridget, only does not it seem a little soon—i have not known you many minutes yet?"
"oh, you darling, what do minutes signify when one loves? there, dolly, i have fallen in love with you, and that's the fact. you shall come and stay with me at the castle in the summer, and i'll teach you to fire a gun and to land a salmon. oh, my dear, what larks we'll have together! i'm so glad you're taking me round this house, instead of that stiff janet."
dorothy suppressed a faint sigh, took her companion's plump hand, and continued the tour of investigation.
the common room to which she conducted miss o'hara was entirely for the use of the elder girls; the girls of the middle and the lower school had other[pg 20] rooms to amuse themselves in. but this large, luxuriously furnished apartment was entirely given up to the sixth and fifth-form schoolgirls.
the room was something like a drawing room, with many easy-chairs and tables. plenty of light streamed in from the lofty windows, and fell upon knickknacks and brackets, on flowers in pots—in short, on the many little possessions which each individual girl had brought to decorate her favorite room.
"we are each of us allowed a certain freedom here," said dorothy. "you see these panels? it is a great promotion to possess a panel. all the girls who are allowed to have the use of this room cannot have one, but the best of us can. now behold! open sesame! shut your eyes for a minute—you can open them again when i tell you. now—you may look now."
bridget opened her eyes wide, and started at the transformation scene which had taken place during the brief moment she had remained in darkness. the room was painted a pale, cool green. the walls were divided into several panels. one of these had now absolutely disappeared, and in its place was a deep recess, which went far enough back into the wall to contain shelves, and had even space sufficient for a chair or two, a sewing machine, and one or two other sacred possessions.
"this is my panel," said dorothy, "and these are my own special pet things. i bring out my favorite chair when i want to use it, or to offer it to a guest; i put it back when i have done with it. see these shelves, they hold my afternoon tea set, my books, my paint box, my workbasket, my photographic album—in short, all my dearest treasures."
[pg 21]
"i must have a cupboard like that," said biddy. "why, it's perfectly delicious!"
"yes; you have got to earn it first, however," replied miss collingwood, slipping back the pale green panel with a dexterous movement.
"earn it—how? do you mean pay extra for it? oh, that can be easily managed—i'll write to papa at once. he has heaps of money, even though he is irish, and he can deny me nothing. he's paying lots more for me than most of the girls' fathers pay for them. that's why i have a room to myself, and why i am to have riding lessons, and a whole heap of things. but i mean to share all my little comforts with you, you darling. oh, if the cupboard is to be bought, i'll soon have one. now let us sit in this cosy, deep seat in the window, and put our arms round one another and talk." the great clock in the stable struck nine.
"don't you hear the clock?" exclaimed dorothy, unconscious relief coming into her tones.
"yes, what a loud, metallic sound! we have such a dear old eight-day clock at the castle; it's said to be quite a hundred years old, and i'm certain it's haunted. my dear dolly, to hear that clock boom forth the hour at midnight would make the stoutest heart quail."
"well, and our humble school clock ought to make your heart quail if you don't obey it, bridget. seriously speaking, it is my duty to counsel you, as a new girl, to go to bed at once."
"the precious love, how nicely she talks, and how i love her gentle, refined words. but, darling, i'm not going to bed, for i'm not tired."
"but mrs. freeman said——"
"dolly, i will clap my hands over your rosebud lips[pg 22] if you utter another word. come, and let us sit in this deep window-seat and be happy. would you like to know what papa is doing at the castle now?"
"i don't think i ought to listen to you, bridget."
"yes, you ought. i'm going to give you a lovely description. papa has had his dinner, and he's pacing up and down on the walk which hangs over the lake. he is smoking a meerschaum pipe, and the dogs are with him."
"the dogs?" asked dorothy, interested in spite of herself.
"yes, poor old dandy, who is so lame and so affectionate, and mustard and pepper, the dear little snappers, and lemon. poor darling, he is a trial; we have called him lemon because he exactly resembles the juice of that fruit when it's most acrid and disagreeable. lemon's temper is the acknowledged trial of our kennel, but he loves my father, and always paces up and down with him in the evening on the south walk. then of course there's bruin, he's an irish deerhound, and the darling of my heart, and there's pilate, the blind watchdog—oh! and minerva. i think that's about all. we have fox hounds, of course, but they are not let out every day. i see my dear father now looking down at the lake, and talking to the dogs, and thinking of me. o dolly, dolly, i'm lonely, awfully lonely! do pity me—do love me! o dolly, my heart will break if no one loves me!"
bridget's excitable eager words were broken by sobs; tears poured out of her lovely eyes, her hands clasped dorothy's with fervor.
"love me," she pleaded; "do love me, for i love you."
[pg 23]
it would have been impossible for a much colder heart than dorothy collingwood's to resist her.
"yes, i will love you," she replied; "but please go to bed now, dear. you really will get into trouble if you don't, and it seems such a pity that you should begin your school life in disgrace."
"well, if i must go, and if you really wish it. come with me to my room, dorothy. o dolly, if you would sleep with me to-night!"
"no, i can't do that; we have to obey rules at school, and one of our strictest rules is that no girl is to leave her own bedroom without special permission."
"then go and ask, darling. find mrs. freeman, and ask her; it's so easily done."
"i cannot go, bridget. mrs. freeman would not give me leave, and she would be only annoyed at my making such a foolish proposition."
"oh, foolish do you call it?" a passing cloud swept over bridget o'hara's face. it quickly vanished, however; she jumped up with a little sigh.
"i don't think i shall like school," she said, "but i'll do anything you wish me to do, dearest dorothy."
