CHAPTER IV.
CASTING OF THE DIE.
Rosamund and Jane Denton shared the same bedroom. They had been friendsfrom childhood, for they had lived in the same street and gone to thesame kindergarten together, and their mothers had been oldschool-fellows before marriage, so their friendship had grown up, as itwere, with their very lives.
But Jane was a girl of no very special characteristics; she leant onRosamund, admiring her far more vivacious ways and appearance, glad tobe in her society, and somewhat indifferent to every one else in thewide world.
She sat now on a low and comfortable seat near the open window. Prayerswere over, but the time that Rosamund had fixed for meeting LucyMerriman had not quite arrived. She yawned and stretched herselfluxuriously.
"I shall go to bed. Our work begins to-morrow. What are you sitting upfor, Rosamund?"
"I am going out again in a few minutes," said Rosamund.
"Are you indeed?" cried Jane. "Then may I come with you? I shan'tbe a bit sleepy if I am walking out in the moonlight. But Ithought----However, I suppose rules don't begin to-day."
"What do you mean by that?"
"I heard Miss Archer say that we were not to go out after half-past nineunless by special permission."
"Oh, well, as you remarked, rules don't begin until to-morrow, so I cango out at any hour I like to-night."
"I wonder why?" said Jane, and she looked up with a languid curiosity,which was all she could ever rise to, in her light-blue eyes.
Rosamund knelt by the window-sill; she put her arms on it and gazed outinto the summer night. She heard people talking below her in theshrubbery. A few words fell distinctly on her ears, "I hate her, and Ishall never be her friend!" and then the voices died away in thedistance.
Jane had risen at that moment to fetch a novel which she was reading, soshe did not hear what Rosamund had heard.
Rosamund's young face was now very white. There was a steady, pursed-upexpression about her mouth. She suddenly slammed down the window withsome force.
"What is it, Rose? What is the matter? Why shouldn't we have the windowopen on a hot night like, this?"
"Because I like it to be shut. You must put up with me as I am," saidRosamund. "I will open it if you wish in a few minutes. I have changedmy mind, I am not going out. I shall go to bed. I have a severeheadache."
"But wouldn't a walk in the moonlight with me, on our very last eveningof freedom, take your headache away?" said Jane in a coaxing voice.
"No; I would rather not go out. You can do as you please. Only, creep inquietly when I am asleep. Don't wake me; that's all I ask."
"Oh, I'll just get into bed, dear, if you have a headache. But howsuddenly it has come on!"
"This room is so stifling," she said. "After all, this is a small sortof school, and the rooms are low and by no means airy."
Jane could not help laughing.
"I never heard you talk in such a silly way before. Why, it was you whoshut the window just now. How can you expect, on a hot summer's evening,the room to be cool with the window shut?"
"Well, fling it open--fling it open!" said Rosamund. "I don't mind."
Jane quickly did so. There was a crunching noise of steps--solitarysteps--on the gravel below. Jane put out her head.
"Why, there is Lucy Merriman!" she said.
Lucy heard the voice, and looked up.
"Is Rosamund coming down? I am waiting for her," she said.
Jane turned at once to Rosamund.
"Lucy is waiting for you. Was it with Lucy you meant to walk? She wantsto know if you are going down."
"Tell her I am not going down," replied Rosamund.
"She can't go down to-night," said Jane. "She has a headache."
"I wish you wouldn't give excuses of that sort," said Rosamund in anangry voice when her friend put in her head once more. "What does itmatter to Lucy Merriman whether I have a headache or not?"
Jane stared at her friend in some astonishment.
"I do not understand you, nor why you wanted to walk with her. I thoughtyou did not like her."
"I tell you what," said Rosamund fiercely, "I don't like her, and I'mnot going to talk about her. I am going to ignore her. I am going tomake this house too hot for her. She shall go and live with her auntSusan, or she shall know her place. I, Rosamund Cunliffe, know my ownpower, and I mean to exercise it. It is the casting of the die, Jane; itis the flinging down of the gauntlet. And now, for goodness' sake, letus get into bed."
Both retired to rest, and in a few minutes Jane was fast asleep; butRosamund lay awake for a long time, with angry feelings animating herbreast.
In the morning the full routine of school-life began, and even Lucy wasdrawn into a semblance of interest, so full were the hours, so animatedthe way of the teachers, so eager and pleasant and stimulating thedifferent professors. Then the English mistress, Miss Archer, knew somuch, and was so tactful and charming; and Mademoiselle Omont knew herown tongue so beautifully, and was also such a perfect German scholar!In short, the seven girls had their work cut out for them, and there wasnot a minute's pause to allow ambition and envy and jealousy to creepin.
Lucy had one opportunity of asking Rosamund why she did not keep herappointment of the night before.
"You surprised me," she said. "I thought you were honorable and wouldkeep your word. I had some difficulty in getting Miss Archer out of theway, for she was talking to me so nicely and so wisely, I can tell you,I was quite enjoying it. But I managed to get right away from her, andto walk under your window, and you never came."
"I suppose I was at liberty to change my mind," said Rosamund, her darkeyes flashing with anger.
"Oh! of course you were. But it would have been more polite to let meknow. Not that it matters. I was not particularly keen to talk to you. Iam so glad that Miss Archer is my friend. She gave me to understand lastnight how much she liked me, and how much she meant to help me with mystudies. I believe from what she says that she considers I shall bequite the cleverest girl in the school. She believes in hereditarytalent, and my dear father is a sort of genius, so, of course, as hisonly child, I ought to follow in his footsteps."
"Of course you ought," said Rosamund in a calm voice. "Then be thecleverest girl in the school."
"I mean to have a great try," said Lucy, with a laugh; and Rosamund gaveher an unpleasant glance.