CHAPTER IV--GENEROUS PLANS
The girls talked a great deal of Mrs. Haddon and her trouble as they puton their skates and slowly skated back to the Hall.
"It must be dreadful," Laura was saying thoughtfully just as the threetowers of the school loomed up before them, "not to have enough to eat.Just think of it, girls, to be hungry--and not have enough to eat!"
No wonder this condition of affairs seemed unusually horrible, in factalmost impossible to luxury-loving Laura, whose father was one of therichest and most influential men in rich and influential North Bend. ToLaura it seemed incredible that every one should not have enough and tospare of the good things that, rightly used, go to make happiness inthis strange old world. She had never known what it was to have a wishthat was not gratified almost on the instant.
"Yes, it must be awful," Billie answered soberly, in response to Laura'sexclamation. "And I'm sure," she added decidedly, "that I won't be ableto enjoy another good meal until I know that those three poor littlekiddies and Mrs. Haddon have had all they could possibly eat--for once,at least."
"What do you mean?" they asked, wonderingly.
"We'll pack a basket," planned Billie, growing excited over the greatidea which had just that minute occurred to her. "We'll put everythingin it that we can possibly think of, chicken sandwiches and a bottle ofcurrent jelly, a thermos bottle of hot coffee and another of milk forthe children----"
"Say wake up, wake up," begged Laura, irreverently. "Where do yousuppose we are going to get all this stuff anyway? It's too late to goto town----"
"Who said anything about going to town?" Billie interrupted impatiently."I'm going straight to Miss Walters and tell her all about the Haddonfamily and ask her to let us raid the kitchen and make up the basketourselves. We can pay for the things," she added, as an afterthought.
"It's a bright idea--but it takes nerve," said Laura slangily. "MissWalters may not like the idea of feeding the countryside."
"I'm not asking her to feed the countryside," Billie retorted, addingcomfortably as a picture of Miss Walters, white-haired, blue-eyed andsweet, rose before her: "I'm sure she will let us do it just this once."
For Miss Walters, strict though she was at maintaining discipline in theschool, was nevertheless generosity and kindness itself to every oneabout her.
"But," said Laura, uttering one last protest, "I don't believe Mrs.Haddon would accept anything that looked like charity. She's too proud."
"We won't take any chances on her being too proud to accept it," saidBillie decidedly, adding with a chuckle: "We'll do the way the boys usedto do on Hallowe'en, ring the bell and run."
They had no other chance to talk, for in a minute they were surroundedby about a dozen of their classmates who all began scolding them at onceabout running away and demanded to know where they had been, so thatplans for the Haddons were pushed temporarily into the background.
Laughing and shouting to each other the girls took off their skates andscrambled up the long terraced hill that led to Three Towers.
If the Hall and its surroundings were beautiful in the summer time, itwas even more attractive in the winter. The ivy that covered thegreen-gray stone of the building was now frosted white with snow andice, and this, catching the ruddy gleam of the afternoon sun, gave theHall the appearance of a great, sparkling jewel.
The three towers which gave the school its name made the place seem likesome castle of old, and the surrounding trees and shrubbery, heavilycoated with snow and icicles, gave to the old building just the air ofmystery that it needed.
The beauty of the familiar place struck Billie afresh, and she stoppedshort suddenly and gazed up at it with loving eyes.
"Isn't it lovely to have a place like this to come home to?" she said,as the girls looked at her inquiringly, "when you are tired and coldand----"
"Hungry," finished Laura, giving her a shove. "Giddap, Billie, you'reslowing down the works."
"Slang again," sighed Vi, plaintively, as Billie obligingly "giddaped.""If I should tell Miss Walters----"
"You would never live to tell another tale," prophesied Laura, amid agale of laughter from the girls. "Two sneaks and tattletales areenough," she added significantly, as she caught sight of Amanda Peabodyand Eliza Dilks walking a little ahead of them.
"I wonder where Connie and Nellie have kept themselves," said Billie, asshe with the other girls crowded through the wide door of the Hall.
"They were up in the dorm, cramming for the exams when I saw them last,"said a tall girl at Billie's elbow. She had evidently not been with thegirls on the lake, for she wore no coat or hat and she carried a bookunder each arm as though she also had been studying.
"Oh, hello, Carol!" greeted Billie, putting an arm about the tall girland sweeping her toward the stairs. "So you've been grinding away asusual when you ought to have been out getting some good fresh air. My,you look as pale as a ghost."
For the tall girl, so studiously inclined, was none other than CarolineBrant, who had been such a good friend to Billie upon her arrival atThree Towers Hall the year before. The girls were all fond of Caroline,in spite of the undeniable fact that she was one of those usuallydespised students commonly known as "grinds."
"You know I don't skate," Caroline said in response to Billie'saccusation. "And I never could see why people prefer freezing their toesand noses to staying comfortably indoors."
"You're an old lamb," said Billie with a squeeze. "But there are lots ofthings that you never will see!"
As Caroline had predicted, the chums found Connie Danvers and NellieBane in the dormitory, curled up uncomfortably on the bed, heads bentdisconsolately over two thick and bulky history books.
When the door burst open and the chums swung into the room, skates slungover shoulders, eyes bright and cheeks glowing from exercise, the two onthe bed flung away their books and looked despairingly at the newcomers.
"Great heavens, here they are back already," cried Connie, running herhands wildly through her fluffy hair. "And I haven't learned more thanfive dates so I can say them straight."
"And that's just five more than I have learned," cried Billie gayly,dropping her skates in a corner and flinging herself on the edge of thebed. "Come closer, girls," she added, lowering her voice to a mysteriouswhisper while Nellie and Connie wriggled over to her. "I would whisperin thine ear. We have met with an adventure!"