CHAPTER XVIII
THE MYSTERY AGAIN
The organization of the Sweetbriars had gone on apace. Two generalmeetings had been held. Every new-comer to the school, who had enteredthe Junior classes, saving Helen Cameron, had joined the new society.The committee on constitution and by-laws was now ready to report andthis very afternoon Ruth and two other girls waited on Mrs. Tellinghamto ask permission to hold social meetings in one of the assembly roomson stated occasions, as the other school societies did.
The trio of Sweetbriars had to wait a little while in the hall outsidethe library door, for Mrs. Tellingham was engaged. Mary Cox came outfirst and as she passed Ruth she tossed her head and said:
"Well, are you here to tattle about somebody else?"
Ruth was stricken speechless, and the girls with her asked wonderinglywhat the older girl had meant.
"I--I do not know just what she means," gasped Ruth, "only that shemeans to hurt me if she can."
"She's mad with you," said one, "because you started the S. B.'s andwouldn't join her old Upede Club.
"That's it," said the other. "Don't you mind, Miss Fielding."
Then the maid told them they could go into the library. Mrs.Tellingham looked very grave, and sat at her desk tapping the lidthoughtfully with a pencil. This was one occasion when Dr. Tellinghamwas not present. The countenance of the Preceptress did not lighten atall when she saw Ruth come in.
"What is it, Miss Fielding?" she asked in her brusque way.
Ruth stated the desire of the new society briefly, and she was positivebefore Mrs. Tellingham replied at all that the mention of theSweetbriars did not please the lady.
"You girls will fill your time so full, with societies and leagues, andwhat all, that there will be little space for studies. I am half sorrynow that I ever allowed any secret, or social clubs, to be formed atBriarwood. But while we have the Forward Club, I cannot well deny theright of other girls to form similar societies.
"But I am not pleased with the Up and Doing Club. I understand thatevery girl but one reported out of her room after retiring bell lastevening, in the West Dormitory, was a member of the Up and Doings--andthe other girl was you, Miss Fielding!" she added sternly. "And youare a member of this new organization-- What do you call it? The 'S.B.'s,' is it?"
"The Sweetbriars," said Ruth bravely. "And I am sorry I did anythingto bring any cloud upon the name of the new club. I promise you, Mrs.Tellingham, that I will do nothing in the future to make you sorry thatyou sanctioned the formation of _our_ society."
"Very well! Very well!" said the Preceptress, hastily. "You may havethe same rights, and under the same conditions, that the older clubshave. And now, Miss Fielding, stop here a moment, I have anothermatter to speak to you about."
The other girls went away and Ruth, somewhat troubled by the manner ofMrs. Tellingham, waited her pleasure. The Preceptress took up a letterfrom her desk and read it through again.
"Dr. Davison you know, Ruth," she said, quietly. "He and your uncle,Mr. Jabez Potter, have arranged to send here to school a lame girlnamed Curtis------"
"My uncle!" gasped Ruth. "O, I beg your pardon, Mrs. Tellingham. Butare you sure it is my uncle who is sending Mercy Curtis?"
"With Dr. Davison--yes," the Preceptress said, in some surprise. "Theyhave equally charged themselves with her expenses at Briarwood--if shecan remain here. You know her, of course?"
"Helen and I have talked of her almost every day, Mrs. Tellingham,"said Ruth warmly. "She is very quick and sharp. And she is muchimproved in disposition from what she used to be."
"I hear you speak of her so kindly, with pleasure, Miss Fielding," saidthe head of the school. "For it opens the way to a suggestion that Dr.Davison makes. He wishes Mercy Curtis to room with you."
"With Helen and me!" cried Ruth, in delight. "Of course, I slept inMercy's room all the time she was at the Red Mill last summer, and wegot on nicely together."
"But you do not know how Miss Cameron will receive the suggestion ofhaving a third girl in your small room?"
"Oh, Helen is so kind!" Ruth cried. "I do not believe she will object.And she is sorry for Mercy."
"I know you have been Helen's constant companion. Do you think youhave been as good friends as you were when you came to Briarwood,Ruth?" asked Mrs. Tellingham, with sharpness.
"Helen! Oh, I hope so, Mrs. Tellingham!" cried Ruth, in greatdistress. "I am sure I love her just the same--and always shall."
"But she evidently finds her friends among the Upedes. Why did she notjoin this new society that you have started?"
"I--I did not mean to start it without her," stammered Ruth. "It wasreally only my suggestion. The other Infants took it up----"
"But you named it?"
"I _did_ suggest the name," admitted Ruth.
"And you did not join the Up and Doing Club with your chum."
"No, Mrs. Tellingham. Nor did I join the F. C.'s. I did not like themanner in which both societies went about making converts. I didn'tlike it the very first day we came."
"Miss Picolet, your French teacher, told me something about Mary Coxmeeting the stage and getting hold of you two girls before you hadreached Briarwood at all."
"Yes, ma'am."
"By the way," said the Preceptress, her brow clouding again and thestern look coming back into her face that had rested on it when Ruthhad first entered the room, "you had met Miss Picolet before youarrived at the school?"
"She spoke to us in the stage--yes, ma'am."
"But before that--you had seen her?"
"Ye-es, ma'am," said Ruth, slowly, beginning to suspect that Mrs.Tellingham's curiosity was no idle matter.
"Where?"
"On the _Lanawaxa_--the boat coming down the lake, Mrs. Tellingham."
"Miss Picolet was alone aboard the boat?"
Ruth signified that she was.
"Did you see her speaking with anybody?"
"We saw a man speak to her. He was one of the musicians. Hefrightened Miss Picolet. Afterward we saw that he had followed her outupon the wharf. He was a big man who played a harp."
"And you told this to your school-fellows after you became acquaintedhere?"
Mrs. Tellingham spoke very sternly indeed, and her gaze never leftRuth's face. The girl from the Red Mill hesitated but an instant._She_ had never spoken of the man and Miss Picolet to anybody saveHelen; but she knew that her chum must have told all the particulars toMary Cox.
"I--I believe we _did_ mention it to some of the girls. It impressedus as peculiar--especially as we did not know who Miss Picolet wasuntil after we were in the stage-coach with her."
"Then you are sure you have not been one who has circulated storiesamong the girls about Miss Picolet--derogatory to her, I mean?"
"Oh, Mrs. Tellingham! Never!" cried Ruth, earnestly.
"Do you know anything about this silly story I hear whispered that themarble harp out there on the fountain was heard to play the night youand Miss Cameron arrived here?"
"Oh!" ejaculated Ruth.
"I see you know about it. Did you hear the sound?"
"Ye-es, ma'am," admitted Ruth.
"I will not ask you under what circumstances you heard it; but I _do_ask if you have any knowledge of any fact that might explain themystery?"
Ruth was silent for several moments. She was greatly worried; yet shecould understand how this whole matter had come to Mrs. Tellingham'sknowledge. Mary Cox, angry at Miss Picolet, had tried to defame her inthe mind of the Preceptress.
Now, what Ruth _knew_ was very little indeed. What she _suspected_regarding a meeting between the French teacher and the man with theharp, at the campus fountain, was an entirely different matter. ButMrs. Tellingham had put her question so that Ruth did not have to tellher suspicions.
"I really know nothing about it, Mrs. Tellingham," she said, finally.
"That is all. I do not believe you--or Miss Cameron--would willinglymalign an innocent person
. I have known Miss Picolet some time, and Irespect her. If she has a secret sorrow, I respect _it_. I do notthink it is nice to make Miss Picolet's private affairs a subject forremark by the school.
"Now, we will leave that. Sound Miss Cameron about this Mercy Curtis.If you girls will take her in, she shall come on trial. It lies withyou, and your roommate, Miss Fielding. Come to me after chapelto-morrow and tell me what you have decided."
And so Ruth was dismissed.