CHAPTER V
A PUBLIC REBUKE
Laura Jordon’s resentment against Edina Tooker and her attitude towardBillie did not abate at once. For the greater part of the return walkto Three Towers Hall she sputtered and fumed, mentioning dire forms ofpunishment that should be meted out to the girl from the West if she,Laura, could have her way.
“Never saw such an ungrateful wretch in my life. Talk about throwingpearls before swine! She never even knew what it meant to be taken upby Billie Bradley.”
“I doubt if she knows now.” Billie paused and said “ouch” as astretched ligament protested sharply.
“Well, she will before she has been at Three Towers much longer,”prophesied Vi. “Personally, I can’t bear the girl and I hope she getseverything that’s coming to her.”
Billie frowned, partly with pain at her cuts and bruises, partly indisapproval of Vi’s uncompromising attitude.
“I’m sure I can’t feel that way about her. The girl saved my life andI owe her something for that.”
“So do we,” said Laura promptly. “But did you notice how she flung mythanks back in my face?”
“Appears to be a habit with her,” remarked Vi flippantly.
“It looks to me as though the girl had been hurt past bearing by thepersecution and ridicule of some of the girls at the Hall. She haspride and spirit and is ready to strike out at everybody.”
“It seems to me I detect Amanda Peabody’s fine hand in this,” observedLaura. “Amanda would enjoy nothing better than a cat-and-mouse gamewith a girl like Edina Tooker.”
“She seems to be poor----”
“I’ve heard differently,” said Billie. “One of the girls told me herfather was getting rich fast--struck oil on an Oklahoma ranch, orsomething of the sort.”
“Well, she may be rich; but, if she looks it, I’m an Indian,” returnedLaura skeptically. “Never saw a girl dressed like that who was anythingbut poverty-stricken.”
“She probably hasn’t the slightest idea how to dress,” observed Billie.“I can imagine Edina Tooker in riding breeches or middy and skirt doinga movie on some rocky mountain trail. In that sort of setting she wouldbe very much a part of the picture. But transplant her to a fashionablegirls’ school and she--well, she just doesn’t fit.”
“A round peg in a very square hole,” observed Vi.
“Exactly. I feel sorry for the poor girl. She’s in for a hard time.”
Toward the end of the tramp back to Three Towers, Billie found herselfbecoming very weary. She paused often to rest and was finally forced toaccept the help of her chums. An arm about the shoulders of each of thegirls, she hobbled on, acutely conscious of all her cuts and bruisesand the strained and aching ligaments in her arms and legs.
They were on the last steep slope that ended at the boathouse in frontof the Hall when they heard the deep-toned gong that announced supperin the dining hall.
Billie cried out in alarm and tried to hobble on more swiftly.
“I’ll make you girls late and Debsy has charge of the dining hall thisweek.” “Debsy” was the nickname for Miss Debbs, teacher of elocution.“You know what that means!”
“One whole afternoon of imprisonment in the dorm and a discredit markbesides,” Vi interpreted. “Debsy sure is death on tardiness.”
“You girls go ahead and leave me,” Billie begged. “You can make it evennow if you run. I’ll get along all right.”
“Never!” said Laura dramatically. “I am with you to the death!”
“Don’t be silly!” cried Billie. “Please go on, girls. It won’t do me abit of good for you all to get into trouble.”
“We will never leave you until death--or Debsy--do us part,” chuckledVi. “You’d better save your breath, Billie. You will need it for thislast wild dash up the hill.”
By the time they reached the Hall Billie was painfully out of breathand aching in every muscle.
“You go on--in,” she gasped. “I’ve got to--wash up a little--and changemy dress. I’m a sight.”
“We’ll help you,” decided Laura.
Despite Billie’s protests, her two chums rushed her up the stairs tothe dormitory. There Vi ran water into a bowl while Laura invaded thecloset to get down a fresh frock.
“There! Stick your head in that, Billie. You do have a look of battleand sudden death about you. And your hair could stand a comb. So! Much,much better. Now you bear a slight resemblance to the Billie Bradley Ihave known and loved so faithfully.”
Over Billie’s freshened head Laura slipped a cool, peach-colored frock;then ran to the lavatory to wash her own hands. This service Vi alsoperformed for herself. In less time than they had thought possible, thechums were ready to face the eagle eye of the dreaded Miss Debbs.
They made their way decorously to the dining hall, entered asunobtrusively as possible, and slipped quietly to their seats.
In spite of all their precautions, their entrance was observed bypractically everybody in the room. Friends of the chums, who were inthe majority, pretended not to see them. Their few enemies, led byAmanda Peabody and her shadow, Eliza Dilks, stared openly and tittered.
Billie did not raise her eyes from her plate as Connie Danvers, seatedbeside her, passed the cold meat and salad.
“Fill up your plate, quick,” whispered Connie. “Maybe Debsy didn’tnotice you.”
“Such a chance!” returned Billie, scarcely moving her lips. “I can feelher eagle eye on me now!”
Through the steady murmur of voices and the clatter of plates andcutlery broke the deep, husky voice of the redoubtable Miss Debbs.
“Beatrice Bradley! Stand, if you please!”
Billie shot a sidelong glance at Connie Danvers.
“I’m in for it now!” she whispered, and got to her feet.
“Yes, Miss Debbs,” she said politely.
“You are aware that there is a strict rule againsttardiness--especially at meals--are you not?” Miss Debbs could ask thesimplest question in an highly histrionic manner, as though the weightof worlds depended on the answer.
Now Billie answered meekly:
“Yes, Miss Debbs.”
“Yet you deliberately enter this hall at five minutes past the hour?”
Billie raised her eyes to meet the boring glance of the elocutionteacher.
“Not deliberately, Miss Debbs. We--I had an accident.”
Miss Debbs brushed the excuse aside with a dramatic sweep of the hand.
“Nevertheless, you admit that you were late?”
Billie could scarcely hope to deny it in the face of all the evidenceagainst her. Nevertheless, she repeated, meekly:
“Yes, Miss Debbs.”
“You will report to me promptly at ten o’clock to-morrow morning.”
With another queenly gesture Miss Debbs pantomimed permission forBillie to be seated, of which tacit permission Billie immediatelyavailed herself.
Connie Danvers whispered viciously:
“It isn’t fair! Laura and Vi were just as late as you.”
“Debsy doesn’t like me,” whispered Billie, and her eyes twinkled.“She never has since the day I refused to use my hands when I recited‘Lochinvar.’ I never could fling my hands about as she does. I’d feel aperfect fool.”
“She’ll give you a discredit, sure,” worried Connie. “And you can’tafford too many, Billie, or you’ll be barred from tennis and rowing.”
The words merely echoed the worry in Billie’s heart. To be barred fromher beloved athletics was tragedy too dire to be considered. She knew,too, that a discredit beside her name so early in the term was enoughto start her off “on the wrong foot.”
While she was considering the advisability of taking the matter to MissWalters, the wise and well-loved head of Three Towers Hall, she glancedup and met the gloating eyes of Amanda Peabody.
“You think you’re smart,” the look seemed to say. “Yet here you are inbad at the very beginning of the term.”
Amanda bent over and whispere
d something to Eliza Dilks. The two girlstittered and glanced sneeringly at Billie. Their enjoyment of herpredicament was obvious, yet Billie continued to eat roast beef and thevery excellent salad without appearing disconcerted in the least. Itwas this ability of hers to disguise her feelings that often infuriatedAmanda and her toadying shadow to the point of open and indiscreetbetrayal of their enmity toward Billie and her chums.
One such occasion was this one. Amanda bent across the table towardBillie and said in a voice that was audible to every one:
“Dare you to tell where you went this afternoon!”
The gabble of voices settled into a momentary hush as the other girlsregarded these ancient antagonists.
Billie looked up and met the sneering gaze of Amanda Peabody with asmile.
“I’ve not the slightest objection,” she answered calmly. “We went togather goldenrod.”
“Goldenrod!” ejaculated Amanda, with a titter. “That’s a good one!”
“You might ask her where it is,” and Eliza Dilks nudged her crony withan oversharp elbow.
“Where what is?” asked Billie.
“The goldenrod. How much did you bring back with you?”
Before Billie could reply there came a disturbance at the door.Innumerable pairs of bright, curious eyes were turned upon thefantastic figure in the doorway.
Billie recognized the newcomer. It was Edina Tooker.