CHAPTER VIII
THE DILL PICKLES
Miss Walters took the girls into her office, looked up the cards she hadmade out for them--for of course their names had been sent in some timebefore as prospective students at Three Towers Hall--and then called inanother teacher, Miss Ada Dill, who had part charge of the dormitories.
Miss Dill was tall and thin with sharp black eyes and white hair drawnseverely back from her forehead. She smiled when Miss Walters introducedher to the girls, but her smile reminded Billie of the smile on the faceof a Chinese idol which she and her chums had come upon among theantiques of the old homestead at Cherry Corners. It was merely a crackin her face and the beady black eyes remained unsmiling.
"Miss Dill," Miss Walters told the girls, "will show you your places inthe dormitories and will give you the hours for meals and such otherinformation as you will need at first. Lunch will be served in half anhour, and after that you may have the rest of the day to yourselves tobecome acquainted with Three Towers Hall."
Then she dismissed them, and Billie and the other new arrivals foundthemselves following the stiff back of Miss Dill through the corridorand up a broad flight of steps.
They met several girls on their way to the dormitory, and the latterlooked at them curiously. The girls learned a little later that thesestudents had spent the summer at Three Towers, although most of thegirls had gone home to relatives and friends and would not be back untilthe next day.
It was a rule at Three Towers Hall that the new students should reportthe day before the year formally opened for the purpose of becomingacquainted with the rules and regulations of the school.
"Wasn't that a pretty girl?" Vi whispered to Billie, as Miss Ada Dillopened the dormitory door and a lovely girl with very pink cheeks andvery black hair stopped for a word with the teacher and then hurriedpast the girls on her way downstairs. "I wonder who she is."
"If she's as nice as she is pretty," Billie whispered back, "she'll beall right."
Then they stepped into the long, many-windowed room and looked aboutthem curiously. There were beds, beds, beds and more beds. Everywherethe girls looked they seemed to see nothing but beds. As a matter offact there were only ten of them, but the girls could have sworn therewere at least twice that number.
"We can put five of you girls in here," Miss Dill said in a crisp, drytone, almost as if she resented having to say it at all. "Are there anyof you who would particularly like to be together?"
Of course Billie spoke up for herself and Laura and Vi, and afterregarding her severely through her glasses for a moment, Miss Dillfinally assigned three beds at the further end of the room to the chums.
"Then there is room for two more," Miss Dill said, and to the horror ofthe chums Amanda Peabody came forward, holding Eliza Dilks by the hand.
Laura uttered a little exclamation and seemed about to protest whenBillie pinched her arm and made her say "ouch" instead.
"There's no use in saying anything," Billie whispered fiercely. "Itwouldn't do any good, and we'd only make more of an enemy of that--thosegirls."
They were relieved a little when they saw that "those girls" wereassigned to beds half way down the room so there would at least be a fewneutral girls in the beds between.
"So if the rest of you will come with me," said Miss Dill, "I will giveyou places in the other dormitories."
Then she and the other girls went out into the hall, the door was shut,and the chums were left alone in the big room with Amanda Peabody andEliza Dilks.
The girls sank down upon their beds and looked about them curiously.There was a little wash basin and a towel rack beside each snowy whitebed and on the towel rack hung several small towels with blue and whiteborders.
The beds were set at regular intervals down the long room, and thespaces in between them were fitted out in such a manner as almost tomake a separate little room for each girl.
Beside the wash basins, there was a dresser set at the foot of eachwhite bed and under each bed was a hamper for soiled clothes. Each girlhad a little table with a chair to match.
The woodwork had been painted white and the walls were a grayish bluecolor with several pretty pictures scattered about them to break thebareness.
"Why, the room's all blue and white," Billie suddenly discovereddelightedly. "Isn't that a lovely blue they've painted the wall? And thesnowy white woodwork! Oh, it's delicious!"
"And just look at the view from this window!" cried Vi, beckoning tothem eagerly. As the girls looked over her shoulder they fairly gaspedwith delight.
Below them stretched the velvety lawn dotted with the darker green ofshrubbery, while away through the trees glimmered and gleamed the waterof Lake Molata. The day was warm for autumn, and a gentle breeze playedamong the leaves of the great trees bordering the lake, coming to thegirls in a soft, rustling whisper. The picture was almost too perfect tobe true.
"And she said," Billie murmured at last with a sigh of content, "that wecould have all the afternoon to become acquainted with Three Towers."
"Yes," said Laura, turning from the window, "but I guess she meant onlythe inside of Three Towers. I don't believe they will allow us off thegrounds so soon."
At that moment the door opened and the pretty girl that had passed themin the hall entered and shut the door softly behind her. In the brightlight of the room she seemed even prettier than she had in the hall, butthere was something about her--Billie could hardly have told what,perhaps it was the expression of her mouth--that made Billieinstinctively dislike her.
The strange girl's eyes rested on Amanda and Eliza where they sat intheir corner, talking in whispers, and her lips curled disdainfully.Then she came over to where Billie and her friends were standing.
"Hello!" she said with a quick smile. "You're the new girls, I suppose,and we might as well get acquainted right away. My name is Rose Belser,and I'm from Brighting," mentioning a town several miles the other sideof North Bend.
"We're awfully glad to know you," Billie answered, with her ownparticular friendly smile. "I'm Beatrice Bradley, and these are my twochums, Violet Farrington and Laura Jordon. We're from North Bend."
"Glad to know you," said Rose Belser with a quick little nod of herblack head. Then she curled herself on the foot of Billie's bed andproceeded to make herself at home.
"I've been staying here for the summer," she told them. "It's an awfulplace to spend the summer, you know. First time I ever did it, and Inever was so lonesome in my life."
"Why, I'd love to spend the summer here," said Vi, thinking of thebeautiful country they had glimpsed and the lovely lake where one mightrow or canoe to his heart's content. "The country's so pretty, and youhave the lake----"
"Oh, the lake!" the girl interrupted impatiently. "And the country! I'mtired to death of the lake and the country. I want to go to the citywhere you can wear pretty clothes and go to parties and things."
"But I should think you could wear pretty clothes here," said Billie,wondering. "And as to parties--I thought you always could have partiesat boarding school----"
"Maybe you can at some boarding schools," the girl interrupted againwith that same impatient toss of her head. "But those schools don't haveDill Pickles for guardian angels."
The girls looked at her as though she had gone crazy, and indeed for amoment they thought she had. But Rose Belser gave a short little laughand went on to explain.
"The Dill Pickles are two old-maid sisters. One of them brought you uphere----"
"Miss Dill!" cried Billie, beginning to see light. "Oh, has she asister?"
"Yes. And the sister is worse," said the girl, with a little grimace."They are Miss Ada and Miss Cora, and Miss Cora is the terror of theHall. If it weren't for Miss Walters----But say, you'd better hurry,"she interrupted herself suddenly and jumped to her feet. "It's almosttime for the lunch gong to ring, and if you're late for lunch, Miss Corawill be furious. She has charge of the dining hall, you know. You'dbetter wash and straighten your hair. Miss Cora lo
oks you through with agimlet eye."
She ran over to her wash basin, which happened to be the next one toBillie's, and began to wash her hands vigorously.
"Oh, dear, we forgot all about lunch, and we must be a sight!" criedVi, pulling off her hat and excitedly patting her hair. "Girls, wehaven't any combs--our trunks haven't come up yet. Give me a comb,somebody! Oh, here's one in my grip."
"How strange," mocked Billie, dashing cold water on her face till itshone rosily. "It almost seems to me I have one in mine also."
"Well, you'd better get busy and use it," Violet retorted, drawing herown comb through her heavy hair, "or you'll get in bad the very firstday. Oh, dear! there's the gong." She stopped with her comb in the airand gazed in horror at the girls. As for Billie and Laura, they stood asif they had suddenly become paralyzed.
"If you'd start in time you'd be ready in time," said a nasal voice fromthe other end of the room, and the girls glanced around quickly. Theyhad been so absorbed in their new experience that for a time they hadcompletely forgotten Amanda and Eliza. But now they turned just in timeto see the two girls leaving the room. As she shut the door behind herAmanda gave it a defiant little slam.
"Say, who's your friend?" asked Rose Belser, looking in astonishment atthe closed door. "She's pleasant, isn't she?"
"They're neither of them friends of ours," said Billie, jerking her hairangrily as though she wished it had been Amanda's hair instead. "Theyjust happen to come from the same town, that's all."
"Never mind about Amanda, Billie," pleaded Violet, looking uneasily atthe door. "We're late----"
"Oh, don't worry," interrupted Rose, giving a final pat to her blackhair. "That was only the first gong. The second one rings five minuteslater. There it goes now. Are you ready?"
The girls were ready, and with quickly beating hearts they stepped outinto the corridor.