CHAPTER IV
A WONDERFUL TONIC
Vera awoke long before daylight, and lay thinking.
"That's just the way I do things," she said in a voice barely above awhisper.
"I plan the fun, and always have a good time, that is '_most_' always,but it's sure to wind up in a scrape. I plan how to get into mischief.Why don't I ever plan how to get out?"
Elf stirred uneasily, and Vera gave her shoulder a vigorous shake.
"Wake up!" she commanded. "Wake up, and help me plan what we'd bettersay when we have to face Mrs. Marvin."
"Oh, I'm sleepy," drawled Elf. "We're smart enough to say something whenshe stares at us over her spectacles. We'll say we--"
A wee snore finished the sentence, and Vera turned over with a lurchthat shook the bed.
She thought it very hard that she must lie awake and worry, while Elfcould sleep; in short, she wanted some one to worry with her.
"It's like the way I climb trees when we're away in the summer," shemuttered.
"It's fine climbing up, but I'm always afraid to climb down. If Bob isnear, I can always make him get me down, but Bob isn't here to get meout of this mess, and Elf won't even try to keep awake to help methink."
She concluded that it was very unfeeling for Elf to be so sleepy. Hercheeks were flushed, and her head ached.
"O dear!" she whispered, softly, "Dorothy Dainty and Nancy Ferris arefull of fun, but they never get into a regular fix such as I'm in now. Idon't see how they manage to have such good times without ever gettingmixed up in something that's hard to explain. And Betty and Valerie willget off Scot free, for 'The Fender' couldn't see them under the bed, andof course we'll not tell that they were there."
She did not know that when Betty and Valerie had reached their own roomthey found that in their haste to arrive at the "feast" they had leftthe light burning in their room!
Oh, indeed Miss Fenler had seen that, and she had opened the door. Shehad found no one there. She had seen that four had been enjoying thefeast, because at each of the four sides of the spread were fragments ofpartly eaten cream-cakes, or bits of fruitcakes. Her sharp eyes had seenenough to assure her that two other girls were in hiding somewhere inthe room, doubtless the two whose light had been left burning. Shethought it clever to let them think that they had escaped notice. Theirsurprise would be greater when she sent them to Mrs. Marvin the nextmorning. Daylight found Vera tossing and turning, while Elf wasdreaming. It was not that Vera could not bear reproof. She could listenfor a half-hour to a description of her faults, and look like a cheerfulflaxen-haired sprite all the while. That which now worried her was thethought that Mrs. Marvin might send her home.
It was the fifth time during the month that she had been reprimanded,and even gentle Mrs. Marvin _might_ reach the limit of her patience.
Her father, she knew, would speak reprovingly, and then laugh at her.Her mother, always weak-willed, would say: "Vera, dear, I wonder if youwere really naughty, or if it was that they didn't _quite_ understandyou."
Oh, there was nothing to fear about being sent home, but the fact thatthus she would lose a deal of fun that she could so enjoy with a lot oflively girls of her own age.
She resolved to appear as off-hand as usual, unless Mrs. Marvin shouldsay that she must not remain at Glenmore, when she would throw pride tothe winds, and plead, yes, even beg to continue as a pupil of theschool. She turned and looked at Elf, still soundly sleeping.
"O dear! I'm the only girl in school who has anything to fret over," shewhispered.
It happened, however, that at the far end of the building, another girlwas quite as worried as Vera, but it was a very different matter thathad caused her to wake, as Vera had, before daybreak.
She had entered Glenmore a few weeks after school had opened, and wasrather a quiet girl, as yet acquainted with but few of the pupils.
Some one circulated the story that she was being educated by an unclewho was a very rich man. Patricia Levine had added that as he lived in"N'York," and as her mother also lived there, she, of course, knew him,and she had told Patricia that old Mr. Mayo was more than rich, that hewas many, many times a millionaire.
"Ida Mayo is to be an heiress, and have all that money. Just think ofthat!" Patricia had said, and immediately began to be very friendly withher.
Betty Chase boldly asked Patricia why it followed that because Mrs.Levine and old Mr. Mayo lived in New York they must, of course, beacquainted, to which Patricia snapped.
"I didn't say they _must_ be acquainted. I said 'they _are_'!"
Ida Mayo seemed not to notice that Patricia sought to be friendly, nordid she make any effort to become acquainted with any of the otherpupils.
She seemed content to stand apart and watch the others in their games.It was Dorothy Dainty who seemed to hold her attention, and once BettyChase asked boldly: "I wonder why you watch Dorothy so much."
"I don't know," Ida had said, then added, "I guess it's because she'sworth looking at?"
Secretly she envied Dorothy's lovely color, and wished that her owncheeks were as fresh and fair. That evening in her little room, shelooked in disgust at her reflection in the mirror. A pale face returnedher gaze, and she made a grimace.
"It's bad enough to be pale without having a few of last summer'sfreckles left to make it worse," she cried.
There were lessons to be prepared for the morrow, but the reflection inthe mirror had so disturbed her that she cast lessons aside andcommenced reading a story in a new magazine. The heroine was describedas having a wonderful complexion, as fair, as pink and white, as perfectin coloring as a sea-shell.
"Of course!" said Ida, "and that's the sort I wish I had."
Her eyes strayed from the story of the beautiful heroine to theadvertising column.
"Raise mushrooms," read one advertisement, next: "Try our patentcollar-button," then: "Write poems for us."
"How stupid!" she said. "Who'd want to raise mushrooms, I'd like toknow? Who wants their old collar-buttons? And for mercy's sake, how manypeople who read those advertising columns can write poetry?"
She was about to toss the magazine upon the couch, when two words inlarge print caught her attention.
"Banish freckles--"
"What's that?" she whispered.
"Banish freckles and have a perfect complexion," she read. "Send fiftycents to us, or obtain our tonic at any drug-store. Directions insidepackage."
It must have been the best of good luck that had prompted her to neglecther lessons, and spend the evening hours with the magazine, she thought.
She was far too impatient to wait to receive the tonic by mail.
She had never been to the local drug-store, so the clerks would not knowher, but if any of the Glenmore girls were there, she would buy somecandy, and wait until another day to obtain the tonic.
She drew a long breath when she saw, upon entering, that she was theonly customer.
The clerk thought it odd that a little girl should be buying acomplexion-beautifier, but concluded that she, doubtless, was doing theerrand for some older person.
Night came, and at the hour when Vera and Elf with Betty and Valeriewere tasting their goodies, and listening to every sound that might beapproaching footsteps, Ida Mayo, not a whit less excited, wasbreathlessly reading the directions for applying the tonic.
"Spread the tonic over the face, rubbing it thoroughly into the skin.Let it remain all night. You will be astonished at the result."
A dozen times during the night she had been awakened with the scalding,burning of her face. The directions had said that the skin wouldprobably burn, but the result in the morning would fully repay the user,by the extreme loveliness of the radiant complexion!
Ida bore the burning bravely, but when the first faint light appearedshe sat up in bed, pressing her hands to her smarting cheeks.
"If the freckles are gone, and my skin is fair, I won't say a word aboutthis burning," she said. "But how," she continued, "can my face lookeven ha
lf-way decent, when it is smarting so furiously?"
At last, she could bear it no longer, and springing out of bed, she ranto the dresser, and gasped as she looked at her reflection. Even in thedim light of the dawn of a cloudy day, she saw that her cheeks, herforehead, her chin, were all very red.
Were they spotty as well?
"O dear! If it was only light enough for me to really see!" shewhispered.
She looked at the tiny clock. At that early hour no one was stirring atGlenmore.
No one would see her if she went down to the door, and it would belighter there. A gable shaded the window, and made her room less light.
Thrusting her tangled locks up under the elastic of her muslin cap, andthrowing on a loose sack, she snatched the hand-mirror from her dresser,and softly yet swiftly went out into the hall and down the stairs.
She paused in the lower hall, there thinking that she heard some onecoming, she rushed out on the piazza, down the steps, and across thelawn to an open space where nothing could obscure the light. Already itwas growing lighter, and she lifted the hand-mirror. A look of horrorswept over her little face.
"Oh, what a fright!" she cried, as she stood staring at the reflection.
Her face was scarlet, and if the freckles had disappeared, it wasbecause they had taken the skin with them when they went!
For a moment she stood as if rooted to the spot, then realizing thatsome restless pupil might be up and chance to see her from the window,she turned and ran at top speed toward the house. The big door stoodopen as she had left it, and she raced across the hall and up thestairway, entering her room just as footsteps echoed along the hall.
She closed the door and sat down.
"Why _did_ I see that horrid old advertisement?" she exclaimed. Hersmarting, burning cheeks were enough to bear, but worse than that wasthe thought that she would be compelled to appear in the class-room.
How the girls would stare at her! What would they say among themselves?
"OH, WHAT A FRIGHT!" SHE CRIED.--_Page 73._]
Vera believed herself to be the only girl at Glenmore who had even theslightest reason for worrying. Ida Mayo possessed the same idea.
* * * * *
Mrs. Marvin listened to all that Miss Fenler had to say about the feast,the two who had planned it, and the other two who beyond a doubt hadbeen invited guests.
"And _I_ should send them home, and at the same time mail a tart letterto their parents telling them that their room was better than theircompany."
Mrs. Marvin looked up at the thin, harsh face of her assistant.
"Mercy is sometimes as valuable in a case like this, as extremeseverity," she said.
"They have broken a well-known rule here, and must be dealt withaccordingly. They must be made clearly to understand that a repetitionwould not be overlooked."
"I am only an assistant," Miss Fenler said, "but I have my opinions,and I can't help thinking that you are too gentle with them."
"They have been mischievous, surely, but had their mischief been such aswould harm, or annoy their classmates, I should have been more severe.
"You may send them to me. I will see them before the school opens forthe morning session."
"There is another pupil that I must speak of, and that is the Mayo girl.It has been her habit to keep apart from the other girls. She seems toprefer to spend much of her leisure time not only indoors, but in herroom.
"Lina Danford, the little girl whose room is next hers told me that IdaMayo had been crying ever since daybreak. Lina thought that she must beill, and she knocked at the door, but while for a moment the cryingceased, there was no answer, even when the knock was several timesrepeated."
"Have you tried to rouse her?" Mrs. Marvin said, her fine face showinggenuine alarm.
"I knocked three times, but received no reply, and the door is locked."
"I will go to her," Mrs. Marvin said. "You may open school for me. Saynothing to the other girls. I will talk with them at the noon recess."
Mrs. Marvin hurried up the stairway, and along the upper hall to thecorner room. She paused before tapping. If Ida Mayo had been crying, shewas not crying now.
She knocked and waited. Knocked again, and again she waited.
"Ida, you must open your door for me. This is Mrs. Marvin."
The morning session had opened, and fresh young voices could be plainlyheard. They were singing Ida's favorite, an old song, "All hail,pleasant morning."
Mrs. Marvin heard a faint sob.
"Ida, I am your friend. Let me in, and tell me what troubles you." Noresponse.
"Open the door quickly, or I shall call Marcus to force it open."
Ida opened the door with a jerk.
"There!" she cried, angrily. "I don't see why I could not stay alone inmy room until I looked fit to be seen!"
Mrs. Marvin thought the raw, scarlet face denoted some desperateillness, but chancing to look toward the dresser, she caught sight ofthe bottle, uncorked, and with its showy label bearing the legend:
"TONIC. TWELVE-HOUR BEAUTIFIER."
Mrs. Marvin sat down upon a low seat, and drew Ida down beside her, andpatiently she listened to the story of the longing for beauty, thereading of the advertisement.
"I s'pose I put on too much," Ida concluded. "They said, 'Just a bit onthe tip of the fingers rubbed into the skin each night for two weekswould work wonders.
"They said used generously you'd be surprised at the result! I guess Iwas.
"I thought if a little would do so much, a lot of it would do more, so Iput it on thick, and went to bed.
"O dear! It has been a comfort to tell you, but I can't face those girlswhile I look like this!"
"I shall not ask you to," Mrs. Marvin said. "I will bring you somecooling ointment to heal your face, and I'll send old Judy up with yourmeals.
"I will tell her to say to any pupils who may question her, 'Miss Mayofeels so miserable that she'll not come down to her meals for a fewdays.' Judy is absolutely trustworthy."
Judy proved herself quick-witted, for when an inquisitive pupil tried topeep into the room as she entered with the tray, Judy turned sharply,remarking:
"Ah don' s'pose yo wants ter ketch anythin' what's 'tagious, does ya?"
The pupil backed away from the door, when at a distance she said: "Youdon't seem to be much afraid."
"Ah isn't 'fraid, 'cause I's had dis same ting."
She had indeed suffered in the same way. True it was not freckles thatannoyed her. It was a longing to rid herself of her black skin that hadtempted her to purchase a bottle of a so-called beautifier, warrantedto produce a new skin.
That was some years before, but Judy remembered it.