FOR THE SCHOOL COLOURS
CHAPTER I
Enter Avelyn
"It's the limit!" exploded Laura.
"An atrocious shame!" agreed Janet.
"Gives me nerve shock!" mourned Ethelberga gloomily.
"You see," continued Laura, popping the tray of her box on to the floorand sitting down on her bed, so as the better to address heraudience--"you see, it's been plumped upon us without any warning. MissThompson must have arranged it long ago, but she never let out so muchas a teeny-weeny hint. If I'd known before I came back I'd have askedFather to give a term's notice and let me leave at Christmas. Crystalclear, I would."
"Rather! so would this child."
"I guess we all should."
"I call it so mean to have sprung it on us like this! I really couldn'thave believed it of Miss Thompson. She's gone down miles in myestimation. I can never feel the same towards her again--_never!_ ThoseHawthorners! Oh, to think of it!"
"What's the matter?" asked a fourth voice, as another girl, still in hatand coat, and carrying her travelling-bag, entered the dormitory.
"Irma! Is it you, old sport? D'you mean to say you haven't heard thenews yet?"
"Only just this minute arrived, and I've flown straight upstairs. I metHopscotch in the hall, and asked, 'Am I still in the Cowslip Room?' andshe nodded 'Yes,' so I didn't wait for any more. Has anything grizzlyhappened? You're all looking very glum!"
"We may well look glum," said Laura tragically. "Something particularlygrizzly's happened. You remember that day school at the other side ofthe town?"
"The Hawthorns--yes."
"Well, it's been given up."
Irma flung her hat on to her bed and her coat after it.
"That doesn't concern us," she remarked contemptuously.
"Doesn't it? Oh, no, of course--not in the least!" Laura's voice wassarcastic. "It wouldn't have been any concern of ours--only, as ithappens, they've all come on here."
Irma turned round, the very picture of dismay.
"_What?_ Not _here_, surely! Great Minerva, you don't mean it! Hold meup! I feel rocky."
Laura looked at her, and shook her head in commiseration.
"Yes, that's how it took us all when we heard," she remarked. "You'dbetter sit down on your bed till you get the first shock over. It'senough to make a camel weep. I couldn't believe it myself for a fewminutes, but it's only too true, unfortunately for us."
"The Hawthorns! Those girls whom we never spoke to--wouldn't havetouched with a pair of tongs!" gasped Irma.
"You may well marvel," sympathized Janet.
"But what's Miss Thompson _thinking_ of? Why, she always looked down soon the Hawthorns! Wouldn't let us arrange matches with their teams, andkept us away from them at that bazaar as if they'd been infectious. It'sbeen the tradition of the school to have nothing to do with them."
"Traditions have flown to the four winds. There'll be nearly fiftyHawthorners turning up by nine o'clock to-morrow morning."
"Nearly fifty! And we were only thirty-six ourselves last term! Why, theschool will be swamped!"
"Exactly, and with day girls too. When there were twenty-four boardersto twelve day girls, we could have things pretty well as we liked, butif we've to hold our own against sixty or so--well!"
"It'll mean war!" finished Ethelberga, setting her mouth grimly.
"But what's possessed Miss Thompson to do such an atrocious thing?"cried Irma in exasperation.
"_L, s. d._, my child, I suppose. Miss Perry was giving up the school,and Tommiekins bought the connection. She's completely veered round inher opinions. She told Adah Gartley they were nice girls, and would soonimprove immensely at Silverside. 'I hope you'll all make them welcome,'she said to Adah."
"Welcome!" echoed Irma, Janet, and Ethelberga eloquently.
"It wouldn't have been so bad," continued Laura, "if just a few ofthem--say a dozen--had been coming. We could have kept ourselves toourselves and quite ignored them. But we're being absolutely cuckooedout. Do you know that our recreation room has been commandeered for anextra class-room?"
Howls of dismay issued from the trio now seated on Irma's bed.
"Yes, you'd hardly believe it, but it is a fact," ran on Laura withdismal volubility. "When I went to take my painting things there I foundour tables and easy chairs gone, and the whole place filled up with newdesks and a blackboard."
"Where are we going to sit in the evenings?" demanded Ethelbergafiercely.
"Goodness only knows! In the dining-room, I suppose."
"We evidently don't count for anything with Tommiekins now," said Janetbitterly. "The Daisy dormitory has been taken for a class-room, and anextra bed has been put in each of the other dormitories to make up.Didn't you notice, Irma, that there are five here now, instead of onlyfour?"
"Why, so there are! What a hateful cram! Who's to have the fifth?"
"I asked Hopscotch, and she said, 'A new girl.' I couldn't help flyingout at that, and she simply sat flat upon me and withered me. Told me togo away and mind my own business, and she was coming round to inspectthe Cowslip Room in half an hour, and I'd better get on with myunpacking."
"Oh, she will! Why didn't you tell us that before?" exclaimed theothers, bouncing up with considerable haste, and setting to work againto empty their boxes.
"I forgot. I can think of nothing but those wretched Hawthorners. It'smade me feel weak."
"You'll feel weaker still if Hopscotch comes in and finds you withnothing unpacked!" observed Laura sagely, stowing underclothes in hermiddle drawer with the utmost rapidity. "I advise you to make some sortof a beginning, even if you don't put things away tidily. Fling them inanyhow, stick a blouse for a top layer, and straighten them upafterwards. Don't let her see them still inside your box."
For a few minutes the girls suspended talk for work. Laura's flaxen headvibrated between box and wardrobe. Janet arranged her dressing-table andreplaited her dark pigtail. Ethelberga hung up a selection ofphotographs, and placed her nightdress inside its case; Irma spread herbed with her possessions, preparatory to filling her drawers, andcomforted her ruffled feelings with the last pear-drop in the paper bagshe had brought with her.
The dormitory was of fair size, and though the girls might grumble,contained ample space for the fifth bed. It was a pretty room with ayellow wall-paper, and chintz curtains with little bunches of cowslipson them. There were pictures of cowslips also on the walls, and all thepin-cushions and hair-tidies had yellow ribbons. The window looked overthe garden, and behind the belt of trees that bordered the lawn gleamedthe grey waters of the estuary, where ships were stealing out from portinto the dangers of the great waters. The girls prided themselves uponthis view, though at the present moment they were too busy to think ofit. Three years' previous experience had taught them that, when MissHopkins made a tour of inspection on the first afternoon of term, shemeant business, and woe betide the luckless slacker who had gossiped anddawdled instead of bestowing her property in her own lawful drawers. Ifshe had announced her intention of visiting them shortly, she mightcertainly be trusted to keep her word.
Their expectations were not mistaken, for before the half-hour hadexpired the door opened, revealing the short stout figure and ratherangular features of the second mistress. The girls jumped up and stoodobediently at attention, ready to go through the usual routine ofdormitory superintendence. Miss Hopkins, however, was not alone. In herwake followed a girl of fifteen, whom she bustled in, in a hurry.
"This is your dormitory, Avelyn--the Cowslip Room, we call it. Here'syour bed, and these are your dress hooks and your drawers. The janitor'sbringing your box upstairs. Oh, he's here now! Put it at the end of thebed, Tom, please. I suppose you have the key, Avelyn? Then you'd betterunlock it at once. These are your room-mates--Laura Talbot, Irma Ridley,Janet Duncan, and Ethelberga Carnforth. Girls, this is Avelyn Watson. Ihope you will make her welcome. Begin your unpacking now, Avelyn. Ishall be back directly to see how you are getting on."
Miss Hopkins, whose duties on the first day of term were multifarious,withdrew as hurriedly as she had entered. Her visits generally resembledthe brief career of a whirlwind--sometimes her pupils considered thatthey carried equal desolation.
The new girl remained standing by the bed, and for the moment made noeffort to obey orders and unlock her box. She was pretty--her fourcritics decided that point at their first glance--her chin was softlyrounded, and her nose was small and straight. Her general colouring wasbrunette, but the big wide-open eyes were grey as the estuary outside.She flushed vivid pink under the scrutiny of her room-mates. For a briefinstant they thought she was going to cry, then she winked rapidly andbegan to whistle instead.
"I shouldn't advise you to whistle too loud," counselled Janet, by wayof breaking the ice.
"Miss Hopkins is only in the next dormitory, and she's got a crusade onagainst whistling--at least she had last term, and I don't suppose she'schanged her tactics; she doesn't generally."
"Do the eternal snows change?" murmured Ethelberga.
The new girl stopped with her mouth puckered into a button. A look ofconsternation spread over her face, then passed into a smile.
"I was told I'd have to be jolly careful and mind my p's and q's here!"she remarked cheerily. "I've been just five minutes in the school, andmy first impressions are that Miss Thompson aims at unadulterateddignity, and that Miss Hopkins is concentrated essence of fuss. Am Inear?"
"Not so far off!" laughed Laura. "They can exchange characterssometimes, though. I've seen Miss Hopkins ride her high horse and bedignity personified, and on the other hand I've seen Miss Thompson moreruffled than a head mistress has any business to be. You'll soon get toknow them."
"I suppose I shall. Whether I shall altogether like them is anotherquestion."
"You'll like Silverside!" gushed Irma. "It's a perfectly delightfulschool--at least it used to be. We're afraid it is going to be utterlyand entirely spoilt now."
"Why?"
"Because it's being invaded. It used to be quite small and select, moreboarders than day girls, you know. And now we've just had a horribleshock--the whole of another day school is being plumped upon us--aschool we've always despised. We're too indignant for words."
Avelyn, who was fumbling with the lock of her box, lifted her head.
"Don't you like them coming?"
"Like them! Sophonisba! How can you ask such a question? We've alwayslooked down on them so fearfully. Why, if we met any of them in thestreet, we used just to stare straight through them, as if they didn'texist. They wore dark-blue coats and horrid stiff sailor hats withcoloured bands, for all the world like an institution. I tell you wesimply wouldn't have touched them."
"You'll have to know them now."
"To a certain extent, worse luck! But they needn't think we'll befriendly with them, for we shan't. We shall keep a strict line drawn."
Avelyn had lifted the tray of her box on to the floor, and was busytaking books from the bottom portion. She was too intent on heroccupation to reply. Irma, whose writing pad and fountain pen had justcome to hand, was hastily scribbling a letter home; Ethelberga, leaningout of the window, exchanged greetings with a schoolmate in the gardenbelow; Janet's vision was focused on her drawers; and Laura had justcome across the postcard album, which she was afraid she had forgottento pack, and was rejoicing in its possession. For five minutes or so thegirls were engrossed with their own affairs, then the attention of theroom was concentrated again on Avelyn.
"You haven't told us yet where you live," said Laura, looking upsuddenly from the contemplation of post cards.
"My home is at Lyngates just now."
"Where's Lyngates?"
"About twenty miles from here."
"You say 'just now'. Haven't you lived there long?"
"Only since last spring."
"You've brought very few clothes and things with you," commented Irma,who had been watching the unpacking of the new girl's box with criticaleyes. "You'll never get through a term on those, I should say."
"There isn't any need to bring so many things when I'm going home forthe week-ends."
"For the week-ends? Heavens! You don't mean to say you're a weeklyboarder?"
"Why not?"
An expression of deep consternation spread over the faces of Avelyn'sfour room-mates. Their disapproval was evident, and they voiced theirobjections.
"We've never had such a thing as a weekly boarder before!"
"You'll be away all Saturdays and Sundays!"
"You'll be out of all the fun!"
"Almost as bad as being a day girl!"
"Miss Thompson said once that she didn't approve of weekly boarders."
"I can't understand Tommiekins, she's changed so lately."
"Have you ever been to school before?"
"Why, yes," replied Avelyn, smoothing out the folds of her eveningdress, and hanging it on the hooks behind the curtain. "Though not sincelast Christmas."
"To boarding school?"
"No; it was a day school."
"Where?"
"I went to The Hawthorns in Harlingden."
If a bomb had fallen in the dormitory it could not have caused a greaterupheaval. For a moment the girls stared at Avelyn as if scarcelycrediting her statement.
"Do you mean to say you're one of those wretched Hawthorners?" explodedJanet at last.
"I used to be, but I suppose I'm a Silversider now."
"And we've got you in our dormitory!" gasped Laura.
"So it seems."
"Miss Thompson ought to be thoroughly ashamed of herself!" flutteredEthelberga.
"You'll be rid of me on Saturday and Sunday, remember," returned Avelynbitterly.
At this crisis, the clamour of the gong for tea fortunately put an endto an extremely embarrassing situation. The four room-mates fled,leaving their new companion to follow them to the dining-room as bestshe could. When she entered, they were already seated at table, and didnot look in her direction. She took a seat next to a complete stranger,who indeed handed her the bread and butter, but vouchsafed no singleword of conversation.
When the meal was over, the original inmates of the Cowslip Room retiredto a secluded portion of the garden, and held an indignation meeting.For the first frenzied five minutes they allowed their wrath full swing,and vibrated between a dormitory strike and writing to their parents tobeg for instant removal from the school. Then reason reasserted itself,and decided the impracticability of both methods. Previous experiencehad shown them that their head mistress was a tough dragon to tackle,and scarcely likely to be coerced by even the best organized dormitorystrike, while in her heart of hearts each knew that, after paying herterm's fees in advance, her father would need some very solid cause ofcomplaint to justify so extreme a measure as a return to the bosom ofthe family. They began to discuss the matter more sanely.
"The fact is, she's here, and I suppose we can't get rid of her,"admitted Irma.
"After all, she's a boarder!" ventured Ethelberga.
"Only a weekly one," qualified Janet.
"And a Hawthorner!" added Laura.
"She said she hadn't been to school since last Christmas," commentedEthelberga.
"Why, so she did! Then she's had a sort of a break from The Hawthorns,and in a way she's making a fresh start here."
"I suppose so."
"If she'd be loyal to Silverside, though we could never like her, wemight bring ourselves to tolerate her."
"A boarder's a boarder!"
When the girls returned to the Cowslip Room, they found their newcompanion with emptied box putting the last of her possessions into herdrawers.
"Look here, Avelyn Watson," said Laura. "We've been talking you over.Although you go home for the week end, you're still a boarder, and atSilverside boarders are a very different thing from day girls, as you'llsoon find out. If you've had two whole terms away from thoseHawthorners, just forget them, and consider yourself entirely one of us.If you do that, we'll count you on ou
r side; but if you've anything todo with day girls, we'll cut you dead."
"I don't quite understand," returned Avelyn.
"You soon will!" said Janet significantly.
"I advise you to think it over," added Laura.