CHAPTER VI
A RAINY DAY
"Finished your outline, Betty?" Lois called out as the girls wereleaving the schoolroom after the last bell one afternoon.
"Certainly not," answered Betty excitedly. "I started to read just thefirst scene, but when I got to 'By my troth, Nerissa, my little body isa-weary of this great world,' at the beginning of the second scene, whyI just read on all the last period."
It was the first lesson of the Freshman class on "The Merchant ofVenice." They had finished Goldsmith's "Deserted Village," and this wastheir first taste of Shakespeare.
"Hadn't you read it before?" questioned Polly. "I have, and I adore it."
"Adore what?"
It was Lois speaking, of course. She had a habit of coming upunexpectedly and hearing the last couple of words of a sentence.
"The Merchant of Venice," explained Polly. "Have you started it?"
"Yes. I read it, the last two periods. I'm as far as 'My Daughter! O myducats!' I nearly died laughing over Launcelot Gobbo."
It was a miserable day; the sun seemed to have abdicated in favor of hisbrother, the storm cloud, and the rain was falling in torrents. Bettyturned disconsolately towards the window. They were standing in theschoolroom corridor.
"Looks as if we were in for another deluge," she groaned. "Not even achance of a let-up. Now, if it would only freeze!"
"What can we do?" sighed Lois. "Assembly Hall will be mobbed by thelower school girls, and you know the noise they make."
"I have it!" exclaimed Polly. "Let's get permission from Miss Porter touse the English room, and then each take parts and read 'The Merchant ofVenice' aloud."
"Polly, you're a genius; it's the very thing," chorused Lois and Betty.
They started off in the direction of the classroom, but as they passedthe Bridge of Sighs, they were stopped by the two Dorothys.
"Where are you going? Come on up to the corridor. Miss King has lent usthe electric stove from the infirmary, and we're going to make candy,"they invited.
"It's quite regular," added Dot Mead, by way of explanation. "We havepermission."
Dot had often tried to inveigle the three girls into joining variousmidnight feasts and forbidden larks of which she was the originator, buthad always found them singularly unresponsive.
Don't think they were prudes, far from it, but they had learned throughclose observation that not enough pleasure could be derived frombreaking rules to compensate them for the loss of the faculty's respectand trust. And, above all, their loyalty and love for Seddon Hallprompted them to keep the few simple rules required of them.
Betty regarded the two girls with lofty disdain and assuming an attitudepeculiar to the long-suffering chaplain, began in imitation of hismanner:
"There would seem a certain amount of er--er--one might say--attractivenessin your suggestion to an outsider, Dorothy, my child, one, let us say,not familiar with your ability as a cook. For me, however, theinvitation holds no charms. Last time, if you'll remember, you put hairoil in the taffy in place of the vanilla. I need hardly refer to thedisastrous results." And clasping her hands behind her back, the wickedlittle mimic walked off down the corridor, adding over her shoulder:"Good afternoon, my dear young ladies, good afternoon."
By this time the girls were holding their sides with laughter. FinallyDorothy managed to ask very weakly:
"Then what are you going to do?"
"There's not the slightest use in telling you, for you'd never believeit," Polly answered. "Still, as you've asked, I'll tell you. We aregoing to study."
This startling announcement was too much for the Dorothys, and when Loisand Polly left them, to follow Betty, they were lying in mock faints onthe corridor floor.
The three girls proceeded to English room and knocked gently on thedoor.
"Come in," called Miss Porter's voice from the other side.
She was a short, dark, little lady, with glowing black eyes andunlimited enthusiasm. She was very bashful out of the classroom and thegirls, as a whole, knew very little of her. Just now she was correctingSenior papers and was a little surprised at being interrupted.
As the three girls entered the room Lois, ever the spokesman in seriousmatters, began:
"Oh, are we disturbing you, Miss Porter? We didn't think you'd be busyand we wanted permission to sit in here and read 'The Merchant ofVenice' aloud."
"You see," added Polly, "we thought it would be fun for each to takeparts and--and--" she was floundering for words.
"And act it," finished Miss Porter. "Do you really like it, girls? I amso glad. Sit down, of course." Then regretfully: "I'll be finished in aminute."
Betty caught the regret in her voice and exclaimed impulsively:
"Won't you stay? It would be so much nicer; you can't have anything todo on this miserable day."
Lois and Polly added their pleas to hers and in the end Miss Porterremained.
They decided that Lois take the part of _Portia_ and _Jessica_; Polly,_Nerissa_ and _Bassanio_; Betty, _Antonio_, _Gratiano_, and _Lorenzo_,and they all insisted on Miss Porter being _Shylock_. They took turnswith the smaller parts.
They had rather improvised stage property, but they managed to get onsomehow until they reached the casket scene.
"Now what under the sun are we going to use for the caskets?" demandedBetty.
"We might use the 'Standard Dictionary' for the lead one," suggestedMiss Porter; "and here's the 'Cyclopedia of Names'--that might do for thesilver one."
"I've found the very thing for the gold casket," announced Lois, who wasstanding in front of the bookcase: "A complete set of Shakespeare in onevolume."
"The very thing," they agreed.
The stage setting was arranged and the play continued. Betty constitutedherself the musician and sang: "Tell me where is fancy bred, etc.," to atune all her own.
An hour passed and they started the fourth act.
"I don't feel a bit like a judge," announced Lois, "and, Miss Porter,you ought to have a beard, but never mind. Let's see; this is the courtroom and--"
"The judge ought to sit in a prominent place," interrupted Betty. "Iknow--a chair up there." And she swung a light cane visitor's chair onthe English room's dignified and highly polished oak desk.
The stage ready, the scene began. _Bassanio_ pleaded with _Shylock_ for_Antonio's_ life, but _Shylock_ gloatingly demanded his pound of flesh._Portia_, as the learned judge, made answer.
"A pound of that same merchant's flesh is thine: The Court awards it,and the law doth give it."
_Shylock_ rubbed his hands together joyously and gurgled: "Most rightfuljudge!"
_Portia_: "And you must cut this flesh from off his breast: The lawallows it, and the court awards it."
_Shylock_: "Most learned judge! A sentence! Come, prepare!"
Then Lois rose and, holding up a warning arm, began with suppressedexcitement, while they all watched her, intent on the coming speech.
_Portia_:
"Tarry a little; there is something else! This bond doth give thee here no jot of blood,-- The words expressly are, a pound of flesh: Take then thy bond, take thou thy pound of--"
"Candy," called a voice from the hall, and in a second the door openedand Uncle Roddy, preceded by Mrs. Baird, entered.
Lois nearly toppled off the desk in her surprise and Miss Porter, whohad fallen, groveling on the floor, at the words "no jot of blood,"scrambled to her feet with a very red face.
"Uncle Roddy!" exclaimed Polly, "where did you come from?" And she threwher arms around his neck.
"From Buffalo, my dear," answered Uncle Roddy. "I found I could stopover here for a couple of hours on my way home. I am so glad I did, forI wouldn't have missed this for the world. Please introduce me to therest of the company."
Mrs. Baird made the introductions and then turned to leave them. Beforeshe closed the door she said:
"Girls, if you have been at this all the afternoon, I think you might beexcused from study hour."
Then to Polly she added: "I'll send tea to thereception-room at once."
Of course Uncle Roddy insisted on "the companies" joining them for tea.Miss Porter had to decline the invitation on account of a special classat 4:30, but Betty and Lois accepted with pleasure.
After they were comfortably settled in the reception-room, Uncle Roddyasked:
"Miss Farwell, are you, by any chance, related to Doctor WalterFarwell?"
"I should think so," laughed Lois. "I'm his daughter. Do you know him?"
"I used to go to college with him. We were great pals, then, but afterwe graduated he went West and I went to England, and we lost track ofeach other."
"I'll write him about you this very night," answered Lois excitedly."Isn't it fun to think you know each other?"
Uncle Roddy smiled. "I'd like to see old Walter again," he said.
The tea arrived and Polly served. Every one did justice to it and thehot buttered toast.
"How long had you and Mrs. Baird been listening at the door, Mr.Pendleton?" inquired Betty as she dropped four lumps of sugar into hercup.
"Long enough to feel sure that you will make a very great actress one ofthese days," laughed Uncle Roddy.
"Actress!" she exclaimed, taken by surprise. "Certainly not! I intend towrite."
The secret was out and Betty, who had never intended telling any one herone great wish, was terribly confused.
Uncle Roddy, however, was deeply interested, and he talked books withher for the rest of his visit. He was greatly surprised that any one soyoung should have read and appreciated so much.
Polly and Lois joined in the conversation every now and then, butcontented themselves most of the time with the candy that Uncle Roddyhad brought, which, by the way, was five pounds instead of one.
When his time was up, the three girls escorted him to the door.
"I've had a splendid time," he told them. "I'll surely send you thatbook," he added to Betty, and then turning to Lois he called: "Don'tforget to give my regards to your father."
After a last kiss and hug for Polly, he closed the front door, and thegirls watched him jump into his cab.
"Do you know, Polly," announced Betty, as they returned to the corridor,"I adore that uncle of yours."
"So do I," agreed Lois; "he's a duck, and I'm so glad he and Dad knoweach other."
Polly smiled happily.
"Funny thing," she replied, "but do you know, so do I."
As the carriage jogged through the mud on its way to the station, UncleRoddy decided that visiting and having tea with three very interestingand lively young ladies was much more entertaining then he had expected.