CHAPTER V
HESTER AT HOME
If Hester had arrived at the Grimes's house in two cabs instead of oneit would have aroused her mother to little comment; for, for someyears now, her daughter had grown quite beyond her control and Mrs.Grimes had learned not to comment upon Hester's actions. Yet, oddlyenough, Hester was neither a wild girl nor a silly girl; she wasmerely bold, bad tempered, and wilful.
Mrs. Grimes was a large, lymphatic lady, given to loose wrappers untillate in the day, and the enjoyment of unlimited novels. "Comfort aboveall" was the good lady's motto. She had suffered much privation andhad worked hard, during Mr. Grimes's beginnings in trade, for Hester'sfather had worked up from an apprentice butcher boy in a retailstore--was a "self-made man."
Mr. Grimes was forever talking about how he had made his own way inthe world without the help of any other person; but he was,nevertheless, purse-proud and arrogant. Hester could not fail to besomewhat like her father in this. She believed that Money was thetouchstone of all good in the world. But Mrs. Grimes was naturally akindly disposed woman, and sometimes her mother's homely virtuescropped out in Hester--as note her interest in the Doyles. She wasimpulsively generous, but expected to find the return change ofgratitude for every kindly dollar she spent.
They had a big and ornate house, in which the servants did about asthey liked for all of Mrs. Grimes's oversight. The latter admittedthat she knew how to do a day's wash as well as any woman--perhapswould have been far more happy had she been obliged to do such work,too; but she had no executive ability, and the girls in the kitchendid well or ill as they listed.
Now that Hester was growing into a young lady, she occasionally wentinto the servants' quarters and tried to set things right in imitationof her father's blustering oversight of his slaughter house--withoutMr. Grimes's thorough knowledge of the work and conditions in hand. SoHester's interference in domestic affairs usually resulted in a"blow-up" of all concerned and a scramble for new servants at thelocal agencies.
Under these circumstances it may be seen that the girl's home life wasneither happy nor inspiring. The kindly, gentle things of life escapedHester Grimes. She unfortunately scorned her mother for her "easy"habits; she admired her father's bullying ways and his ability to makemoney. And she missed the sweetening influence of a well-conductedhome where the inmates are polite and kind to one another.
Hester was abundantly healthy, possessed personal courage to adegree--as Dr. Agnew had observed--was not naturally unkind, and hadother qualities that, properly trained and moulded, would have madeher a very nice girl indeed. But having no home restraininginfluences, the rough corners of Hester Grimes's character had neverbeen smoothed down.
Her friendship with Lily Pendleton was not like the "chumminess" ofother girls. Lily's mother came of one of the "first families" ofCenterport, and moved in a circle that the Grimeses could never hopeto attain, despite their money. Through her friendship with Lily, whowas in miniature already a "fine lady," Hester obtained a slight holdupon the fringe of society. But even Lily was lost to her at times.
"Why ain't I seen your friend Lily so much lately?" asked Mrs. Grimes,languidly, the evening of the day Hester had plunged into the sewerand rescued little Johnny Doyle.
"Oh, between dancing school and Purt Sweet, Lil has about got hersilly head turned," said Hester, tossing her own head.
"My goodness me!" drawled Mrs. Grimes, "that child doesn't take youngPurt Sweet seriously, does she?"
"Whoever heard of anybody's taking Pretty seriously?" laughed Hester."Only Pretty himself believes that he has anything in his head butmush! Last time Mrs. Pendleton had an evening reception, Purt got aninvite, and went. Something happened to him--he knocked over a vase, ortrod on a lady's dress, or something awkward--and the next afternoonLil caught him walking up and down in front of their house, trying toscrew up courage enough to ring the bell.
"'What's the matter, Purt?' asked Lily, going up to him.
"'Oh, Miss Lily!' cries Purt. 'What did your mother say when you toldher I was sorry for having made a fool of myself at the party lastnight?'
"'Why,' says Lil, 'she said she didn't notice anything unusual in youractions.'
"Wasn't _that_ a slap? And now Lil is letting Purt run around with herand act as if he owned her--just because he's a good dancer."
"My dear!" yawned her mother. "I should think you'd join that dancingclass."
"I'll wait till I'm asked, I hope," muttered Hester. "Everybodydoesn't get to join it. We're not in that set--and we might as welladmit it. And I don't believe we ever will be."
"I'm certainly glad!" complained her mother, rustling the leaves ofher book. "Your father is always pushing me into places where I don'twant to go. He had a deal in business with Colonel Swayne, and heinsisted that I call on Mrs. Kerrick. They're awfully stuck-up folks,Hess."
"I see Mrs. Kerrick's carriage standing at the Beldings' gate quiteoften, just the same," muttered Hester.
"Yes--I know," said her mother. "They make a good deal of Laura. Well,they didn't make much of me. When I walked into the grounds andstarted up the front stoop, a butler, or footman, or something, alltogged up in livery, told me that I must go around to the side door ifI had come to see the cook. And he didn't really seem anxious to takemy card."
"Oh, Mother!" exclaimed Hester.
"You needn't tell your father. I don't blame 'em. They've got theirown friends and we've got ourn. No use pushing out of our class."
"You should have gone in the carriage," complained Hester.
"I don't like that stuffy hack," said her mother. "It smells of--ofliv'ry stables and--and funerals! If your father would set up acarriage of his own----"
"Or buy an automobile instead of hiring one for us occasionally,"finished Hester.
For with all his love of display, the wholesale butcher was a thriftyperson.
With Lily so much interested for the time in other matters, Hesterfound her only recreation at the athletic field; and for several daysafter the mysterious raid upon the girls' gymnasium there was not muchbut talk indulged in about the building. Then new basketballs wereprocured and the regular practice in that game went on.
In a fortnight would come the first inter-school match of the fallterm--a game between Central High girls and the representative team ofEast High of Centerport. In the last match game the East High girlshad won--and many of the girls of Central High believed that the gamewent to their competitors because of Hester Grimes's fouling.
There was more talk of this now. Some of the girls did not try to hidetheir dislike for Hester. Nellie Agnew did not speak to her at all,and the latter was inclined to accuse Nellie of being the leader inthis apparent effort to make Hester feel that she was looked upon withmore than suspicion. The mystery of the gymnasium raid overshadowedthe whole school; but the shadow fell heaviest on Hester Grimes.
"She did it!"
"She's just mean enough to do it!"
"She said she hated us!"
"It's just like her--she spoils everything she can't boss!"
She could read these expressions on the lips of her fellow students.Hester Grimes began to pay for her ill-temper, and the taste of thismedicine was bitter indeed.