"Get a book out of the library."
"I loathe reading."
"Do some painting."
"You know I can"t paint."
"Go and romp with the juniors."
"I"d as soon spend an hour in a monkey-house."
"Then I can"t do anything for you, I"m afraid. You"ll just have to mope."
"Where"s Sadie?" asked Peggy Collins. "She promised to give me back my crochet-needle, and I can"t get on without it."
"She went off with Diana and Wendy half an hour ago. I saw them running upstairs together. Don"t flatter yourself she"ll remember about your crochet-needle."
"I know she won"t--the slacker! I shall just have to go and rout her up, and make her find it. Oh, kafoozalum! It"s a weary world!"
Peggy rose languidly, stretched her arms, and strolled in the direction of the door, which at that identical moment opened to admit the missing Sadie.
"Here, you old blighter, where"s that crochet-needle?" demanded Peggy impolitely.
"Bother your crochet-needle! I"ve no time to go and hunt for it now. I say, girls!" continued Sadie excitedly; "anybody know what"s become of Diana? She"s wanted. Those American cousins of hers have turned up. I told them she was in here, and they"re waiting outside the door. Oh!"
Sadie"s exclamation was caused by the door, which she had carefully closed suddenly opening, and nearly knocking her over. Apparently the visitors did not approve of being left to wait in the pa.s.sage, and judged it expedient to make an entrance.
"Excuse me if we walk right in," said a nasal-toned voice; "but I was told we"d find Miss Diana Hewlitt in here."
The five girls, scattered about the room, stared for a second in blank amazement at the intruders. They were certainly unlike any other visitors who had ever come to Pendlemere. The speaker was a little, short, wiry man, in a slack-fitting, brown tweed suit, with a rather obtrusive striped tie. His raggy, grey beard straggled under his chin and up to his ears; his eyes twinkled through a pair of gold-rimmed spectacles; in defiance of European etiquette, he wore his hat over a crop of rough, grey hair. Clinging to his arm was a very stout lady in a green coat and a velvet turban adorned with feathers. She also was grey-haired, and her features were somewhat obscured by a thick, black veil. The most prominent thing about her was a large and obtruding tooth, which gave her somewhat the appearance of a good-natured walrus; she held a morocco-leather satchel in her unoccupied hand, and wore a large feather-boa round her neck.
Magsie, to her eternal credit, was the first to remember her manners, and offer some sort of a greeting to the extraordinary strangers.
"Er--good afternoon!" she stammered. "I"m afraid Diana isn"t here.
Shall--shall I go and fetch her?"
"Well, now, I"d call that real elegant of you," returned the stout lady heartily. "We can"t stay long, and we don"t want to waste time."
"Cora, I guess we"d best introduce ourselves," observed the gentleman, gently disengaging her from his arm. "We"re Mr. and Mrs. Elihu Burritt of Petteridge Court. I reckon you"re Diana"s schoolfellows? Pleased to meet you, I"m sure."
"Did you have a wet drive?" asked Jess Paget, making a desperate and most gallant attempt to pump up some item of conversation.
The stout lady shook her head eloquently.
"I _do_ say that in the matter of weather a British wet day just about takes the cake!" she replied.
Her voice was slightly tremulous and m.u.f.fled; perhaps the weather agitated her. Moreover, her large tooth seemed to cause her some inconvenience--it wobbled visibly as she spoke.
"If Diana don"t turn up, I guess we"ll have to be getting on," ventured Mr. Elihu Burritt, pulling out a big watch and consulting it. "We"ve got to call at the drug store at Glenbury, and time presses."
"Magsie"s gone to fetch her. Peggy, you go too, and hurry her up. Won"t you sit down while you"re waiting?" asked Jess, pulling forward two chairs.
The visitors seated themselves, that is to say, they sank heavily down, and planted their hands on their knees. Their eyes took an interested review of the embarra.s.sed faces of the girls, then they suddenly collapsed into gurgles of laughter. An instant wave of comprehension swept through the room.
"Diana and Wendy!" exclaimed a chorus of voices.
Mr. Elihu Burritt was guffawing to such an extent that his hat, and the venerable locks st.i.tched inside it, tumbled to the ground, revealing a crop of brown hair. Mrs. Cora had lost her tooth altogether, and her turban was tilted to a most disreputable angle. She slapped her partner on the back, and commanded, between sobs of mirth:
"Elihu--stop laughing! I guess we"d best w.a.n.gle ourselves off!"
But the girls had crowded round to examine the details of the costumes.
"They"re topping!" they approved. "Absolutely A1! Can"t think how you did it! Diana, where did you get those togs?"
"Sent to Petteridge for them," exulted Diana. "They came in that parcel.
It"s an old suit of Cousin Hugh"s. I told Cousin Coralie I wanted it to dress up in. The beard"s just made out of tow, and so"s Wendy"s hair.
Flatter myself I came up to your expectations of a real backwoods Yank.
I wonder if I"d take in Miss Todd. I"d give a hundred dollars to try.
But it might be rather a risky experiment. Don"t you think my old girl is a peach? I"m nuts on her!"
"I simply shouldn"t have known you, Wendy," said Jess. "How did you make yourself so fat?"
"I"m stuffed out with all sorts of things," laughed Wendy. "Vests, and nightdresses, and stockings, and anything we could lay our hands on.
I"m specially padded over the shoulders. The toque is one of Diana"s hats turned inside out with some feathers pinned on. The tooth? Why, that was a piece of india-rubber tucked inside my lip. It was fearfully difficult to make it stick, I can tell you. It kept jiggling about when I tried to talk. Elihu, old man, shall we dance a tickle-toe?"
"Stop, you mad creatures! If you make such a racket you"ll be bringing Bunty down upon us," interposed Magsie, as the masquerading couple twirled each other round and round. "If you want to be ready in time for tea, you"d better go and get out of those weird garments."
"I"d like to go down to tea in them," declared Diana. "What a lovely sensation they"d make! Magsie, just peep out and see that the coast is clear before we make a dash for it along the pa.s.sage. It might upset Bunty"s nerves if she met us."
As it happened, during the very next week Diana received a visit from her cousins, Mr. and Mrs. Burritt of Petteridge Court. They arrived in their Daimler car, and lunched with the school. They were the very epitome of cultured and polished America, and the girls raved over them.
After half an hour of their company, seven intermediates had determined to mould themselves absolutely on the lines of "Cousin Coralie", and to marry exact replicas of Mr. Burritt. It was felt that ambition could soar no higher.
"I"m glad you like them," said Diana, as she stood on the steps with some of her friends watching the Daimler pa.s.s out through the gate. "I thought you would--when they really turned up. That was why I wanted you to see "Cousin Elihu" and "Cousin Cora" first. They were more your idea of typical Americans, weren"t they? Ah!"--shaking her head commiseratingly--"that"s because you benighted Britishers just don"t know anything about the _real_ America."
CHAPTER III
A Penniless Princess
Miss Todd, sitting at her desk in her study, with a row of the very latest publications on the most modern theories of education in a bookcase so near that she could stretch out her hand for any particular one she wanted, rapidly reviewed some of her new experiments. First and foremost came the plan of sandwiching seniors and juniors together in their bedrooms. She hoped the influence of the elder girls would work like leaven in the school, and that putting them with younger ones would give them the chance of developing and exercising their motherly instincts. She tapped her book with her pencil as she mentally ran over the list of her seniors, and considered how--to the outside view of a head mistress--each seemed to be progressing.
"It"s difficult to foster just the spirit one wants in them--it depends so largely on the girl," she decided.
And there she was right--the girl made all the difference. Hilary Chapman had listened to her remarks on "the mother instinct", and had walked straight into her dormitory, tow-rowed her young room-mates for their untidiness, snapped at their excuses, and sent them downstairs with a snubbing, returning to the bosom of the seniors ruffled, but with a strong sense of having performed her obvious duty. Betty Blane, Erica Peters, and Peggy Collins, comparing injured notes, viewed the matter from a different angle.