"Perhaps you haven"t got hold of them properly. The difficulty often begins in the primary grades."
"Perhaps that is it. I always had a tutor or a governess on the ranch. I hated arithmetic, so we didn"t bother much with it. When I entered school in Woodford I just managed to slide through my mathematics. I never got more than a pa.s.sing grade."
Miss North looked at Blue Bonnet as if she were some new species of girl with whom she was unfamiliar. Such honesty was quite without precedent.
"And Miss Root? Why do you dislike her?"
"Miss Root is too sarcastic. When I make a mistake she calls the attention of the cla.s.s to it."
Miss North looked stern.
"You may be excused, now, Miss Ashe," she said. "I will investigate this matter."
A day or two later there seemed to be a change of atmosphere in Miss Root"s cla.s.sroom. Miss Root was very nice to Blue Bonnet--even trying to unravel hard knots, and Blue Bonnet gave strict attention. She stopped Blue Bonnet one day at the end of a period.
"You see what you can do when you try, Miss Ashe," she said.
Blue Bonnet flushed a warm red.
"I tried all the time, Miss Root--but--I reckon--maybe we didn"t just understand each other."
The girl"s sweet smile was more appealing than her words. Such spontaneity was infectious. A faint pink crept into the teacher"s withered cheek, and for a moment the dull grey of her humdrum existence changed to a startling blue. She held out her hand.
"I daresay that was just the trouble. You are very young to have so much philosophy. If you are puzzled again, come to my room. I want you to like mathematics--they are great mental gymnastics. You must learn to get fun out of them."
CHAPTER VII
IN TROUBLE
It was Monday morning--the beginning of Blue Bonnet"s fourth week at Miss North"s school. Prayers were just over and Blue Bonnet had come up to her room to make her bed. She was drawing up the counterpane when there was a rap at the door and Mary Boyd entered.
"Oh, Blue Bonnet," she said, her eyes wide with excitement; "Carita"s sick--real sick! Mrs. Goodwin just came to our room and took her to the Infirmary."
Blue Bonnet looked at Mary in amazement.
"Sick?" she repeated. "Sick? Why, she was all right yesterday."
Mary shook her head.
"No, she wasn"t. She hasn"t been well for several days; but she begged me so not to tell anybody that I didn"t. I wish now I had. I"m awfully frightened about her. She"s had headache for a week. Goodness knows what she"s got! That"s the way typhoid fever and a lot of things come. You ache all over--"
"Mary," Blue Bonnet said sternly, "it was very wrong of you not to tell me. I am responsible for Carita. If anything should happen to her here--" she paused; the thought was too dreadful to contemplate.
Blue Bonnet started out the door.
Mary caught, and held her tightly.
"Where are you going, Blue Bonnet?"
"To the Infirmary, of course. Let me go."
"No, no, you can"t! It"s strictly against the rules. Carita"s quarantined. They"ve sent for the doctor."
The word quarantined sent a fresh chill to Blue Bonnet"s heart.
"Rules or no rules, I"m going to Carita."
But Mary held her fast.
"Oh, no, Blue Bonnet, please, please don"t! It will get you in trouble.
Go find Mrs. Goodwin. She"s awfully nice, really she is. She"ll tell you all about it."
But Mrs. Goodwin was nowhere to be found.
"That settles it," Blue Bonnet said. "I shall go to the Infirmary." And to the Infirmary she went.
The door was closed. Blue Bonnet opened it boldly.
Carita lay on one of the little hospital cots, her eyes closed, her face almost as white as the sheet that was drawn up close about her.
"Carita--Carita, dear," Blue Bonnet said softly, kneeling down beside her. "What"s the matter? Why didn"t you tell me you were sick?"
The closed eyelids fluttered for a second, then opened wide with terror.
"Oh, Blue Bonnet, go out of here, quick! They don"t know what I"ve got.
You might catch something!"
For answer Blue Bonnet smoothed the black hair from the white brow and looked into the face eagerly.
"Please--please go, Blue Bonnet. I"m all right. Really I am! Please go away; anyway until the doctor comes."
A little red spot began to glow in each of the white cheeks and Carita tried to sit up in bed. She fell back limply.
Blue Bonnet was terror stricken.
"What do they mean by leaving you alone?" she said, clasping and unclasping her hands. "It"s outrageous!"
"I"ve only been alone a few minutes. Mrs. Goodwin just stepped out a minute."
As Carita spoke the door opened and Mrs. Goodwin herself entered, followed by a very professional looking man carrying a satchel.
Mrs. Goodwin looked at Blue Bonnet in surprise, and as the doctor went over to Carita"s bed, she took her to one side.
"You must go out of here at once, Miss Ashe; this is quite against the rules."