"Of course you won"t refuse, Mrs. White, will you?" Sue implored, arms about Mrs. White"s shoulders. "Billy quite dotes on you, you know. He says in my note that you"ve just got to come. He and Hammie will accept no subst.i.tute. Billy would be so awfully disappointed if you didn"t come."
Mrs. White smiled pleasantly.
"I wouldn"t hurt Billy for the world, Susan," she said. The teachers always called Sue "Susan"--those who had known her since her entrance as a very young girl. "You know I never inflict unnecessary pain. I happen to know just how hard your friends would take my refusal. I will consult Miss North."
"Will you? Will you really? Oh, you are such a dear, Mrs. White. And try to show her how very necessary it is for us all to go. Billy does get _so_ lonely without me--we"re such chums. Father feels dreadfully to have us separated as we are."
Mrs. White promised to put the matter before Miss North as diplomatically as possible, and let the girls know her decision at the earliest possible moment.
"I think afternoon tea is the loveliest thing," Sue said, as they went back to Blue Bonnet"s room for a brief visit. "There"s something about it that makes one feel so grown up--so sort of lady-like! I"ve always said that when I keep house--I shall, you know, for father, as soon as I am through school--that I"ll serve tea every afternoon, rain or shine, at five o"clock, and advertise the fact among all my friends."
"It"s very hospitable," Blue Bonnet replied absently. "Do they have tea every afternoon at Harvard?"
Sue gave a shriek; then she went off into one of her infectious peals of laughter.
"Blue Bonnet! Oh, that"s ripping! At Harvard. What do you take them for?"
"I don"t know that that"s such an awful _faux pas_," Blue Bonnet said with asperity. "They always have afternoon tea at Oxford. Alec Trent has a friend there and he told him so."
"Well--in England--that"s different. It"s so awfully English, you know."
"That"s why I thought maybe they did it at Harvard. Because it is so awfully English, you know!"
Blue Bonnet"s eyes twinkled mischievously.
A few hours later, as the girls were on their way to the gymnasium to dance, Mrs. White overtook Sue and stopped her for a moment.
"It is all right, Susan," she said. "Miss North is very glad to have you accept your brother"s invitation for Friday afternoon, and I shall go with pleasure."
Sue"s feet took wings as she caught up with Blue Bonnet and Annabel.
"We can go," she announced breathlessly. "Friday! Harvard! I just knew we could. Isn"t it great? At two-thirty, remember! And girls! Don"t forget--borrow everything you can, and look stunning!"
CHAPTER XV
A HARVARD TEA
Stillness reigned in the study hall: stillness save for the occasional rattle of a book, or the falling of a pen or pencil from careless fingers. The large clock at the back of the room ticked regularly, and its hands pointed to a quarter past one.
At the desk Fraulein Herrmann sat, her watchful eyes roaming over the a.s.semblage in search of idleness or disorder. Only a moment before her stentorian tones had rung forth, much to the annoyance of two girls who came under her supervision.
"Emma-_line_ and Ja.s.sa-_mine_ Brown may report at the desk at the end of the period."
Emmalyn and Ja.s.samine Brown, twins, were as much the bane of Fraulein"s life as were Mary Boyd and Peggy Austin. Fraulein was not stupid. She had learned that to call forth these names, distorting them with almost unrecognizable inflection, brought its own punishment.
Emmalyn slammed down a book on her desk, her face flushed with mortification. She whispered something to her sister.
"You may say what you have to say to the room, Miss Emma-_line_,"
Fraulein invited.
Emmalyn paid not the slightest heed.
"Miss Brown! Answer when I speak! Why do you not answer?"
"I didn"t know you were addressing me. My name is not Emma-_line_!" She drew out the "line" with provoking mimicry.
Fraulein reddened; but she held her peace. She had encountered Emmalyn Brown before. Sometimes disastrously.
At her desk Blue Bonnet worked busily, glancing often at the clock. She was writing a theme, and writing against time. At one-forty-five her paper must be in Professor Howe"s hands. There was a strained expression in her eyes as, elbow on desk, she ran her fingers through her hair by way of inducement to thought.
"It"s no use," she said in a whisper to Wee Watts, who occupied a seat with her, "I can"t get my brain in working order to-day to save me. Have you a glimmer of an idea about Emerson"s essay on "Compensation?" I"ve got to write it up."
Wee"s face looked as blank as a stone wall.
"Emerson! Heavens, no! He"s as deep as the sea. Ask me something easy, Blue Bonnet. My grey matter"s at your disposal--what"s left of it. I think I"ve overtaxed it with my own theme. Do you know anything about hypnotism?"
"Hypnotism! I should say not. Look out! Fraulein"s weather eye is turned this way.
"I think it"s the tea we"re going to this afternoon that"s distracting me," Blue Bonnet confessed, when Fraulein had removed the weather eye.
"I can"t seem to get it out of my mind. I know we"re going to have a perfectly wonderful time. I wish you were going, Wee."
"Yes--it would be lovely. I suppose Annabel has borrowed everything in sight. I"ve given her my Egyptian bracelet and my jade ring. Don"t let her have your furs to-day. You look so pretty in them yourself."
"Oh, she doesn"t want them," Blue Bonnet answered loyally. "I think she"s going to get Angela"s. They are white fox--almost like mine. Oh, bother! What on earth is "compensation," anyway? I"ve read this essay ten times and it"s perfect Greek to me. Don"t you know, Wee, really?
This thing has got to be handed in in twenty minutes."
Wee searched through her desk for a dictionary.
"Look it up," she suggested, turning to the C"s. "Sometimes you can get a start that way."
Blue Bonnet gathered up dictionary and papers and moved to a vacant seat.
"Thank you so much, Wee," she whispered in pa.s.sing, "I"ve got to sit alone where I can think. You"re _nice_, but you"re _too_ entertaining."
Again she plunged into her subject and for a few minutes worked diligently. A white sc.r.a.p of paper rolled in a ball falling at her feet distracted her attention. She dropped her handkerchief over it in obedience to a slight cough from Sue Hemphill, and drew it into her lap.
A second later it lay open in her book.
"Annabel"s changed her mind," it read. "She"s not going to wear her suit. She thinks she"ll wear her new crepe de chine and borrow Patty"s fur coat. Don"t you think that will make us look out of place in just waists and suits? Answer."
Blue Bonnet crumpled the note in her hand and looked at the clock anxiously. She didn"t give a rap what Annabel wore. It was half past one, and she had but three paragraphs written on her theme. She read them through again. They were utterly impossible. She tore the paper into bits and carried the pieces to the waste basket.
Going back to the seat with Wee Watts she put her books in order and awaited the ringing of the gong which signaled the beginning of the next period.
It was unfortunate--for Blue Bonnet at least--that something had happened to disturb Professor Howe"s usual calmness of manner. She was irritated. Blue Bonnet felt it in the atmosphere the moment she entered the recitation-room.