Vera Vane and Elfreda Carleton were snugly settled in cozy quarters a few doors beyond the one that bore Dorothy"s and Nancy"s names. Patricia Levine had ordered a large card, elaborately lettered in red and green, announcing that:
THIS SUITE IS OCCUPIED
BY
MISS P. LEVINE
AND
MISS A. CORREYVILLE
A small card was all that was necessary, indeed only a small card was permitted, but Patricia did not know that. After her usual manner of doing things, she had ordered a veritable placard of the village sign painter, and when she had tacked it upon the door, it fairly _shouted_, in red and green ink.
"There!" she exclaimed, "I guess when the other girls see that, they"ll think the two who have this room are pretty swell."
"Isn"t it,--rather--loud?" ventured Arabella timidly.
Patricia"s eyes blazed.
"_Loud?_" she cried. "Well, what do you want? A card that will whisper?"
"Maybe it"s all right," Arabella said quickly, to which Patricia responded:
"Of course it"s all right. It"s more than all right! It"s very el"gant!"
Arabella was no match for her room-mate, and whenever a question arose regarding any matter of mutual interest, it was always Patricia who settled it, and Arabella who meekly agreed that she was probably right.
Arabella was not gentle, indeed she possessed a decidedly contrary streak, but she always feared offending Patricia, because Patricia could be very disagreeable when opposed.
Patricia was still admiring the gaudy lettering when a door at the far end of the corridor opened.
She sprang back into her room, closed the door and standing close to it waited to hear if the big card provoked admiring comment.
Nearer came the footsteps.
Could they pa.s.s without seeing it? They paused--then:
"Well, just look at that!"
"A regular sign-board!"
A few moments the two outside the door stood whispering, then one giggled, and together they walked to the stairway and descended, laughing all the way.
Patricia opened the door and peeped out. "It was that red-haired girl, and the black-haired one that are always together," she reported to Arabella.
"Now, what in the world were they laughing at?"
"Laughing at the big card, I suppose," Arabella said.
"Well, there"s nothing funny about that," Patricia said, hotly. "It cost ever so much more than the _teenty_ little cards on the other doors did." Patricia rated everything by its cost.
"They knew that big card looked fine, and they certainly could see that the lettering was showy," she continued; "so why did they stand outside the door giggling?"
"How do I know?" Arabella said.
"Open the door, and we"ll look at it again, and see if--"
A smart tap upon the door caused Arabella to stop in the middle of the sentence.
"S"pose it"s those same girls?" whispered Patricia. "If I thought it was I wouldn"t stir a step."
A second rap, louder, and more insistent than the first brought both girls to their feet, and Patricia flew to open the door.
Miss Fenler glared at them through her gla.s.ses.
"Why did you not answer my first rap?" she asked.
"We didn"t know it was you," said Patricia.
Ignoring the excuse, Miss Fenler continued: "I called to tell you to remove that great card, and put a small one in its place with only your names upon it, and in regard to your efforts to obtain work, you can not have any such notice upon your door. Instead you must leave your names at the office and I will see if any of the pupils will patronize you."
"I don"t know what you mean!" cried Patricia, flushed and angry.
For answer Miss Fenler pointed to a line penciled on the lower edge of the placard which read:
_Patching and mending done at reasonable prices._
"We never wrote that!" cried Arabella, "and we don"t want to be patronized."
"The red-haired girl, and the black-haired girl that are always together, stopped at the door and did something, and then went down stairs laughing all the way," screamed Patricia. ""Twas one of those two who wrote that."
"I must ask you to talk quietly," Miss Fenler said, "and as to the writing, I"ll look into that. In the meantime I"ll get a small card for you to put in place of that large one."
She left the room, and as soon as she was well out of hearing, Patricia vowed vengeance upon the two girls who had written the provoking legend.
"I"ll get even with them!" she said.
"How will you?" Arabella asked.
"I don"t know yet, but you"d better believe I"ll watch for a chance!"
"I"ll watch, too!" cried Arabella.
It was the custom at Glenmore to hold a little informal reception on an evening of the third week after the school had opened.
Its purpose was to have pupils of all the cla.s.ses present so that those who never met in the recitation-rooms might become acquainted.
When the announcement appeared upon the bulletin board it caused a flurry of excitement.