It happened, however, that at the far end of the building, another girl was quite as worried as Vera, but it was a very different matter that had caused her to wake, as Vera had, before daybreak.
She had entered Glenmore a few weeks after school had opened, and was rather a quiet girl, as yet acquainted with but few of the pupils.
Some one circulated the story that she was being educated by an uncle who was a very rich man. Patricia Levine had added that as he lived in "N"York," and as her mother also lived there, she, of course, knew him, and she had told Patricia that old Mr. Mayo was more than rich, that he was many, many times a millionaire.
"Ida Mayo is to be an heiress, and have all that money. Just think of that!" Patricia had said, and immediately began to be very friendly with her.
Betty Chase boldly asked Patricia why it followed that because Mrs.
Levine and old Mr. Mayo lived in New York they must, of course, be acquainted, to which Patricia snapped.
"I didn"t say they _must_ be acquainted. I said "they _are_"!"
Ida Mayo seemed not to notice that Patricia sought to be friendly, nor did she make any effort to become acquainted with any of the other pupils.
She seemed content to stand apart and watch the others in their games.
It was Dorothy Dainty who seemed to hold her attention, and once Betty Chase asked boldly: "I wonder why you watch Dorothy so much."
"I don"t know," Ida had said, then added, "I guess it"s because she"s worth looking at?"
Secretly she envied Dorothy"s lovely color, and wished that her own cheeks were as fresh and fair. That evening in her little room, she looked in disgust at her reflection in the mirror. A pale face returned her gaze, and she made a grimace.
"It"s bad enough to be pale without having a few of last summer"s freckles left to make it worse," she cried.
There were lessons to be prepared for the morrow, but the reflection in the mirror had so disturbed her that she cast lessons aside and commenced reading a story in a new magazine. The heroine was described as having a wonderful complexion, as fair, as pink and white, as perfect in coloring as a sea-sh.e.l.l.
"Of course!" said Ida, "and that"s the sort I wish I had."
Her eyes strayed from the story of the beautiful heroine to the advertising column.
"Raise mushrooms," read one advertis.e.m.e.nt, next: "Try our patent collar-b.u.t.ton," then: "Write poems for us."
"How stupid!" she said. "Who"d want to raise mushrooms, I"d like to know? Who wants their old collar-b.u.t.tons? And for mercy"s sake, how many people who read those advertising columns can write poetry?"
She was about to toss the magazine upon the couch, when two words in large print caught her attention.
"Banish freckles--"
"What"s that?" she whispered.
"Banish freckles and have a perfect complexion," she read. "Send fifty cents to us, or obtain our tonic at any drug-store. Directions inside package."
It must have been the best of good luck that had prompted her to neglect her lessons, and spend the evening hours with the magazine, she thought.
She was far too impatient to wait to receive the tonic by mail.
She had never been to the local drug-store, so the clerks would not know her, but if any of the Glenmore girls were there, she would buy some candy, and wait until another day to obtain the tonic.
She drew a long breath when she saw, upon entering, that she was the only customer.
The clerk thought it odd that a little girl should be buying a complexion-beautifier, but concluded that she, doubtless, was doing the errand for some older person.
Night came, and at the hour when Vera and Elf with Betty and Valerie were tasting their goodies, and listening to every sound that might be approaching footsteps, Ida Mayo, not a whit less excited, was breathlessly reading the directions for applying the tonic.
"Spread the tonic over the face, rubbing it thoroughly into the skin.
Let it remain all night. You will be astonished at the result."
A dozen times during the night she had been awakened with the scalding, burning of her face. The directions had said that the skin would probably burn, but the result in the morning would fully repay the user, by the extreme loveliness of the radiant complexion!
Ida bore the burning bravely, but when the first faint light appeared she sat up in bed, pressing her hands to her smarting cheeks.
"If the freckles are gone, and my skin is fair, I won"t say a word about this burning," she said. "But how," she continued, "can my face look even half-way decent, when it is smarting so furiously?"
At last, she could bear it no longer, and springing out of bed, she ran to the dresser, and gasped as she looked at her reflection. Even in the dim light of the dawn of a cloudy day, she saw that her cheeks, her forehead, her chin, were all very red.
Were they spotty as well?
"O dear! If it was only light enough for me to really see!" she whispered.
She looked at the tiny clock. At that early hour no one was stirring at Glenmore.
No one would see her if she went down to the door, and it would be lighter there. A gable shaded the window, and made her room less light.
Thrusting her tangled locks up under the elastic of her muslin cap, and throwing on a loose sack, she s.n.a.t.c.hed the hand-mirror from her dresser, and softly yet swiftly went out into the hall and down the stairs.
She paused in the lower hall, there thinking that she heard some one coming, she rushed out on the piazza, down the steps, and across the lawn to an open s.p.a.ce where nothing could obscure the light. Already it was growing lighter, and she lifted the hand-mirror. A look of horror swept over her little face.
"Oh, what a fright!" she cried, as she stood staring at the reflection.
Her face was scarlet, and if the freckles had disappeared, it was because they had taken the skin with them when they went!
For a moment she stood as if rooted to the spot, then realizing that some restless pupil might be up and chance to see her from the window, she turned and ran at top speed toward the house. The big door stood open as she had left it, and she raced across the hall and up the stairway, entering her room just as footsteps echoed along the hall.
She closed the door and sat down.
"Why _did_ I see that horrid old advertis.e.m.e.nt?" she exclaimed. Her smarting, burning cheeks were enough to bear, but worse than that was the thought that she would be compelled to appear in the cla.s.s-room.
How the girls would stare at her! What would they say among themselves?
[Ill.u.s.tration: "OH, WHAT A FRIGHT!" SHE CRIED.--_Page 73._]
Vera believed herself to be the only girl at Glenmore who had even the slightest reason for worrying. Ida Mayo possessed the same idea.
Mrs. Marvin listened to all that Miss Fenler had to say about the feast, the two who had planned it, and the other two who beyond a doubt had been invited guests.
"And _I_ should send them home, and at the same time mail a tart letter to their parents telling them that their room was better than their company."