"Oh, can"t you see? You stupid things!" cried Clem. "He"s going to marry our Miss Salisbury, and then she"ll give up our school; and--and--" She turned away, and threw herself off in a corner.
A whole chorus of "No--no!" burst upon this speech.
"Hush!" cried Alexia, quite horrified. "Polly, do stop them; Miss Salisbury is turning around; and she"s been worried quite enough over that dreadful Miss Anstice," which had the effect of reducing the girls to quiet.
"But it isn"t so," cried the girls in frantic whispers, "what Clem says." And those who were not sure of themselves huddled down on the summer-house floor. "Say, Alexia, you don"t think so, do you?"
But Alexia would give them no comfort, but wisely seizing Polly"s arm, departed with her. "I shall say something that I"ll be sorry for," she declared, "if I stay another moment longer. For, Polly Pepper, I do really believe that it"s true, what Clem says."
And the rest of that beautiful afternoon, with rambles over the wide estate, and tea with berries and cream on the terraces, was a dream, scarcely comprehended by the "Salisbury girls," who were strangely quiet and well-behaved. For this Miss Salisbury was thankful.
And presently Miss Anstice, coming down in the wake of Miss Ophelia, was put carefully into a comfortable chair on the stone veranda, where she sat pale and quiet, Miss Clemcy a.s.siduously devoting herself to her, and drawing up a little table to her side for her berries and cream and tea.
"Now we will be comfortable together," said Miss Ophelia, the maid bringing her special little pot of tea.
"I am so mortified, my dear Miss Clemcy," began Miss Anstice, her little hands nervously working, "to have given way;" all of which she had said over and over to her hostess in the chintz-covered room. "And you are so kind to overlook it so beautifully."
"It is impossible to blame one of your delicate sensibility," said Miss Ophelia; with her healthy English composure, quite in her element to have some one to fuss over, and to make comfortable in her own way.
"Now, then, I trust that tea is quite right," handing her a cup.
XXIV THE PIECE OF NEWS
"Pepper, you"re wanted!" d.i.c.k Furness banged into Joel"s room, then out again, adding two words, "Harrow--immediately."
"All right," said Joel, whistling on; all his thoughts upon "Moose Island" and the expedition there on the morrow. And he ran lightly down to the second floor, and into the under-teacher"s room.
Mr. Harrow was waiting for him; and pushing aside some books, for he never seemed to be quite free from them even for a moment, he motioned Joel to a seat.
Joel, whose pulses were throbbing with the liveliest expectations, didn"t bother his head with what otherwise might have struck him as somewhat queer in the under-teacher"s manner. For the thing in hand was what Joel princ.i.p.ally gave himself to. And as that clearly could be nothing else than the "Moose Island expedition," it naturally followed that Mr. Harrow had to speak twice before he could gain his attention.
But when it was gained, there was not the slightest possible chance of misunderstanding what the under-teacher was saying, for it was the habit of this instructor to come directly to the point without unnecessary circ.u.mlocution.
But his voice and manner were not without a touch of sadness on this occasion that softened the speech itself.
"Joel, my boy," Mr. Harrow began, "you know I have often had you down here to urge on those lessons of yours."
"Yes, sir," said Joel, wondering now at the voice and manner.
"Well, now to-day, I am instructed by the master to send for you for a different reason. Can you not guess?"
"No, sir," said Joel, comfortable in the way things had been going on, and wholly unable to imagine the blow about to fall.
"I wish you had guessed it, Joel," said Mr. Harrow, moving uneasily in his chair, "for then you would have made my task easier. Joel, Dr. Marks says, on account of your falling behind in your lessons, without reason--understand this, Joel, _without reason_--you are not to go to Moose Island to-morrow."
Even then Joel did not comprehend. So Mr. Harrow repeated it distinctly.
"_What!_" roared Joel. In his excitement he cleared the s.p.a.ce between them, and gained Mr. Harrow"s side. "_Not go to Moose Island, Mr.
Harrow_?" his black eyes widening, and his face working fearfully.
"No," said Mr. Harrow, drawing a long breath, "you are not to go; so Dr.
Marks says."
"But I _must_ go," cried Joel, quite gone in pa.s.sion.
""Must" is a singular word to use here, Joel," observed Mr. Harrow sternly.
"But I--oh, Mr. Harrow, do see if you can"t help me to go." Joel squirmed all over, and even clutched the under-teacher"s arm piteously.
"Alas, Joel! it is beyond my power." Mr. Harrow shook his head. He didn"t think it necessary to state that he had already used every argument he could employ to induce Dr. Marks to change his mind. "Some strong pressure must be brought to bear upon Pepper, or he will amount to nothing but an athletic lad. He must see the value of study," the master had responded, and signified that the interview was ended, and his command was to be carried out.
"Joel,"--Mr. Harrow was speaking--"be a man, and bear this as _you_ can.
You"ve had your chances for study, and not taken them. It is a case of _must_ now. Remember, Dr. Marks is doing this in love to you. He has got to fit you out as well as he can in this school, to take that place in life that your mother wants you to fill. Don"t waste a moment on vain regrets, but buckle to your studies now."
It was a long speech for the under-teacher, and he had a hard time getting through with it. At its end, Joel, half dazed with his misfortune, but with a feeling that as a man, Dr. Marks and Mr. Harrow had treated him, hurried back to his room, dragged his chair up to the table, and pushing off the untidy collection of rackets, tennis b.a.l.l.s, boxing gloves, and other implements of his gymnasium work and his recreation hours, lent his whole heart with a new impulse to his task.
Somehow he did not feel like crying, as had often been the case with previous trials. "He said, "Be a man,"" Joel kept repeating over and over to himself, while the words of his lesson swam before his eyes.
"And so I will; and he said, Dr. Marks had got to make me as Mamsie wanted me to be," repeated Joel to himself, taking a shorter cut with the idea. "And so I will be." And he leaned his elbows on the table, bent his head over his book, and clutching his stubby crop by both hands and holding on tightly, he was soon lost to his misfortune and the outside world.
"Hullo!" David stood still in amazement at Joel"s unusual att.i.tude over his lesson. Then he reflected that he was making up extra work, to be free for the holiday on the morrow. Notwithstanding the need of quiet, David was so full of it that he couldn"t refrain from saying jubilantly, "Oh, what a great time we"ll have to-morrow, Joe!" giving him a pound on the back.
"I"m not going," said Joel, without raising his head.
David ran around his chair to look at him from the further side, then peered under the bunch of curls Joel was hanging to.
"What"s--what"s the matter, Joe?" he gasped, clutching the table.
"Dr. Marks says I"m not to go," said Joel, telling the whole at once.
"_Dr. Marks said you were not to go!_" repeated David. "Why, Joel, why?" he demanded in a gasp.
"I haven"t studied; I"m way behind. Let me alone," cried Joel. "I"ve got a perfect lot to make up," and he clutched harder than ever at his hair.
"Then _I_ shall not go," declared David, and rushing out of the room he was gone before Joel could fly from his chair; which he did, upsetting it after him.
"Dave--_Dave_!" he yelled, running out into the hall, in the face of a stream of boys coming up from gymnasium practice.
"What"s up, Pepper?" But he went through their ranks like a shot.
Nevertheless David was nowhere to be seen, as he had taken some short cut, and was lost in the crowd.
Joel bent his steps to the under-teacher"s room, knocked, and in his excitement thought he heard, "Come in." And with small ceremony he precipitated himself upon Mr. Harrow, who seemed to be lost in a revery, his back to him, leaning his elbow on the mantel, and his head upon his hand.
"Er--oh!" exclaimed Mr. Harrow, startled out of his usual composure, and turning quickly to face Joel. "Oh, it"s you, Pepper!" which by no means lifted him out of his depression.
"Dave says he won"t go without me. You must make him," said Joel, in his intensity forgetting his manners.