"Mad?" repeated Katherine, flushing, and wondering if she had unconsciously manifested anything that had seemed like anger or temper during the recent interview.
"Yes; didn"t you feel as if you"d just like to go at him with "hammer and tongs""--doubling up her fists and striking out suggestively right and left--"for being so crusty with you about your religion? I did."
Katherine laughed out merrily at the girl"s strenuous espousal of her cause, and with a sense of relief to know that she had shown no feeling unworthy of a Christian Scientist.
"No, dear," she gently replied, "I could not feel anger or resentment towards any one because of a mere difference of opinion."
"U-m! well, you didn"t show any, that"s sure. You just faced him, sweet as a peach, but like a--a queen who knows she"s on her own ground. I thought, though, you might be just boiling over inside; but if you say you weren"t, I believe you, for I think you"re "true blue," and I think Prof. Seabrook might have learned a lesson from you, for I never saw him quite so upset over a little thing before. I never had any use for Christian Scientists myself; don"t know anything about "em, in fact. But if they"re all like you, I don"t believe they"ll ever do much harm in the world. Here we are, though--this is Sadie"s room. She"s an orphan, too, but she is very rich, and I tell you she just knows how to make her money fly--isn"t a bit stingy with others, either," the voluble girl concluded, as she paused before a door at the head of the stairs in the second story of the west wing and rapped vigorously upon it for admittance.
"Come in," responded a good-natured voice, whereupon Jennie opened the door and entered a sunny, inviting apartment, the sight of which instantly gave Katherine a homelike feeling.
She also saw two pretty beds, on one side of the room, piled high with a motley a.s.sortment of dresses and finery that made her wonder how one person could ever make use of so many things, while an attractive girl was sitting upon the floor before the one dressing case, her face flushed and perplexed as she tried to pack another promiscuous collection into the insufficient s.p.a.ce that would henceforth belong to her.
"Miss Minot," said Jennie, advancing farther into the room and thus revealing her companion, "this is Miss Minturn, who is to room with you. Prof. Seabrook sent me to show her here and to introduce her to you."
Miss Minot sprang to her feet and came forward with outstretched hand, her manner characterized by true Southern hospitality.
"Come in, Miss Minturn," she said, cordially; "come right in and sit down," and releasing the hand she had grasped, she whisked two or three skirts off a rocker, tossing them upon the heap on one of the beds. "I knew you were coming, and I"ve been working right smart to get ready for you. I"ve had full swing here so long I"ve filled every nook and cranny of the place, and now"--with a shrug and a deprecatory smile--"I shall have to learn to be very orderly to keep from encroaching upon your territory. But there"s lots of time. The things can wait while we get acquainted a little.
Jennie, you"ll have to take the trunk," she concluded, with a careless glance at the girl.
"I haven"t time to sit down, Miss Minot; I"ve my algebra lesson to learn for to-morrow morning," and Jennie, flushing with sudden anger at being so cursorily consigned to a trunk, turned to leave the room.
Katherine put out a detaining hand.
"Thank you, Jennie, for coming up with me," she said, with a friendly smile, adding: "And I hope there will be no more interruptions while you are conning the algebra lesson."
"I hate mathematics," Jennie affirmed, with an impatient shrug, "but the things you most dislike are supposed to do you the most good, so I just have to bottle up when it"s time for algebra and try to play "it"s an angel being entertained unawares." Good-by, Miss Minturn. I"ll see you again later." And bestowing a bright glance and nod upon her new friend, she shut the door and went whistling cheerily down the hall.
"That"s a queer "pickaninny"! I didn"t mean to hurt her, though,"
observed Miss Minot, as she curled herself up on the foot of a bed, preparatory to getting acquainted with her new roommate.
"She certainly possesses originality," Katherine laughingly responded; "but I like her none the less for that."
"Poor young one!" Sadie continued. "She doesn"t have a very easy time of it here. She is a stray waif, and hasn"t a relative in the world, to her knowledge."
"She spoke of an aunt," interposed Katherine.
"She calls Miss Wild "aunt," but she isn"t, really, and the child actually does not know her own name. The way of it was this," Miss Minot went on to explain: "When she was a baby there was a terrible railway accident, in which it was supposed both her parents were killed, for n.o.body could be found to claim the child after it was over; and Miss Wild, an old maid with a small annuity, was on the same train, and, like an angel, cared for her, hoping some relative would be found when the dead were identified; but no clew to her ident.i.ty was ever obtained, and the woman has done the best she could for her all these years."
"How very lovely and n.o.ble of Miss Wild," breathed Katherine, appreciatively. Then, glancing around the disorderly room, she added: "Now, Miss Minot, I feel almost like an intruder to have you so upset on my account. Do let me help you put some of these things away."
"Oh, never mind the truck," Sadie lazily returned. "I"ll take care of the things presently. I"m right glad that you are a junior,"
she resumed, in a comfortable tone. "It is so much nicer to have a roommate who can go right along with you, and I"m sure you"ll be a great help to me."
Katherine smiled as her companion thus unwittingly revealed a strong phase of her character. She saw that her tendency was to lean upon the nearest prop; and, as to be "forewarned is to be forearmed," she resolved to govern herself accordingly.
They chatted socially until the janitor appeared with Katherine"s trunk, whereupon Sadie bestirred herself once more to bring order out of chaos.
This was much easier said than done, and as she saw that she was going to be very much crowded, Katherine unpacked but very few things at that time. She generously said she would try to get along with one-third of the closet and one of the drawers in the bureau, and utilize her trunk trays for her own waists and finery, while she could stow things not often needed in the lower portion.
Later she hired the janitor to put up a bracket shelf in one corner of the room, tacking a long chintz curtain to it, and, with a dozen hooks screwed into a cleat underneath, thus improvised a very convenient little closet for her individual use.
While the roommates were "becoming acquainted," Jennie Wild, full of what she had seen and heard, and, for the time being, unmindful of the waiting algebra lesson, rushed down to the recreation room, where many of the students were still congregated, and reeled off her news to a bevy of curious and interested listeners.
The information that the new junior was a "Christian Scientist"
created quite a flutter of excitement. Some were horrified and indignant because such a pariah had been admitted to the seminary; others ridiculed and laughed to scorn the doctrines of the "new cult," while a few appeared indifferent and declared that every one had a right to her own opinion upon religious subjects.
The matter was pretty thoroughly canva.s.sed, however, the att.i.tude of the princ.i.p.al having weighty influence and governing the preponderance of opinion; and by the time the supper bell rang almost every student in the house had learned the whole story and decided that, for the present at least, she would give the newcomer a wide berth.
Katherine became conscious of the iciness of the atmosphere the moment she entered the dining room and came under the battery of the hundred or more pairs of curious and critical eyes that were eagerly watching for her to appear. Miss Reynolds, who had overheard some of the gossip and adverse criticisms, was also on the lookout for her, and approaching her with the graciousness which was her chief charm, observed:
"Miss Minturn, I have made a place for you at my table. Until you become better acquainted and choose your permanent seat, you shall sit close under the shelter of my wings."
"And a very friendly shelter, I am sure, I shall find it; you are very good," Katherine replied, with quick appreciation.
The teacher led her to her place, and, while they stood waiting for the professor to give the signal to be seated, introduced her to two or three of the girls in their vicinity.
Katherine keenly felt, and Miss Reynolds noted with increasing displeasure, the quickly averted eyes and cool acknowledgment of these introductions; but the princ.i.p.al drew out his chair, and Katherine"s momentary feeling of awkwardness was covered by the confusion of getting into place. But for her teacher she would have had a very lonely and silent meal; for after one or two efforts to engage her nearest neighbor in conversation had been coldly repulsed, the tactful woman threw herself into the gap and the two chatted socially until they arose from the table.
"She is a dear, sweet girl, and I am going to nip this nonsense in the bud," Miss Reynolds observed to herself on the way upstairs, where, in the main hall and parlors, the students usually spent an hour, socially, after the evening meal. But as she presented her charge, here and there, she only became more indignant in view of frigid salutations and a general stampede wherever they made their appearance, not to mention the scarlet spots that settled on Katherine"s cheeks and her unnaturally brilliant eyes, although, in other respects, she appeared perfectly serene and self- possessed.
"Please do not trouble yourself any further on my account, Miss Reynolds," she said, when she observed the look of dismay on her face as she glanced around the almost empty room they were in. "I understand the situation perfectly; they have all learned that I am a Christian Scientist, and, having conceived an erroneous idea of what that means, are avoiding me."
"It is the most absurd, cruel and unjust treatment of a stranger I ever heard of," returned her companion, with flashing eyes, "and I shall make it my business to see that there is a radical change before another day goes by."
"Please do not," Katherine pleaded, earnestly. "I would much prefer that matters be left to adjust themselves; any interference would only serve to intensify the antagonism against me; and I am sure when the girls come to know me better, they will at least realize that I am--harmless," and there was a gleam of genuine amus.e.m.e.nt in her eyes as she concluded.
"You are a brave little girl," said her teacher, with a glow of tenderness at her heart and a suspicious moisture in her eyes.
"But"--with a resolute straightening of her graceful figure--"I am not going to have you left to yourself on this your first evening at Hilton, so come with me to my room and we will have a nice time by ourselves."
"Oh, I should like that," said Katherine, eagerly, "if it will not encroach--"
"It will not," smilingly interposed her new friend, and, slipping an arm around her, she spirited her away to her pleasant room, where they spent a delightful hour together.
When the eight o"clock study bell rang, Katherine returned to her own quarters, where she found her roommate already absorbed, apparently, in the preparation of to-morrow"s lessons; for, as she entered, the girl merely glanced up from her book without speaking, then fastened her eyes again upon the pages before her.
Katherine sat down by her own table and soon forgot everything but the work on hand, although, at first, she had experienced a sense of discord and friction in the atmosphere. The hour pa.s.sed in absolute silence until the next bell rang, when Miss Minot closed her books and abruptly left the room.
Katherine was not sorry to be left alone, and bringing forth from her trunk her Bible, "Science and Health," and "Quarterly," began to study her lesson for the coming Sunday. She spent half an hour or more in this way, then sat reading from her text-book until Sadie returned.
Katherine greeted her with a smile as she entered and inquired:
"What is the retiring hour, Miss Minot?"
"Ten; and every light must be out at half-past," was the somewhat curt response.
Then, after an irresolute pause, she walked over to Katharine, and picking up the book she had just laid down, asked:
"What is this that you were reading? Oh! it is that dreadful book I"ve heard so much about."