In every other way, Polly and she ranked equal; and not a girl in the whole exclusive school could boast of better or more fashionable dresses than these two western scholars. Eleanor was most talkative, describing her home in Chicago and the people the Maynards knew. Then she whispered, covertly, how rich Polly Brewster was-she owned a great gold mine all in her own rights. She spoke thrillingly of Rainbow Cliffs and the tons upon tons of rare stones to be found there, until every girl sighed in envy. But Eleanor failed to mention that the stones would have to be cut and polished before they would be of any use to anyone.
A few stray sentences of these conversations reached Anne"s ears, and she felt puzzled to know what was best to do. Eleanor was not bragging because she needed place or power in the group, but the teacher understood that she was exaggerating for Polly"s sake. She wanted all the girls to look up to Polly as a subject would to a queen. She knew how Barbara had felt toward the simple ranch people, and these girls were of the same ilk-society"s pets. And they could make life unhappy for Polly, or a dream of joy.
That afternoon, as school closed, Anne overheard one of the girls repeating Eleanor"s words, but they had not lost in the repet.i.tion. In fact, Anne was sure Eleanor did not say quite all that she was credited with. On the way to the Studio, therefore, she determined to speak to Eleanor about the matter.
"Eleanor, you seemed to make a bushel of friends without any trouble,"
said Anne.
"I always do. It"s best to have done with it, and then you can sift out those you don"t like, afterward," laughed Eleanor.
"How about you, Polly?" questioned Anne.
"I was too busy with my lessons to bother about anyone, but I thought the girls acted rather queer this afternoon. I caught some of them whispering about me, and some were casting envious glances my way. I can"t understand why they should?"
Eleanor gasped. Here was a danger she had not thought of. She wouldn"t risk Polly"s peace or popularity for anything in the world, but she may have unconsciously done just that very thing!
"I heard some of the girls talking of your gold mine and Rainbow Cliffs, and I wondered if you had made such close friends, so soon," ventured Anne, guilefully.
"Oh, _I_ did that! Nothing like putting on a lot of "dog" if you want to make a splash in the puddle," hastily explained Eleanor.
Anne felt like laughing but she hid her face, and Polly turned pale with annoyance.
"Why, Nolla! How could you? You know I"d rather be considered a n.o.body than stand in a false light. Now what can I do to clear this up?"
"It isn"t false light at all, Polly. You can"t do anything now without making me out a fibber," retorted Eleanor.
"You are acting just like your sister Bob might have done! That"s the worst thing I can say to _you_," scorned Polly.
"And I did it all for you, too!" whimpered Eleanor.
"Didn"t I tell you, back at Pebbly Pit, that I wanted to cut my own cloth? For goodness" sake, don"t interfere in my private life again!"
"But you"ve got to let folks know you"re someone, or you will never climb to the top of the heap," argued Eleanor, stubbornly.
"I have my own method of reaching the top, Eleanor, and it is not _that_ way. I was Polly Brewster before you ever knew me and I am that same Polly Brewster even after having a gold mine and a mile of lava-jewels thrust down my throat. Don"t say another word!"
Polly turned her back and went to the end seat on the bus, leaving Anne to console poor Eleanor.
"Look"a here, Anne-did I do anything so awful?"
"You made a serious mistake, Nolla, when you talked to those strange girls about Polly. You tried to make her appear as if she approved of your method of bragging about the mine and money."
"W-h-y, I never dreamed of such a thing! I only wanted these New York girls to get it straight from the start that our Polly of Pebbly Pit was "some punkins";" Eleanor tried to laugh.
"And you succeeded in not only humiliating Polly, but me also, because I am responsible for both of you, to a certain degree."
"Humiliate Polly and you!" gasped Eleanor.
"Exactly what you did. I have been placed in command of this little family, and the first day at school, you deliberately thrust yourself forward-take my place, so to speak-and tell all the strangers there who Polly is, and who you and I are. In fact, you give out information that should come only from me."
"I"m sorry, but for goodness" sake let"s drop it, now."
"We"d better settle the matter once for all, Nolla, before we drop it.
If Polly and you are to continue the wonderful friendship begun this Summer at the ranch, you must never again say, or do anything, that trespa.s.ses on her rights. Remember that each one of us has an individual right to impart what we like about our private affairs-be it family or fortune. But the moment another speaks for us, then it becomes gossip and scandal on the part of that impertinent one.
"I do not propose having my time and thoughts disturbed by any inharmony rising between you two girls, and if another occasion comes up, when Polly and you disagree as you have to-day, I"ll wire to your father to come and take you home. If Polly is to blame, then I"ll send her home.
But, thus far, it is you who trespa.s.sed on Polly"s rights.
"If you"ll think this over quietly, and without prejudice, I"m sure you"ll agree that I am just and right in my stand."
That evening, Eleanor apologised to Anne and Polly for her thoughtless impulse that day, and fervently prayed that she never be tempted to open her lips again.
It was not Polly"s nature to sulk or remember unpleasant episodes, so everything went along smoothly after that first day at school.
Tuesday evening Mr. Fabian called, and was welcomed to his erstwhile fireside. During that visit, it developed that he had accepted an offer which several of his friends had urged upon him. He was to teach, three times a week, a cla.s.s in art designing at Cooper Union Inst.i.tute. And before he said good-night to the ladies, it had been suggested and settled, that Polly and Eleanor were to join the evening cla.s.ses on the three nights a week that their friend taught at the school.
Mrs. Stewart worried lest the girls would be wearing themselves out with too much study. But it was found that the work in the art cla.s.ses under Mr. Fabian"s watchful eye, was a pleasure rather than a study or work.
Thus they started to build on a firm foundation, and by degrees they mastered the rudiments of geometrical drawing, then went on to ornamental designing, next taking up the study of architecture in so far as it applied to interior decorating, and at the end of the year they were drawing free hand and perspective sketches. But that was not until the school term was almost over.
By the end of the first week at Mrs. Wellington"s school, the girls had chosen their friends for the term. It was most interesting to Anne to note that a certain social element looked up to Eleanor as their natural leader, while the quiet persistent sort silently fell in line with Polly. Both girls were admired and heartily liked, by teachers as well as scholars, but there was one disturbing young lady who resented the usurping of her former undisputed sway in the school by the two new-comers.
Elizabeth Dalken was the pretty, but vain daughter of a superficial society woman who thought of nothing but self-indulgence, leaving the training of her child to Fate. Hence, Elizabeth was the usual product: selfish, proud, arrogant and hypocritical. She was but fifteen, yet she could slyly cheat at bridge, smoke her mother"s cigarettes, and flirt with the men who frequented her home, as cleverly as her mother could.
For two previous years she had taken the reins of leadership at Wellington"s school and she had returned the third Fall fully expecting to resume her authority.
To learn that a western ranch-girl without a record in "Who"s Who," and a mere _Chicago_ Miss, governed her former subjects, turned Elizabeth white with rage. She could say nothing about it, however, without starting her school friends" teasing and laughing at her downfall. And she could not leave the school, because her mother had deserted her husband. He was the cashier for all the luxuries Mrs. Dalken and her daughter indulged themselves in, and he had selected Wellington"s school for the girl, and had paid the tuition fee in advance, so it stood to reason that he would not consent to a change, now, on account of her jealousy.
So on that first Friday evening, upon leaving school, Elizabeth promised herself that she would "get square" with those "two n.o.bodys" in short order! She would show those other girls at Mrs. Wellington"s just who _she_ was, and why they should have kept her as their leader!
But the western girls were not shamming their lovable characters, and as time went on, their companions appreciated, more and more, the sterling qualities in their chosen leaders. Thus Elizabeth found it no easy task to influence the girls against them.
October pa.s.sed and November began, with the girls at Mrs. Wellington"s planning for a Thanksgiving entertainment to close their school for the holiday. Here Polly was discounted, as she had never taken part in amateur theatricals, and knew nothing about them. Had anyone asked her to differentiate between the Tuscan, Doric, Ionic, Corinthian or Composite order of cla.s.sic periods of architecture, she could have described either, or all of them, almost as well as Mr. Fabian himself could do. But the scholars at Mrs. Wellington"s never dreamed of Polly"s ambition and knowledge along such lines of study.
So Elizabeth found herself the one to whom everyone appealed about costumes, parts, and the general management of affairs. Eleanor resented the obvious fact that _she_ was completely ignored when the various important parts were distributed, but Polly never gave it a thought.
"We couldn"t accept a part, anyway, Nolla, with all the time we have planned to give to exhibitions and lectures, this month," Polly reminded her.
"And your Daddy will be visiting New York that last week, Nolla, and you must devote your spare time to his entertainment-not be fussing with a lot of girls over a silly poem," added Anne.
Thus the sharp sting was withdrawn and Eleanor forgot all about her injured feelings. But Elizabeth Dalken believed she was merely pretending that she felt no grudge against the Director of the Play. And it gave Elizabeth great satisfaction to believe she had actually offended the two popular western girls.
During November afternoons, and on several evenings, Mr. Fabian took the three friends to the Metropolitan Museum where wonderful exhibits of private collections were given. Here every New Yorker was admitted free to see genuine antiques of furniture, paintings, tapestries and rugs, plate and ornaments. And with such a marvelous judge to escort them about and explain details that might have escaped other than his knowing eye, Anne and her two charges felt well repaid for their time. It proved not only instructive but very absorbing-these personal talks with Mr.
Fabian about the rare and ancient articles.
Valuable volumes treating on subjects which most aspirants of art are acquainted with, began to fill the shelves in the rooms on the first floor of the stable-studio; and quite often, Mr. Fabian brought in a "treasure" he had picked up at a second-hand book shop. He would read aloud in a cultivated voice, such bits as he thought would interest young and ambitious girls. Then, after he had bid his hostesses good-night, he generally left the volume behind.
Perhaps the very fact that Polly and Eleanor seemed to be apart from the other school-girls and their pastimes, made them all the more desirable to court. Not but that the two western girls liked fun and frolic as much as anyone, but they seemed always to have engagements with people the school-girls had never met, nor heard of.