"_No!_" Lois got up slowly and struggled to find her slipper. "I am not," she said slowly but distinctly.
Mrs. Banks was delighted to accept Mrs. Farwell"s invitation, and at four o"clock they arrived, she and Maud.
The girls could hardly restrain a gasp of surprise at the sight of Maud.
It is hard to realize that other girls grow up as well as yourself, and Polly and Lois still remembered the shy little girl in a pinafore, with straight flaxen hair and blue eyes that Maud had been two summers before. They were totally unprepared to meet the new Maud.
In the first place, instead of looking down at her they had to look up, for she had grown until she was a half head taller than either Polly or Lois. Her arms and legs were lanky and her hair was now brushed severely back from her forehead and hung in a heavy braid down her back. She wore a very plain black velvet dress with a broad white collar and cuffs, and with her clear blue eyes and straight features she made a strikingly handsome picture, and although she spoke in her same soft melodious voice--all trace of shyness was gone. After the greetings were over, and everybody was comfortably settled, the talk turned to school.
"Where have you been the past two years?" Polly asked. "I"m so tickled to think you"ve really decided to go to Seddon Hall at last."
"I"ve had governesses, most of the time," Maud answered.
"But you went to a small private school too, dear," Mrs. Banks reminded her.
Maud glanced at her mother and then back to Polly.
"Not for long, though; you see I was expelled," she said, with such unexpected bluntness, that they all laughed.
"Expelled! What for?" Lois asked, without intending to be rude.
"For drawing a picture of the music professor. It wasn"t a very flattering picture, so!"
"You weren"t really expelled, dear," Mrs. Banks said apologetically.
"The Princ.i.p.al just thought you might be happier somewhere else. You didn"t fit in; you see it was a very small school, and--"
"All the girls were little gentlewomen," Maud interrupted, without appearing rude, "and I was too noisy." She chuckled to herself--probably at the memory of past pranks. "I didn"t mean to be, but the Princ.i.p.al--"
She stopped abruptly. She was a little embarra.s.sed at so much undivided attention--for though she was noisy, and rather unmanageable, she had no desire to show off. For the rest of the visit, the older people did the talking.
An hour later, as the girls were packing their bags, in Polly"s room--they discussed Maud. It was decided that she was to go to Seddon Hall as soon as Mrs. Banks could arrange with Mrs. Baird, and the girls were wondering just what difference her coming would make.
"She"ll _be_ some one anyway," Polly said thoughtfully, "Whether she"s popular or not, she"s sure to make herself felt."
"I think she"ll make a hit," Lois replied, slowly. "She"s awfully different. I wonder if she"ll start drawing pictures of the faculty."
"It doesn"t matter if she does, no one will pay any attention to it,"
Polly said, with a grin. "Maybe she"ll put some ginger into things."
"Bet will be pleased if she does," Lois laughed, as she packed her football score card. The sight of it made her exclaim:
"Poll, I meant to write Frank to-day! I haven"t congratulated him yet.
We"ve been so busy." She hurried to the desk. "I"ll have time to tear off just a line before we start."
Polly was suddenly reminded of an unanswered letter at the same time. In a second their pens scratched in unison, and Maud was completely forgotten.
CHAPTER VII
A SENIOR DISPUTE
The last bell was three minutes late in ringing. Betty knew it was, because she had watched the clock tick out each one with growing impatience. When it did ring at last, she threw her latin book into her desk, banged down the lid, and gave vent to her favorite exclamation.
"Jemima! Thank goodness that"s over." She went to the window and looked out.
A heavy snow had been falling all morning, and the grounds of Seddon Hall were sufficiently covered to a.s.sure good coasting.
Polly finished the last couple of sentences of her latin prose with little or no regard to the context and joined Betty.
"Looks bully, doesn"t it?" she asked. "I hope it stays long enough to pack."
"It"s wonderful," Betty agreed, "but don"t let"s stand and look at it any longer. Come on out, quick."
"Coming, Lo?" Polly inquired, stopping beside Lois" desk.
"No, not just yet. I"ve got to speak to Miss Crosby, over in the studio.
Don"t wait for me. I"ll come as soon as I can," she promised. As she saw Polly"s look of disapproval, adding by way of apology, "I simply must finish that sketch, Poll. It won"t take long."
So Polly and Betty left her and went out together. They found their sleds from the year before, in the gym cellar, and pulled them to the top of the hill.
The snow had drifted into the road, and was so deep that the coasting was slow at first.
"Let"s wait awhile," Betty suggested, "until the other girls have packed it down a little; this is no fun."
"All right, let"s take a walk. I wish I knew how to snowshoe," Polly said as she sank to her knees in a drift.
"When"s that friend of yours coming?" Betty inquired, as they started off towards the pond.
"Who, Maud? I don"t know, sometime soon. We"ve got to be good to her, Bet. She"s really all right in some ways."
"I remember her only that first summer," Betty said thoughtfully. "She didn"t make much of an impression then."
"Did you ever see her ride?" Polly demanded. "We used to go out in the back pasture and try and tame a couple of colts we had. Maud was a wonder. Perhaps Mrs. Baird knows when she"s coming."
"Let"s go ask her." Betty turned back toward the school. "My feet are soaked anyway."
Mrs. Baird was standing on the Senior porch when they came up the drive.
She called to them.
"Did Jane find you?" she asked, as they reached the steps. "I sent her to look for you."
Polly laughed. "Why no," she said surprised. "We were just coming to find you."
"What about?" Mrs. Baird put an arm around each girl. "Come inside, first," she said, shivering, for she was without hat or coat.
"Perhaps it was about the same thing," Betty said. They followed her into the office and Polly asked:
"Have you heard anything from Mrs. Banks? We"re wondering when Maud is coming."