""Not Dan Jones that kept the hotel!" cried the man. "Why, I knew him well.
Can it be possible that Dan is dead?"
""I reckon he"s dead, Mister," said the chauffeur, as the hea.r.s.e went by.
"What d"you think they"re doin"--rehearsin" with him?""
"How very lonely the poor man must feel," said Mrs. Steele, after laughing at Bobby"s story.
"We"re going in to see him the next time," Jess said.
Mrs. Steele looked again swiftly at her daughter. "You will see him, too, won"t you, Janet?" she murmured.
Her daughter seemed not to like the idea; but Jess said quickly:
"We will take Janet with us, Mrs. Steele. And Bobby, too. If Mrs. Langworth approves, I mean. "The more the merrier." Really, I"m awfully interested in him myself."
Laura, said nothing; but she wondered why the invalid showed so much interest in the injured man.
CHAPTER XI
A REHEARSAL
The copies of the play chosen for production by the girls of the Central High Players Club had arrived, and Mr. Mann, who was to direct the production, called the members of the club together in the small hall which was just off Mr. Sharp"s office.
"And thank goodness!" murmured Bobby Hargrew, "Gee Gee cannot break into this session. What do you suppose she has suggested?"
"Mercy! how do you expect us to guess the vagaries of the Carrington mind?"
returned Lily Pendleton. "Something foolish, I"ll be bound."
"Sh! Remember Mr. Mann is an instructor, too," said Nellie Agnew.
"That is all right, Doctress," giggled Lily. "Mr. Mann is a good fellow and will not peach."
"Tell us the awful truth, Bobby," drawled Jess. "What is Gee Gee"s latest?"
"I understand," said the younger girl, "that she has been to Mr. Sharp and begged him to exercise his authority and make us act "Pyramus and Thisbe"
instead of "The Rose Garden.""
"Goodness! That old thing?" flung out Dora Lockwood.
"There is a burlesque on "Pyramus and Thisbe" that we might give," chuckled Jess. "And it"s all in doggerel. Let"s!"
"Reckless ones! Would you spoil all our chances?" demanded Laura.
"Aw--well----"
"Remember, we are working for a worthy cause," Dorothy Lockwood mouthed, in imitation of the scorned Miss Carrington.
"You are right, Dory," Laura said soberly. "The Red Cross is worth suffering for."
"Right-o, my dear girl," declared Jess Morse with conviction. "Let us put aside Gee Gee and listen to what Mr. Mann has to say."
They had already talked over the characters of the play. None of them was beyond the capabilities of the girls of Central High. But what delighted some of them was that there were boys" parts--and girls would fill them!
Of course, Bobby Hargrew had been cast for one of the male parts. Bobby"s father had always said she should have been a boy, and was wont to call her "my eldest son." She had a.s.sumed mannish ways--sometimes when the a.s.sumption was not particularly in good taste.
"But Short and Long," she growled in her very "basest" voice, "says I can"t walk like a boy. Says anybody will know I"m a girl. I have a mind to get my hair cut short"
"Don"t you dare, Clara Hargrew!" Laura commanded. "You"d be sorry afterward--and so would your father."
Bobby would never do anything to hurt "Father Tom," as she always called Mr. Hargrew, so her enthusiasm for this suggested prank subsided. But she growled:
"Anyway, it"s a sailor suit I am going to wear, and I guess I can walk like a sailor, just as well as Short and Long."
"Better," declared Nellie soothingly. "And then, those wide-legged trousers sailors wear are quite modest."
At this all the girls laughed. Knickers in their gymnasium and field work had become second nature to them.
"But think of me," cried Jess, "in what Chet calls "the soup to nuts!"
Really the dress-suit of mankind is awfully silly, after all."
"And uncomfortable!" declared Dora.
"Attention, young ladies!" exclaimed Mr. Mann at that moment.
He was a rotund, beaming little man, with vast enthusiasm and the patience--so Nellie declared--of an angel.
"Not a full-sized angel," Bobby had denied seriously. "He is more the size of a cherub--one of those you see pictured leaning their elbows on clouds."
But, of course, neither of the girls made this comment within Mr. Mann"s hearing.
The final decisions regarding the choice of parts were now made. The copies of the play were distributed. Mr. Mann even read aloud the first two acts, instructing and advising as he went along, so that the girls could gain some general idea of what was expected of them.
Before they were finished another point came up. There was a single character in the play that had not been accorded to any girl. It was not a speaking part; but it was an important part, for the other characters talked about it, and the silent character was supposed to appear on several occasions in "The Rose Garden."
"We need a tall, dark girl," said Mr. Mann. "One who walks particularly well and who win not be overlooked by the audience even when she merely crosses the stage. Who----?"
"Margit Salgo!" exclaimed Jess, who had every bit of the new play and its needs very close to her heart.
"Of course!" cried Laura and the Lockwood twins. "Margit is just the one,"
Mother Wit added.
"Oh!" said Mr. Mann at last. "You mean Margaret Carrington?"
"And she walks like a queen," sighed Lily Pendleton. "I wish I could learn to walk as she does."