And they had grown to maidenhood with, seemingly, the same features, the same voices, the same tastes, and with an unbounded love for and confidence in each other. As they always dressed alike n.o.body could be sure which was Dora and which Dorothy.
Now that they were well along in high school, the twins had been put on their honor not to recite for each other or to help each other in any unfair way. There really was a very close tie between them--almost an uncanny chord of harmony. Indeed, if one was punished the other wept!
The teachers of Central High were fond of the twins--all save Miss Carrington. Her att.i.tude of considering the pupils her deadly enemies extended to the happy-go-lucky sisters. She did not believe there was such a thing as "school-girl honor." That is why she had such a hard time with her pupils.
In the play the girls of Central High were rehearsing, Dora and Dorothy played two distinct characters. Makeup and costume made this possible. But at the first dress rehearsal the twins pretty nearly broke up the scene in which they both appeared on the stage, by reciting each other"s parts.
Dora was an old, old woman--a village witch with a cane--while Dorothy was a frisky young matron from the city. When they met by the rustic well in the rose garden, haunted by that "dark lady" who was giving Mr. Mann so much trouble, Dora uttered the sprightly lines of her blooming sister, while the latter mouthed the old hag"s prophecies.
It was ridiculous, of course, and the girls could not go on with the rehearsal for some minutes because of their laughter. But Mr. Mann was not so well pleased. Dora and Dorothy promised not to do it again.
"If I"d done anything like that, you"d all have jumped on me," Hester Grimes declared with a sniff. "It wouldn"t have been considered funny at all."
"And it wouldn"t have been," murmured Jess to Laura.
"There is one thing about you, Hessie," said Bobby, in her most honeyed tone, "that "precludes," as Gee Gee would say, your doing such a thing."
"What"s that, Miss Smarty?"
"You are not twins," declared Bobby, with gravity. "So you could not very well play that trick."
"Oh, my!" murmured Nellie, "what would we do if Hester were twins?"
"Don"t mention it!" begged Jess. "The thought is terrifying."
But there proved to be a second thing about Hester which came out prominently within the week. This was something that not many of the girls of Central High had suspected before the moment of revelation.
The first performance of "The Rose Garden" was set for Friday night. There would follow a matinee and evening performance on Sat.u.r.day--provided, of course, the first performance encouraged the managers to go on with the production.
"It all depends," sighed Jess, bearing a deal of the responsibility for the success of the piece on her young shoulders. "If we are punk, then n.o.body will come back to see the show a second time, or advise other folks to see it. And if we don"t make a heap of money for the Red Cross, after all the advertising we"ve had, what will folks think of us?"
They were really all worried by the fear of failure. All but Hester. She did not appear to care. And it did seem as though every time she rehea.r.s.ed she made the "dark lady" of the rose garden more wooden and impossible than before.
At length Mr. Mann had given her up as hopeless. It seemed impossible to make Hester act like a human being even, let alone like a graceful lady.
"So you see, now that he lets me alone, I do very well," a.s.serted Hester, with vast a.s.surance and a characteristic toss of her head. "I knew I was right all the time. Now, finally, Mr. Mann admits it."
When she said this to Lily, even Lily had her doubts. When Bobby heard her say it, she fairly hooted her scorn.
Of course, Hester instantly flew into a rage with Bobby. This was only two days before the fateful Friday and before recitations in the morning. The girls had gathered in the main lower corridor of Central High. The bell for cla.s.ses had not yet rung.
"I"ll show you how smart you are, Clara Hargrew!" Hester almost screamed.
"I"ve a good mind to slap you!"
"That might make me smart, Hess," drawled the smaller girl coolly. "But it would not change the facts in the case at all. You are spoiling the whole play--the most effective scenes in it, too--by your obstinacy. Mr. Mann has given you up as a bad egg, that"s all. If the play is a failure, it will be your fault."
And for once Laura Belding did not interfere to stop Bobby"s tart tongue.
Perhaps the bell for a.s.sembly rang too quickly for Mother Wit to interfere.
At any rate, before Hester could make any rejoinder, they were hurrying in to their seats.
But the big girl was in a towering rage. She was fairly pale, she was so angry. Her teeth were clenched. Her eyes sparkled wrathfully. She was in no mood to face Miss Grace G. Harrington, who chanced to have the juniors before her for mediaeval history during the first period on this Wednesday morning.
Naturally, with the first performance of the play but two days away, those girls who were to act in it could not give their undivided attention to recitations. But Miss Carrington had determined to make no concessions.
She was firmly convinced that Central High should support no such farcical production as "The Rose Garden." Anything cla.s.sical--especially if it were beyond the acting ability of the girls--would have pleased the obstinate woman.
"Something," as Nellie said, "in which we would all be draped in Greek style, in sheets, and wear sandals and flesh colored hose, covered from neck to instep, and with long speeches in blank verse to mouth. That is the sort of a performance to satisfy Miss Carrington."
"Amen!" agreed Bobby.
"Wait till she sees Bobby"s knickers," chuckled Dora Lockwood. "You know Gee Gee always looks as though she wanted to put on blinders when she comes into the girls" gym."
Of course, these remarks were not pa.s.sed in history cla.s.s. But Dora was somehow inattentive just the same on this morning. She sat on one side of Hester Grimes and Dorothy on the other. The angry girl between the twins looked like a vengeful high priestess of Trouble--and Trouble appeared.
Miss Carrington asked Dora a direct question, speaking her name as she always did, and glaring at the twin in question near-sightedly, in an endeavor to see the girl"s lips move when she answered. She was sure of Dora"s seat; but, of course, she could not be sure whether Dora or Dorothy was sitting in it. Her refusal to accept the fact that the twins were on their honor kept Miss Carrington in doubt.
"Relate some incident, with date, in the life of Saladin, Dora," the teacher commanded.
Dora hesitated. This was a "jump question," as the pupils called it. Miss Carrington, as she frequently did, had gone back several lessons for this query, and Dora was hazy about Saladin.
"Come, Dora!" e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed the teacher harshly. "Have you no answer?"
Dorothy leaned forward to look across Hester"s desk at her sister. She was anxious that Dora should not fail. She would have imparted, could she have done so, her knowledge of Saladin to her twin. But there was only nervous anxiety in her look and manner.
The moment Dora"s lips opened and she began her reply, Hester turned sharply and stared at Dorothy. It was a despicable trick--a mean and contemptible attempt to get the twins into trouble. And Hester did it deliberately.
She knew that Miss Carrington was much more near-sighted than she was willing to acknowledge. Seeing Hester look at Dorothy caused the teacher to believe that Dorothy was answering for her sister.
"Stop!" commanded Miss Carrington, rising quickly from her seat on the platform.
Dora, who had begun very well at last, halted in her answer and looked surprised. Miss Carrington was glaring now at Dorothy.
"How dare you, Dorothy Lockwood?" she demanded, her face quite red with anger. "There is no trusting any of you girls. Cheat!"
There was a sudden intake of breath all over the room. Some of the girls looked positively horror-stricken. For the teacher to use such an expression shocked Laura, and Jess, and Nellie for an instant, as though the word had been addressed to them personally.
"Oh!" gasped Jess.
The. teacher flashed her a glance. "Silence, Miss Morse!"
Dorothy had risen slowly to her feet. "What--what do you mean, Miss Carrington?" she whispered. "Do you say I--I have _cheated?"_
"Cheat!" repeated the teacher, with an index finger pointing Dorothy down.
"I saw you. I heard you. You started to answer for your sister."
"I did not!" cried the accused girl.
"She certainly did not, Miss Carrington!" repeated Dora, rising likewise.