The following week she found herself "out of it" with a vengeance. If Lily Pendleton had been absenting herself from Hester"s side more than usual since the fall term opened, now she was still more away. Lily did not wish to lose her membership in the basketball team. To be a member of the champion nine of Central High gave her a certain prestige that that young lady did not wish to lose.
Besides, Lily was one of the largest girls in the Junior cla.s.s, was vigorous physically, and loved the game. So Hester was thrown back upon her own resources more than ever. And her own company did not please Miss Hester Grimes.
She could, of course, have found a.s.sociates among some of the younger girls, or among those who are always willing to play the courtier to a girl who spends her money freely. Yet there were few of these latter at Central High, and not many of the younger girls--the sophs and freshies--liked Hester well enough to chum with her.
And now that the whispered accusations against the wholesale butcher"s daughter had gone about the school regarding the gymnasium mystery, many girls looked askance at Hester when she pa.s.sed by, and some even ignored her and refused to speak to her.
Ordinarily this would have troubled her but little. She was often "not on speaking terms" with dozens of girls--especially with those of her own cla.s.s. But this was different, and she began to notice it. Girls who had heretofore nodded to her on the street or in the yard of the school, at least, walked right by and did not turn their eyes upon her.
Furthermore, when Hester approached a group of her cla.s.smates they often hushed their animated discussions and broke up the group quickly. They were speaking of her. She could not imagine what they said, but her heart burned with anger against them.
Hester kept away from the gym. She told herself she did not care what happened to the "old place." She hated it. She would not go there and see another girl practice in her place on the basketball team.
A game with the West High girls was scheduled for Wednesday afternoon.
It was not until after that that her mother learned that she no longer played on the Central High team. And Mrs. Grimes wanted to know _why_.
"Never you mind!" snapped Hester, who was not above being saucy to her mother at times. "It doesn"t concern you."
"Don"t you _want_ to play any more?" insisted Mrs. Grimes.
"No, I don"t! Now, that"s finished!" cried Hester, and flounced out of the room.
Her father had agreed to buy the new auto, and she telephoned for the man at the garage to bring it up. n.o.body ever crossed Hester, if he could help it, and when she said to the man that she wanted to learn to run the car he supposed that her father was willing.
He did not ask her age, although the Centerport Board of Aldermen had established a rule that no person under sixteen should be given a license or be allowed to run a motor car. At any rate, he did not expect to be requested to let her run the car without his guidance.
But this is exactly what Hester demanded when they were out of town.
It was a warm, smoky fall day. There were brush fires somewhere over the ridge to the south of Centerport; or else some spark from a railroad locomotive had set the leaves in the ditches afire. It had been dry for a week and the woods were like tinder.
They had run far out the road past the entrance to Robinson"s Picnic Grounds, and there Hester demanded to manage the car alone, while the man sat in back.
"You make me nervous!" she exclaimed. "I"ll never learn anything with you nudging my elbow all the time. There! get along with you."
She really was a very capable girl, and she was not unfamiliar with motor cars; but the chauffeur doubted.
"I don"t believe I can do it, Miss," he said. "I"ll sit here----"
Suddenly the car stopped. The engine was still running, but the car did not move.
"_Now_ what"s the matter?" snapped Hester. "Hop out and see, Joseph."
The man did so and immediately she turned the switch again and the machine darted ahead, leaving the chauffeur in the middle of the road.
"I"ll be back after a little!" she called to him, coolly, over her shoulder, and the next moment rounded a turn safely and shut the amazed and angry chauffeur out of view.
CHAPTER XIII
THE WIND VEERS
The car purred along so easily and it was such a delight to manage the wheel without the interference of the chauffeur that Hester did not note the distance she traveled. Nor was she at first aware of the speed. Then she suddenly realized that she had shifted the gear to the highest speed forward, and that a picket fence she pa.s.sed was merely a blur along the roadside.
But this was a road on which there were few houses, and most of them were back in the fields, in the middle of the farms that bordered the pike.
"This will never do," thought Hester, and she began to manipulate the levers and finally brought the car to a stop. The roadway was narrow and she would have to back to turn. But this was one of the very things she desired to learn how to do; and that officious Joseph was always fussing when he was beside her.
"How many miles have I come, I wonder?" she asked herself, looking about.
She was on a ridge of land overlooking a narrow valley. At the end of the valley the road seemed to dip from the ridge, and it disappeared in a thick haze of blue smoke.
"The fire must be over that way," she thought. "Shall I run that far and see what it means? The wind is not blowing toward me."
She started the car once more. The auto rolled on, but she noticed that it wasn"t firing regularly.
"Hullo! Is it going to kick up rusty now and here?" muttered Hester, and she stopped. Having learned that much, she opened the carburetor to see if the gasoline was flowing all right. Then she tried a dozen times to start the car, without success. Suddenly she stood up with a jerk. In the distance she heard a growing roar--the oncoming rush of a powerful car.
Fortunately she had stopped on the side of the road. There was room for another car to pa.s.s. And out of the blue smoke ahead it appeared with startling suddenness, hurled like a missile from a gun directly up the road toward her.
She knew the car almost instantly. It was the Beldings" auto and it was crowded with young folk. She knew where they had been. The next week the girls of Central High had been invited to Keyport to play the first team at basketball of the High School in that town.
Hester had heard all about the game the day before with the West High girls. With Roberta Fish in Hester"s old position at forward center, the girls of Central High had swept all before them. They had beaten their opponents with a good lead. Of course, the West High team was not as strong as the East High had been; but Roberta had done well and victory had, for the first time in months, perched upon the banner of Central High.
A committee had been appointed to go over and see the Keyport managers, and now it was returning. The big car was driven by Chet Belding, with Launcelot Darby beside him. Laura, Jess, Bobby, Nellie, and the Lockwood twins filled the tonneau comfortably.
Hester hoped that the Belding car would wheel right by and that her school fellows would not notice her. But Chet saw the car stalled, and Laura"s quick eye detected the lone girl standing with her back to them, looking off across the valley.
"What"s the matter with that girl and her car?" demanded Lance, as Chet slowed down.
"It"s Hester. Mr. Grimes has bought a car at last, I understand," said Laura, leaning over the back of the seat and speaking to the boys. "Is she in trouble, do you think?"
"I"ll bet she is!" exclaimed Lance.
"And out on this road alone. Where"s the chauffeur?" said Chet.
"And if the wind should change!" cried Nellie Agnew.
"By Jove, that"s so!" e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed Chet, bringing his car to a full stop right beside the stalled auto.
"Hullo, Miss Grimes!" he sang out. "Can we help you? What"s the matter with your car?"
Hester saw it was useless to refuse to see them then. Besides, she did not want to be stalled there for hours.
"That"s what I"ve been trying to find out," she said, pointedly speaking to the boy, not to the girls.
"Great machines," drawled Lance. "When you think you know all about "em they kick up and give you a lot of trouble. Isn"t that so, Chet?"