"Go on and try me again," commanded Gwethyn. "Anyone who likes may consult the gipsy."
At the next halt Rose signalled as usual, and the Oracle responded.
"Whom have we here? A junior remarkable for her charm of disposition, a girl with many friends, a favourite in her form----"
Here Gwethyn was interrupted by an outburst of giggles.
"Wrong for once!"
"This doesn"t fit!"
"The Oracle"s not working!"
Gwethyn tore off the silk handkerchiefs that bandaged her eyes. She saw at once what had happened. Amid the noise of the tramping she had misinterpreted Rose"s signal "junior bad" for "junior good". Instead of addressing one of the pattern members of the Fourth, she had been eulogizing Githa Hamilton. The poor little Toadstool stood with a very curious expression in her dark eyes. Keen delight was just fading into bitter disappointment. She looked round the circle of t.i.ttering girls.
Not one endorsed the good character, or had a kind word to say for her--all were clamouring against the falseness of this description. Her face hardened. Gwethyn perceived it in a flash. "Does she really care what they think of her?" she speculated. Gwethyn"s instinct was always to fight on behalf of the losing side, and at this moment Githa seemed to stand alone against the whole room. Moreover, the Oracle was not disposed to own up that she had made a mistake. She stuck, therefore, to her guns.
"If Githa"s not a favourite, she ought to be. It"s your own lack of appreciation. Where are your eyes? She"s a jewel, if you"d the sense to see it. There, I"m sick of the whole business. If anybody likes to take my place, I"ll resign. Or shall we play something else instead?"
Perhaps the girls thought the game was growing rather too personal.
n.o.body offered to act gipsy, and someone hurriedly suggested "Clumps".
In less than a minute the crowd had divided into two close circles, and the catechism of "animal", "vegetable", or "mineral" began briskly.
Githa took no open notice of Gwethyn"s unexpected championship, but from that afternoon her att.i.tude changed. Instead of continually snapping, or exercising her wit in sharp little remarks, she was unusually quiet. She would watch Gwethyn without speaking, and often followed her about the school, though always at a short distance and with no apparent intention.
It was at this crisis that Gwethyn one morning received bad news. Tony, her Pekinese spaniel, and the idol of her heart, had been put out to board when the Marsdens left home. His foster-mistress, a respectable working woman, wrote occasionally to record his progress. Hitherto her letters had been satisfactory, but to-day her report was serious.
Katrine found Gwethyn weeping violently in the sanctum of their bedroom.
"What"s the matter?" she asked in some anxiety.
"Matter! Oh! whatever am I to do? Read this."
"DEAR MISS MARSDEN,
"I did not answer your inquiries before about the poor little dog, hoping he might pick up a bit, but indeed he frets like to break his heart. The children next door worries him, and he won"t eat, and he has gone that thin it is pitiful to see him. I do my best, but he does not like being here. He is getting just a bag of bones, and my husband says it is nothing but home-sickness. Will you please tell me what I am to do about him?
"Your obedient servant, "MARY CARTER."
"The darling! The poor darling! Breaking his little heart for his missis!" sobbed Gwethyn. "I knew he"d never be happy at the Carters"
cottage. A bag of bones! Oh, my Tony! Katrine, have you got a penny stamp?"
The girls at Aireyholme were not supposed to send letters without submitting them first to a mistress, but the rule was not very strictly enforced, and Gwethyn had no difficulty in answering by return of post.
What she said to Mrs. Carter she did not reveal even to Katrine. Through the whole of that day and the next, she went about with a look of mingled anxiety and triumph on her face.
[Ill.u.s.tration: "GWETHYN TORE OFF THE SILK HANDKERCHIEFS. SHE SAW AT ONCE WHAT HAD HAPPENED"]
At four o"clock on the following afternoon, just when the girls were coming from their cla.s.ses, there was a bustle at the side door. A porter with a hand-cart from the railway station was delivering a large hamper.
Mrs. Franklin chanced to be pa.s.sing at the moment, and stopped to make inquiries.
"A hamper? For whom? Miss G. Marsden! And labelled "Live Stock, with Care"! What does this mean?"
Gwethyn, coming out of the Fifth Form room, caught sight of the hand-cart, and with a cry of ecstasy made a rush for the hamper.
"It"s Tony! My darling Tony! Oh, my pretty boy! where are you?"
Pulling her penknife from her pocket, she cut the cords in a trice, and opening the lid, clutched her whimpering pet in her arms. A crowd of girls collected to see what was happening. Mrs. Franklin thought it high time to interfere.
"Gwethyn Marsden, whose dog is this?" she asked sharply.
"He"s mine! We left him at a cottage when we shut up our house, but he fretted, so I told Mrs. Carter to send him here. He wanted his missis."
"You sent for this dog on your own authority? And without asking my permission?"
"He was breaking his heart!"
"You have taken the most unwarrantable liberty!" Mrs. Franklin was bridling with indignation. "I cannot allow you to keep this dog. It must be sent back."
"Oh no, please, please!" implored Gwethyn. "He"ll die if he has to go back. I won"t let him be one sc.r.a.p of trouble. He"d sleep on my bed."
"Impossible!" said the Princ.i.p.al firmly. "Do you think I am going to relax all the rules of the school in your favour? You have been indulged too much already. There are thirty-six pupils here, and if each one wished to keep a pet the place would be a menagerie. I cannot make an exception in your case. It was most impertinent of you to write and arrange for the animal to be sent."
Matters had reached the point of tragedy. Mrs. Franklin for once was really angry. She considered that the Marsdens were not sufficiently amenable to school discipline at any time, but this breach was beyond all bounds. Gwethyn hugged Tony tightly, and wept stubborn tears. Then Githa Hamilton stepped to the rescue.
"Please, Mrs. Franklin, instead of sending the little dog back, might I take him home with me until the end of the term? My own fox-terrier died two months ago, and my uncle said I could have another dog."
It was such a splendid solution of the difficulty that even the Princ.i.p.al"s face cleared. Gwethyn wiped her eyes, and beamed encouragement.
"Are you sure your uncle and aunt would consent?" asked Mrs. Franklin, hopefully but doubtfully.
"Oh, yes! They said I might take the first nice puppy that was offered me; so I know it"s all right."
"Then I shall be very much obliged if you will accept the charge of this dog."
"I"ll be only too glad."
"Githa, you absolute angel!" murmured Gwethyn, pressing her treasure into the Toadstool"s hospitable arms as Mrs. Franklin, mollified at last, turned into the house.
"Angels don"t have khaki-coloured complexions!"
"Yes, they do--the nicest sort! I don"t care for the golden-headed kind.
At this moment you"re my beau-ideal of blessedness."
"Toadstools savour of elves, not angels!" Githa was well aware of her nickname. "But look here! I"ll take good care of the little chap, and make him happy. I"ll smuggle him to school sometimes, so that you can see him. I could shut him up in the tool-house, if I square Fuller."
"Your collie won"t devour him?" Gwethyn asked, with a sudden burst of anxiety.
"Rolf never touches small dogs. He"s a gentleman in that. Don"t you worry. Tony"ll be quite safe, and he"ll soon fatten up with plenty of milk, and a garden to run about in. Bless him! He"s taking to his new missis already. There, precious one!"
"I want him back at the holidays," cried Gwethyn jealously. "He"s not to forget me."