"Order! Order!" commanded Helen; then, turning to her fellow monitresses, she held a brief whispered consultation.
"Stop it at once!" "Put it down firmly!" "Don"t stand any nonsense from them!" "Show them who are their betters," was the hasty advice given, and she turned again to the excited Juniors.
"What you ask is impossible," she said imperiously. "The Guilds have gone on very well in the past, and they"ll go on very well in the future. We promise that the interests of the Juniors shall be looked after, but the general management must remain as before. You can sit down, Gipsy Latimer."
But Gipsy did not sit down.
"I"ve made a fair request, and you"ve refused it," she continued calmly.
"All that remains for me to do now is to appeal to the whole school. We Juniors have held a meeting amongst ourselves, and have decided that, if we"re denied our just rights, we"ll withdraw our subscriptions and found Guilds of our own. Am I voicing the public opinion?"
"Yes, yes!" roared the Juniors.
"Put it to the vote!"
"Have it in black and white!"
"We"ll settle it to-day!"
Gipsy"s ultimatum was so utterly unexpected that the Seniors looked at one another as if an earthquake had occurred. They had imagined it was all "bluff" on the part of the younger girls, and that they were quite incapable of enforcing their demands. This sudden mutiny was a crisis such as had never risen before.
"Hadn"t we better yield a point, and let them have one or two candidates of their own?" suggested Lena Morris hastily.
"Certainly not! It would be the greatest mistake to give way. Leave me to deal with them," said Helen, and turning on the Juniors with flashing eyes, she poured forth her scorn.
"Guilds of your own, indeed! Nice Guilds they"d be! Why, the meetings would be bear gardens. What do you know about how to conduct a Society?
When I was a Junior I trusted to the wisdom of the Seniors, instead of listening to every newcomer who talked frothy nonsense. I tell you, it is the monitresses who are your best friends, and who can decide what"s good for you. Are you going to change the whole of our Briarcroft organizations at the bidding of a girl who has only been in the school ten days?"
The latter part of Helen"s argument appealed to a few who were jealous of Gipsy"s influence, but the greater number broke out in indignant protest.
"Friends indeed!"
"Pretty friends!"
"Tyrants, more likely!"
"We"ll see about bear gardens!"
"We won"t be sat upon by a clique!"
These and other remarks were shouted in reply. Some of the excited girls scrambled up and stood on their seats; each began to talk to her neighbour, and the noise swelled till it grew into a general roar of: "A referendum! Give us a referendum!"
Helen rang the bell for silence, and, when some sort of order was restored, once more faced the turbulent Juniors.
"Do I clearly understand what it is you want to put to the vote?" she asked, frowning.
"Yes! Yes! Tell her again, Gipsy!"
"I may be a new girl," said Gipsy, "but the others have chosen me to speak for them, so I"m their lawful delegate. What we want to vote about is a question of separation. Are we Juniors to keep on in the old Guilds, or start Guilds of our own?"
"It will have to be a referendum of both Seniors and Juniors," replied Helen sharply.
"That"s only fair. This is a public Annual Meeting, and we want to do everything in order."
Helen conferred again with her own Form. By all rules of general meetings, it was impossible to refuse a referendum if called for. They were obliged, therefore, to submit with the best grace they could, and to deal out the voting papers.
"Those in favour of union with the present Guilds kindly put a nought, and those in favour of separation a cross," commanded Helen. "Any paper with anything more on it will be disqualified. Girls! I make a last appeal to you to remember our old traditions, and to resist these innovations. Be loyal to your monitresses!"
"Old traditions are sometimes bad traditions," exclaimed Hetty Hanc.o.c.k, metaphorically flinging back the gauntlet. "We"re ready to obey our monitresses on questions of school rules, but we"re not Saxon serfs.
Fair play is a jewel! We Juniors haven"t had it yet, and we mean to get it. Girls! Be loyal to the Lower School!"
The Juniors s.n.a.t.c.hed their voting papers with hot eagerness, and for a moment or two there was a silence in the room, while the necessary noughts or crosses were being registered. The Seniors were feeling decidedly blue, but for appearances" sake they kept up a show of confidence.
"I think one of us is ent.i.tled to help to check the counting," said Hetty, as the papers were collected and handed to the monitresses.
"Oh, certainly! Please come and satisfy yourselves," returned Helen bitterly.
So the votes were counted by Lena Morris and Ada Dawkins on behalf of the Seniors, and by Hetty and Gipsy on behalf of the Juniors. The latter had not doubted the result, but to the Upper School the figures were startling:
Separation 65 Union 28 ___ Majority for Separation 37
Only six of the younger girls, therefore, had voted for the old regime, and the victory of the Lower School was complete. A mad scene of triumph ensued. The Juniors clapped and cheered, and waved their handkerchiefs in the exuberance of their enthusiasm; and as the discomfited Seniors beat a hasty retreat, the meeting broke up amid the roar of exultant hurrahs, and an impromptu chorus started by Gipsy and taken up by a dozen jubilant voices:
"Rule, Britannia! Britannia rules the waves!
Juniors never, never, never, will be slaves!"
CHAPTER VI
American Fudge
THE events narrated in the last chapter had made an epoch in Briarcroft history. Henceforward the Lower School meant to manage its own affairs, and it set to work at once to settle things upon a firm basis. Needless to say, Gipsy was the heroine of the hour. Except for a half-dozen who envied her popularity, the girls recognized that the revolution was entirely owed to her suggestion, and they were ready to acknowledge her as their leader. She took her honours modestly. Having accomplished what she had aimed at, she was quite ready to retire from the position of dictator until some other good cause needed a champion. After several meetings and much discussion, the Juniors decided that instead of founding a number of separate societies for photography, athletics, acting, &c., they would inst.i.tute one united Guild, which should include all the various forms of school activity, to be covered by one subscription, payable each term.
"It will be far better than dividing things up," said Hetty Hanc.o.c.k, "because sometimes we want to spend more on one thing than on another, and it"s awkward to have to vote the funds of the Photographic Society over to the Dramatic, or vice versa. I think we should manage all right this way. We must elect a Committee, of course, and officers. For President, I beg to nominate Gipsy Latimer. She deserves it."
"Yes! Gipsy! Gipsy!" agreed the girls.
But Gipsy shook her head, and like Oliver Cromwell waved away the tempting offer of a crown.
"No," she said firmly; "I"ve only been a fortnight in the school, and I don"t feel up to the post. Better choose someone as President who understands Briarcroft ways better than I do. I suggest Dilys Fenton.
She"s the oldest girl in the Upper Fourth, and from what I hear she"s been here one of the longest. I"ll serve on the Committee, if you like, and be of any use I can, but you want an old-established Briarcroft-ite as President. I don"t know any of your arrangements yet about cricket or tennis, and I should always be making mistakes."
The wisdom of Gipsy"s remarks appealed to the girls. It was certainly more suitable to choose as President somebody who understood the school ways. They appreciated the motive of her refusal, however; and her generosity in thus standing aside made her, if anything, more popular than before. They insisted upon electing her to the post of Secretary.
"You can keep the accounts, and read aloud the minutes of the meetings, and all those sorts of business things better than anybody," declared Hetty.
"If I don"t happen to forget which country I"m in, and add things up as cents and dollars, instead of pence and shillings!" laughed Gipsy.