"n.o.body at all particular; only May Firth, Ella Johnson, and Doris Kennedy. Do you see that new girl crossing the quad? I believe she comes from our part of the world. She was starting too when I was setting off; they nearly put her in my carriage, only luckily the guard had locked the door."
"What"s her name? I don"t remember seeing her at Waverton."
"I daresay not. Her name"s Jean Bannerman, and she lives in one of those houses at the end of the park. I met her once at a party, but we don"t know them at all."
"Does she seem nice?"
"I"m sure I can"t tell. I wasn"t much impressed with her. Have you unpacked?"
"No, not yet. My box hasn"t been brought upstairs."
"It"s there now. I saw John carrying it to your room. I should think you"d better go and take your things out."
"Won"t you come with me, Muriel?" asked Patty, rather shyly. "I don"t know where I"m expected to put my clothes."
"Haven"t time," said Muriel, shaking her head. "I"ve got all my own to do. It"s easy enough; you"ve only to pop them into your drawers and your wardrobe. Supper"s at seven in the refectory. Why, there"s Gwendolen Farmer. I simply must go and speak to her. Ta-ta!"
And Muriel ran away to the other side of the quadrangle, leaving Patty standing alone upon the steps.
Thus suddenly deserted, the latter watched for a moment to see if her cousin meant to come back, but Muriel, after greeting the newcomer with much affection, linked her arm in hers, and without even turning her head to look round, walked through a doorway opposite, and was lost to sight. Patty went upstairs to her cubicle with a rather sore feeling in her heart, against which she made a violent effort to struggle. After all, she argued to herself, it was only natural that Muriel, who must have so many friends in the school, should be so anxious to see them all again after the long summer holidays. She would no doubt be waiting in the refectory to show her to her seat, and would then, perhaps, introduce her to a few special companions. She could not mean absolutely to ignore her, and it was absurd to take offence needlessly.
"I"m her own relation, and she surely can"t forget that," thought Patty.
"She"s busy now, but she"ll be nicer to me later on."
Each bedroom at The Priory was divided into four cubicles by means of curtains hung on bra.s.s rods, and each cubicle contained its own little bed, chest of drawers, washstand, and small wardrobe. Patty was lucky enough to have a window that looked out over the playing fields, otherwise her division was exactly the same as the rest. The three other occupants appeared to have already unpacked: their nightdress cases were laid on their beds, their sponges on their washstands, various photo frames, books, and ornaments adorned their dressing-tables, and their curtains were drawn back, as was the rule when the cubicles were not occupied, to allow a free current of air through the room. Patty unlocked her box, and set to work to arrange her various possessions, placing the photo of the family group, which had been a parting present from home, in a prominent position, and trying to stifle the longing to see all the dear, familiar faces again. The nightdress case, which she had thought so beautiful when she was packing, looked quite plain and ordinary by the side of the three elaborately worked ones on the other beds. She had certainly nothing so dainty as the pale-pink, quilted silk dressing-gown that she could see hanging on a peg behind the door, nor did she possess cut-gla.s.s scent bottles, such as stood on the dressing-table in the cubicle opposite; nevertheless Patty put her things away with a certain pride of ownership, and when all was neatly finished, glanced round her new quarters with much satisfaction. It was scarcely six o"clock, and supper was not until seven, so she decided to go downstairs again on the chance of finding Muriel, who by this time must surely have finished her own unpacking. She waited in the hall for a few minutes, not quite knowing what to do, until a mistress, hurrying by, noticed her standing there, and directed her to the recreation room.
Here a number of girls appeared to be collected: a pair of bosom friends occupied one window, and five pigtails in close proximity took up another; by the empty fire grate a group of four stood talking photography with a short fat girl in spectacles, seated on the edge of the table; while others were continually pa.s.sing in and out to announce their own arrival, or to search for absent companions. Several glanced at Patty, but n.o.body spoke to her, or paid any particular attention, so she walked over to the sofa, and taking a book which she found there, sat idly turning the pages without reading them, and feeling very uncomfortable and extremely homesick. Everybody in the room, she thought, seemed talking, laughing, and joking with everyone else, and she was the only stranger amongst them. No, she was mistaken. There was one girl as solitary as herself, sitting on the music stool, and turning over a pile of old pieces and songs that lay on the top of the piano.
She was an interesting-looking girl, with good features, grey eyes with very long dark lashes, a clear pale complexion, as creamy as if it had been bathed in milk, and light-brown hair that curled charmingly round her forehead. She did not appear to find her occupation very absorbing, for she glanced every now and then in Patty"s direction, and finally, putting the music back on the piano, came quietly across the room and sat down beside her on the sofa.
"I suppose you"re new, aren"t you?" she said. "So am I. We seem rather out of it at present, don"t we? Do you know any of these girls?"
"No," replied Patty, "not one of them. I"ve only just come a little while ago."
"Yes, I saw your cab drive up. I arrived by the earlier train, so I"ve had more time to get used to it. I can"t say I like it at all yet, though. To tell you the truth, I don"t mind confessing I"d give everything in the world to find myself at home again."
This was so exactly Patty"s present state of mind, that she felt it established a bond of sympathy at once with her companion, and encouraged her sufficiently to enquire her name.
"Jean Bannerman," said the girl, "and I"m almost fifteen. What"s yours?"
"Patty Hirst, and I shall be fourteen in October."
"Then I"m nearly a year older than you, for my birthday"s in November.
Which bedroom are you in?"
"No. 7."
"I"m in No. 10. I don"t know what my room mates are like yet. I hope they"re nice. I wish you had been one of them. It seems so horrid when everything and everybody are strange. Isn"t it dreadfully noisy here?
Suppose we go into the courtyard for a little while. It"s quite light yet, and I see ever so many girls out there. Do you know your way about the school?"
"Yes--no--yes," replied Patty, hesitatingly.
"Which do you mean?" asked Jean, smiling.
"I mean "yes"," said Patty. "A teacher showed us round, but I"m afraid I didn"t take very much notice, because, you see, Father and Mother were just leaving, and I----"
Jean gave a nod of comprehension.
"Then we"ll go and explore," she said. "There don"t seem to be any particular rules nor any preparation the first evening. Everybody is unpacking, and I think we may do as we like until supper. Come along!"
Nothing loth, Patty rose and joined her companion. She was anxious to see something of the new life into which she had been launched, and she looked with curiosity round the large quadrangle, which appeared at present to be the central heart of the school. Here girls of ages varying from thirteen to eighteen were a.s.sembled, comparing holiday experiences, examining each other"s tennis rackets or hockey sticks, pa.s.sing jokes, or eagerly enquiring for news on various cla.s.s topics. To Patty it seemed almost bewildering to see so many school-fellows, and she wondered whether it would ever become possible to learn to distinguish their various faces, and to call each one by her right name.
"I suppose we shall get to know them in time," she said, "but it will be confusing at first. Do you notice that some of the big girls wear badges? I wonder what that means?"
"Let us ask somebody," said Jean, glancing round to see if there were anyone near to whom she might venture to address her enquiry. "That fair girl sitting on the bench over there looks nice; I"m sure she would tell us. I don"t think she"s new, because she was talking to some of the others a minute ago."
Patty turned in the direction indicated, and recognized the fellow-traveller who had wept so copiously in the train, and whom her companions had called Avis. Her tears were dried, but she still appeared pensive. She held a blotter on her knee, and with a fountain pen was evidently already beginning a letter home. She put it aside when Jean spoke to her, and answered pleasantly:
"Of course I can tell you. The badges are worn by the prefects. They"re the six top girls, and they"re supposed to keep order. It"s a tremendous honour to be a prefect. Phyllis Chambers is head of the school this year. We"re all glad, because she"s so jolly, and she was our tennis champion last summer. There she is!--that girl in the grey dress. She won us four matches against other schools. We were so proud of her."
"Isn"t she champion now?"
"We don"t play tennis this term; it"s all hockey. I think Mabel Morgan is better at that. You"ll both be in the lower school team, of course.
Do you know what cla.s.ses you"re in?"
"Not yet," said Patty. "There"s to be an exam. to-morrow morning. I"m afraid I shan"t be very high up."
"Oh, you may do better than you expect. Exams. are such a chance. It"s just whether you happen to get a nice set of questions or not. I wonder if you"ll be in my cla.s.s. I"m in the upper fourth, Miss Harper"s."
"Is she nice?"
"Well, some adore her, and some don"t care for her at all. It depends a good deal on yourself. She likes the ones who work, but she can be dreadfully sarcastic if she thinks you"re stupid or lazy. She"s fearfully clever, and says such witty things sometimes. Half-a-dozen of the girls absolutely worship her, but she"s very fair, and won"t have favourites. I like her better than Miss Rowe."
"Who is she?"
"The second mistress in our cla.s.s. You see, the fourth is in two divisions, an upper and a lower; we do a few lessons together and some separately. Miss Harper takes history and literature, and what I call the more interesting things, and Miss Rowe takes arithmetic and a.n.a.lysis, and looks after our preparation. There are twenty girls altogether, counting both divisions. It"s the largest cla.s.s in the school. There are only ten in the fifth."
"Which is the nicest teacher of all?" asked Jean.
"I think most of us like Miss Latimer best, the games mistress. She"s very popular with everybody. You see, we always have such fun at gymnastics, and of course we love hockey and cricket. She teaches us swimming too, but that"s only during the summer term. There"s the bell!
We must go in to supper. Do you know your way to the refectory? We all settle places on the first evening, so it"s rather exciting. Perhaps you"d like to come with me?"
Patty would have replied in the affirmative, but at that moment she happened to notice Muriel crossing the quadrangle, as she thought, in search of her, and saying she had better wait, she allowed Jean and Avis to go indoors without her. She was perfectly certain that Muriel must have seen her, but, greatly to her surprise, her cousin turned aside and claimed acquaintance with a chestnut-haired girl, with whom she hastened into the house without bestowing a look in Patty"s direction. The great clanging bell was still ringing in the tower over the gymnasium, and groups of girls came hurrying towards the refectory from all parts of the building.
"Be quick, my dear," said a teacher, pa.s.sing Patty, and noticing her hesitation. "Everyone is going to supper. Come with me, and I will find a place for you."
Patty followed, rather nervous, but thankful that somebody would show her where she must sit. The refectory was almost full when they entered.
It was a large room, with a groined roof like a church, and stained-gla.s.s windows at either side. A long table occupied the entire length, and at one end was a raised dais, with another table for the mistresses. It resembled in this respect the hall of a college, and was a subject of great pride to Miss Lincoln, who liked to think that the school had its meals in the same place where the old monks had dined six hundred years ago. Muriel was seated towards the centre of the table, chatting to several friends in whose company she seemed entirely absorbed. There was evidently no room in her vicinity, and the teacher moved farther along and found a place for Patty nearer the end. She was between two girls rather older than herself, neither of whom spoke to her. One appeared to be in an uncommunicative frame of mind, and answered abruptly when a neighbour asked her a question, and the other was occupied with a conversation with two schoolmates at the opposite side of the table. Patty ate her supper, therefore, in silence, feeling exceedingly shy, and very much hurt that her cousin should have treated her so unkindly. On her first evening common politeness would have suggested that Muriel might have sought her out and introduced her to a few other girls, instead of leaving her thus friendless and forlorn.
Even Jean and Avis were too far away to speak to, and she was yet an absolute outsider to everyone else. There is nothing more solitary than to feel oneself alone in a crowd, and the tears rose to poor Patty"s eyes at the remembrance of the nursery at home, where the little ones would just have gone to bed, and Milly and Robin would be learning their lessons for the next day.