"I think you"re real mean!" called Lilly after them. Then she said to herself, "They"re just trying to tease. I know it was stupid."
CHAPTER VII. INJUSTICE.
Summer was always slow in getting to Hillsover, but at last she arrived, and woods and hills suddenly put on new colors and became beautiful. The sober village shared in the glorifying process.
Vines budded on piazzas. Wistaria purpled white-washed walls. The brown elm boughs which hung above the Common turned into trailing garlands of fresh green. Each walk revealed some change, or ended in some delightful discovery, trilliums, dog-tooth violets, apple- trees in blossom, or wild strawberries turning red. The wood flowers and mosses, even the birds and bird-songs, were new to our Western girls. Hillsover, in summer, was a great deal prettier than Burnet, and Katy and Clover began to enjoy school very much indeed.
Toward the end of June, however, something took place which gave them quite a different feeling,--something so disagreeable that I hate to tell about it: but, as it really happened, I must.
It was on a Sat.u.r.day morning. They had just come upstairs, laughing, and feeling very merry; for Clover had written a droll piece for the S. S. U. C. meeting, and was telling Katy about it, when, just at the head of the stairs, they met Rose Red. She was evidently in trouble, for she looked flushed and excited, and was under escort of Miss Barnes, who marched before her with the air of a policeman. As she pa.s.sed the girls, Rose opened her eyes very wide, and made a face expressive of dismay.
"What"s the matter?" whispered Clover. Rose only made another grimace, clawed with her fingers at Miss Barnes"s back, and vanished down the entry which led to Mrs. Florence"s room. They stood looking after her.
"Oh, dear!" sighed Clover, "I"m so afraid Rose is in a sc.r.a.pe."
They walked on toward Quaker Row. In the wash-room was a knot of girls, with their heads close together, whispering. When they saw Katy and Clover, they became silent, and gazed at them curiously.
"What has Rose Red gone to Mrs. Florence about?" asked Clover, too anxious to notice the strange manner of the girls. But at that moment she caught sight of something which so amazed her that she forgot her question. It was nothing less than her own trunk, with "C. E. C." at the end, being carried along the entry by two men. Miss Jane followed close behind, with her arms full of clothes and books. Katy"s well- know scarlet pin-cushion topped the pile; in Miss Jane"s hand were Clover"s comb and brush.
"Why, what does this mean?" gasped Clover, as she and Katy darted after Miss Jane, who had turned into one of the rooms. It was No. 1, at the head of the row,--a room which no one had wanted, on account of its smallness and lack of light. The window looked out on a brick wall not ten feet away; there was never a ray of sun to make it cheerful; and Mrs. Nipson had converted it into a store-room for empty trunks.
The trunks were taken away now, and the bed was strewn with Katy"s and Clovers possessions.
"Miss Jane, what is the matter? What are you moving our things for?"
exclaimed the girls in great excitement.
Miss Jane laid down her load of dress, and looked them sternly.
"You know the reason as well as I do," she said icily.
"No, I don"t. I haven"t the least idea what you mean!" cried Katy.
"Oh, please be careful!" as Miss Jane flung a pair of boots on top of Cousin Helen"s vase, "you"ll break it! Dear, dear! Clover, there"s your Cologne bottle tipped over, and all the Cologne spilt! What does it mean? Is our room going to be painted, or what?"
"Your room," responded Miss Jane, "is for the future to be this,--No.
1. Miss Benson and Miss James will take No. 6; and, it is to be hoped, will conduct themselves more properly than you have done."
"Than we have done!" cried Katy, hardly believing her ears.
"Do not repeat my words in that rude way!" said Miss Jane, tartly.
"Yes, than you have done!"
"But what have we done? There is some dreadful mistake! Do tell us what you mean, Miss Jane! We have done nothing wrong, so far as I know!"
"Indeed!" replied Miss Jane, sarcastically. "Your ideas of right and wrong must be peculiar! I advise you to say no more on the subject, but be thankful that Mrs. Florence keeps you in the school at all, instead of dismissing you. Nothing but the fact that your home is at such a distance prevents her from doing so."
Katy felt as if all the blood in her body were turned to fire as she heard these words, and met Miss Jane"s eyes. Her old, hasty temper, which had seemed to die out during years of pain and patience, flashed into sudden life, as a smouldering coal flashes, when you least expect it, into flame. She drew herself up to her full height, gave Miss Jane a look of scorching indignation, and, with a rapid impulse, darted out of the room and along the hall towards Mrs. Florence"s door. The girls she met scattered from her path right and left. She looked so tall and moved so impetuously that she absolutely frightened them.
"Come in," said Mrs. Florence, in answer to her sharp, quivering knock.
Katy entered. Rose was not there, and Mrs. Florence and Mrs. Nipson sat together, side by side, in close consultation.
"Mrs. Florence," said Katy, too much excited to feel in the least afraid, "will you please tell me why our things are being changed to No. 1?"
Mrs. Florence flushed with anger. She looked Katy all over for a minute before she answered, then she said, in a sever voice, "It is done by my orders, and for good and sufficient reasons. What those reasons are, you know as well as I."
"No, I don"t!" replied Katy, as angry as Mrs. Florence. "I haven"t the least idea what they are, and I insist on knowing!"
"I cannot answer questions put in such an improper manner," said Mrs.
Florence, with a wave of the hand which meant that Katy was to go.
But Katy did not stir.
"I am sorry if my manner was improper," she said, trying to speak quietly, "but I think I have a right to ask what this means. If we are accused of doing wrong, it is only fair to tell us what it is."
Mrs. Florence only waved her hand again; but Mrs. Nipson, who had been twisting uneasily in her chair, said, "Excuse me, Mrs. Florence, but perhaps it would better--would satisfy Miss Carr better--if you were to be explicit."
"It does not seem to me that Miss Carr can be in need of any explanation," replied Mrs. Florence. "When a young lady writes underhand notes to young gentlemen, and throws them from her window, and they are discovered, she must naturally expect that persons of correct ideas will be shocked and disgusted. Your note to Mr.
Abernathy Searles, Miss Carr, was found by his mother while mending his pocket, and was handed by her to me. After this statement you will hardly be surprised that I do not consider it best to permit you to room longer on that side of the house. I did not suppose I had a girl in my school capable of such conduct."
For a moment Katy was too much stunned to speak. She took hold of a chair to steady herself, and her color changed so quickly from red to pale and back again to red, that Mrs. Florence and Mrs. Nipson, who sat watching her, might be pardoned for thinking that she looked guilty. As soon as she recovered her voice, she stammered out, "But I didn"t! I never did! I haven"t written any note! I wouldn"t for the world! Oh, Mrs. Florence, please believe me!"
"I prefer to believe the evidence of my eyes," replied Mrs. Florence, as she drew a paper from her pocket. "Here is the note! I suppose you will hardly deny your own signature."
Katy seized the note. It was written in a round, unformed hand, and ran thus:--
"Dear Berry,--I saw you last night on the green. I think you are splendid. All the nuns think so. I look at you very often out of my window. If I let down a string, would you tie a cake to it, like that kind which you threw to Mary Andrews last term? Tie two cakes, please; one for me and one for my room-mate. The string will be at the end of the Row.
"Miss Carr."
In spite of her agitation, Katy could hardly keep back a smile as she read this absurd production. Mrs. Florence saw the smile, and her tone was more severe than ever, as she said,--
"Give that back to me, if you please, It will be my justification with your father if he objects to your change of room."
"But, Mrs. Florence," cried Katy, "I never wrote that note. It isn"t my handwriting; it isn"t my-- Oh, surely you can"t think so! It"s too ridiculous."
"Go to your room at once," said Mrs. Florence, "and be thankful that your punishment is such a mild one. If your home were not so distant, I should write to ask your father to remove you from the school; instead of which, I merely put you on the other side of the entry, out of reach of farther correspondence of this sort."
"But _I_ shall write him, and he will take us away immediately," cried Katy, stung to the quick by this obstinate injustice. "I will not stay, neither shall Clover, where our word is disbelieved, and we are treated like this. Papa knows! Papa will never doubt us a moment when we tell him that this isn"t true."
With these pa.s.sionate words she left the room. I do not think that either Mrs. Florence or Mrs. Nipson felt very comfortable after she was gone.
That was a dreadful afternoon. The girls had no heart to arrange No.
1, or do any thing toward making it comfortable, but lay on the bed in the midst of their belongings, crying, and receiving visits of condolence from their friends. The S. S. U. C. meeting was put off.
Katy was in no humor to act as president, or Clover to read her funny poem. Rose and Mary Silver sat by, kissing them at intervals, and declaring that it was a shame, while the other members dropped in one by one to re-echo the same sentiments.
"If it had been anybody else!" said Alice Gibbons; "but Katy of all persons! It is too much!"
"So I told Mrs. Florence," sobbed Rose Red. "Oh, why was I born so bad? If I"d always been good, and a model to the rest of you, perhaps she"d have believed me instead of scolding harder than ever."