irene, finding herself in her new form, looked round inquiringly. a few of the girls with whom she had taken coffee were seated at desks in the same room, but the rest of the faces were unfamiliar. her teacher entered her name on the register, and seemed to expect her to understand the lesson which was in progress, but the subject was much in advance of what she had hitherto learned at miss gordon's, and it was very difficult for her to pick up the threads of it. she grew more and more bewildered as the afternoon passed on, and though miss bickford gave her several hints, and even stopped the class once to explain a point, irene felt that most of the instruction had been completely over her head. it was with a sense of intense relief that she heard the closing bell ring, and presently filed with the rest of the school into the dining-room for tea. her place at table was between two girls who utterly ignored her presence, and did not address a single remark to her. each talked diligently to the neighbor on either side, but poor irene seemed an insulator in the electric current of conversation, and had perforce to eat her meal in dead silence. she[28] was walking away afterwards in a most depressed condition of mind, when at the door some one touched her on the arm.
"you're wanted in the senior recreation room," said a brisk voice. "rachel has convened a general meeting and told me to tell you. so hurry up and don't keep folks waiting. we want to get off to tennis."
marveling why her actions should hinder the tennis of the rest of the community, irene obeyed the message, and presented herself in the room where she had been introduced on her arrival. it was now full of girls of all ages, some sitting, some standing, and some squatting on the floor. rachel moseley, the owner of the long dark pigtail, seemed in a position of command, for she motioned irene to a vacant chair, then rapped on the table with a ruler to ensure silence. she had to tap not once but several times, and finally called:
"when you've all done talking i'll begin." there was an instant hush at that, and, though a few faint snickers were heard, most of the audience composed itself decently to listen to the voice of authority.
"i've called this meeting," began rachel, "because to-day an unusual thing has happened. three new girls have arrived, although the term is well under way. by the rules of our society they must give some account of themselves, and we must explain what is required from them. will they kindly stand up?"[29]
blushing considerably irene rose to her feet, in company with the dark-eyed damsel who had crossed in the same steamer with her from naples, and the fair-haired child whom she had privately christened little flaxen.
"name and nationality?" demanded rachel, pencil and note-book in hand. she wrote down irene beverley, british, without further comment; the fact was evidently too obvious for discussion. at "mabel hughes, australian, born in patagonia," she demurred slightly, and she hesitated altogether at "désirée legrand."
"that's not english!" she objected. "we don't reckon to take frenchies here, you know!"
"but i'm not french," came the high-pitched voice of the little, fair-haired girl. "i'm as english as anybody. i am indeed!"
"then why have you got a french name?"
"legrand isn't french—we come from jersey."
"very much on the borderland," sniffed rachel. "what about désirée? not much wholesome anglo-saxon there at any rate."
"i was called désirée because i was so very much desired. mother says it just fits me."
an indignant titter went round the room and rachel frowned.
"i'm afraid you won't find yourself so much desired here," she said sarcastically. "i'll enter you british, though i have my doubts. now come along, all three of you, and lay your hands on this[30] book. you've got to take an oath of allegiance. i'll repeat the words, and you must say them after me:
"'i hereby promise and vow that being of anglo-saxon birth i will uphold the integrity of great britain and her colonies and of the united states of america, and strive my utmost to maintain their credit in a foreign land.' now then, do you understand what your oath means?"
her eyes rested on irene as she asked the question. that much embarrassed damsel stuttered hesitatingly:
"we're not to trouble our heads about learning foreign languages?"
a delighted chuckle came from several members of the audience at this interpretation of the vow. rachel hastily condescended to explain.
"oh, no! you'll have to study french and italian, but what we mean is for goodness' sake don't stick on all the airs and graces that some of these foreign girls do. remember we're plain, wholesome, straightforward anglo-saxons, who play games and say what we mean, and call a spade a spade and have done with it. whatever italian friends you may make during the holidays please forget them during term-time, and try and imagine that the villa camellia stands in kent or massachusetts. do you understand my drift now?"
"oh, yes!" sighed mabel languidly. "anglo-american patriotism, crystallized in a nutshell, i[31] suppose! i'm not going to offend your prejudices, i'm sure!"
"you'd better not, or you'll hear about it," said rachel, looking at her sharply. "well, girls, that's the wind-up. the three freshies are admitted and you've witnessed their vows. just jolly well take care they keep them, that's all. juniors are due now at netball practice, and any seniors who want the tennis courts——"
but rachel's sentence went unfinished for her listeners were tired of sitting still, and the second they found themselves dismissed had jumped up and fled from the room.
"now that that ordeal's over i guess you may smooth out the kinks in your forehead, honey!" said a serene voice at irene's elbow.
turning quickly she saw the short girl who had braved rachel's possible wrath and had offered her coffee on her arrival. it was a pleasant face that gazed into hers, not exactly beautiful, but with a charm that eclipsed all mere ordinary prettiness; the sparkling gray eyes were dark-fringed, the cheeks were like wild roses under their freckles, the tip-tilted little nose held an element of audacious sauciness, and dimples lay at the corners of the wide, smiling mouth.
"i'm priscilla proctor, called peachy for short. oh, yes, i knew all about you beforehand, although you happen to be the newest girl. dad wrote me a whole page—wonderful for him!—and said he'd[32] stayed at your house in london, and i was to tack myself on to you and show you round, and see you didn't fret and all the rest of it. are you wanting a crony, temporary or otherwise? then here i am at your service. link an arm and we'll parade the place. i guess by the time we've finished there's not much you won't know about the villa camellia."
"have you been here long?" asked irene, accepting the proffered arm with alacrity, and submitting to be led away by her cicerone.
"just a year. cried myself to a puddle when i first came, but i like it now. i didn't realize who you were when you first arrived, or i'd have given you a tip or two straight away. thank goodness you're fairly in favor with rachel at any rate. any one who starts by offending her has a bad term. i don't envy mabel hughes. that girl will get a few eye-openers before she's much older, and serve her right. she rooms with you? well, i'm sorry for you. i wish there was a spare bed in our dormitory, but we're full up to overflowing. now then, i've brought you out by the side door to show you what we consider the best view of the garden. ah, i thought it would make your eyes pop out! it's some view, isn't it?"
the garden of the villa camellia was certainly one of the greatest assets of the school, and to irene, who had been transported straight from the desolation of a london suburb in january, it seemed like a vision of a different world. the long terrace,[33] with its marble balustrade, edged a high cliff that overtopped the sea, while at present the setting sun was lighting up the white houses of the distant outline of naples, and was touching the purple slopes of vesuvius with gold. pillars and archways formed a pergola, from which hung roses and festoons of the trumpetflower; from the groves near at hand came the sweet strong scent of orange blossoms, and the little favorites of an english spring, forget-me-nots, pink daisies, and pansies, lifted contented heads from the border below. in the basin of the great marble fountain white arum lilies were blooming, geraniums trailed from tall vases, and palms, bamboos, and other exotics backed the row of lemon trees at the end of the paved walk. here and there marble benches were arranged round tables in specially constructed arbors.
"these are our summer classrooms," explained peachy. "when it's blazingly hot we do lessons here early in the mornings, and it's ripping. no, we don't use them at this time of the year, because the marble is cold to sit upon, and the garden is damp really, although it looks so jolly. you should see it in a sirocco wind! you wouldn't want to have classes outside then, you bet! it's luck you're in the transition form. if you'd been one of miss rodger's elect eleven, or one of miss brewster's lambs, i'd have had to chum with you by stealth. i'd have managed it somehow, of course, to please dad, but it isn't done here openly. school etiquette is like[34] the law of the medes and persians. we keep to our own forms. hello! there's sheila yonge. sheila! if you can find any camellia buds that aren't playing tennis bring them along right here for a little powwow with irene."
"is she a 'buddy' yet?" whispered sheila.
"of course not! she's only been here a few hours. what a dear old silly you are. hunt up some of that crew all the same, and i'm yours forever. don't you understand the situation? well, irene's folks entertained dad in london and were just lovely to him—nursed him when he was sick and took him round the shows when he got well. he's been bursting with gratitude ever since, and he wrote and told me irene was coming here and i must pay her out—no, pay her back—pour coals of fire on her head—great scott, i'm getting my similes mixed! i mean give her a right down good time as far as i can, and make her think the villa camellia is a dandy place. twiggez-vous, chérie?"
"i twig!" laughed sheila. "i'll beat up all i can muster," and she ran lightly away along the terrace.
"a decent girl, though a little hard of comprehension," peachy nodded after her. "doesn't she look adorable in that blue tam-o'-shanter?"
"she's awfully pretty!" agreed irene readily.
"she'd be the beauty of the school if she'd any idea how to use her advantages," sighed peachy. "give me her complexion and that classical nose and—well, i guess i'd blaze out into a cinema star[35] before i'd done with life. i hope she won't be all day raking a few girls together. she's not what you'd call quick. i've misjudged her. here she comes with half a dozen at least—and, oh, no, sheila! you don't mean to say you've brought candy? well, you are a sport! let's squat under the mimosa tree and hand it round."
the little group of peachy's favorite friends who settled themselves under the yellow mimosa bush to suck taffy and watch the flaming sunset were all afterwards intimately bound up with irene's school career. each was such a distinct personality that she sorted them out fairly accurately on that first evening, and decided the particular order in which they would rank in her affections.
there was jess cameron, a jolly scottish lassie. she rolled her r's when she spoke, and was a trifle matter-of-fact and practical, but was evidently the dependable anchor of the rest of the scatter-brained crew, the one who made the most sensible suggestions, and to whom—though they teased her a little and called her "grannie"—they all turned in the end for help and advice. jess was slightly out of her element in a southern setting. her appropriate background was moorland and heather and gray loch, and driving clouds and a breeze with fine mist in it, that would make you want to wrap a plaid round your shoulders and turn to the luxury of a peat fire. quite unconsciously she suggested all these things. peachy once described her as a living in[36]carnation of one of scott's novels, for she was steeped in old traditions and legends and superstitions, and could tell tales in the gloaming that sent eerie shivers down the spines of her listeners, or would recite ballads with a swing that took one back to the days of wandering minstrels. she was not a girl to make a fuss over anybody, and she did not greet irene with the least effusion, but her plain "if you're a friend of peachy's i'm glad to see you," was genuine, and better than any amount of gush. jess undoubtedly had her faults; she was what her chums called "too cock-sure," and she was apt to be severe in her judgments, flashing into the righteous wrath of one whose standards are high, but her very imperfections were "virtues gane a-gley," and she was a considerable force in the molding of public opinion at the villa camellia.
if jess, calm, canny, and reliable, stood for the spirit of the north, attractive, persuasive, fascinating little delia watts represented the south. she came from california, and was as quick and bright as a humming-bird, constantly in harmless mischief, but seldom getting into any serious trouble. her highly strung temperament found school restrictions irksome, and she was apt to blaze out into odd pranks which in other girls might have met with sterner punishment. but miss morley had a soft corner for delia, and, though she did not exactly favor her, she certainly made allowances for her excitability and her strongly emotional disposition.[37]
"delia's like a marionette—always dancing to some hidden string," the teacher remarked once to miss rodgers. "she mayn't be strong-minded but she's immensely warm-hearted, and if we can only pull the love-string she'll act the part we want. you can't force her into prim behavior; she's as much a child of nature as the birds, and if you clip her wings altogether you take away from her the very gift that perhaps god meant her to use. let me have the handling of the little sky-rocket, and i'll do my best to keep her within bounds, but she's not the disposition to 'be made an example of' or to be set on the 'stool of repentance.' five minutes with delia in private is worth more than a long public admonition. you've only to look at her face to know her type."
and miss rodgers, who stood no nonsense from really naughty and turbulent girls, yielded in this case, and left the exclusive management of delia in the hands of her partner.
of the seven damsels who sat under the yellow feathery flowers of the mimosa bush, three of them—peachy, jess, and delia—talked so hard and continuously that none of the others had a chance to chip in with anything more than an occasional yes or no. irene realized in a vague way that esther cartmel was plain and stodgy looking, but that every now and then a world of light suddenly flashed into her eyes, and transfigured her for the brief moment; that sheila yonge giggled at all peachy's remarks,[38] and that mary fergusson was a pale and weak copy of jess, and slavishly followed her lead in everything. it was the seventh member of the little party, however, who particularly attracted her attention. lorna carson was quiet, probably from sheer lack of opportunity to speak, but her pale face was interesting and her dark eyes met irene's with a curious questioning glance. it was almost as if she were asking "have we known each other before?" irene could not help looking at her, and ransacking the side cupboards of her memory to try to light upon some forgotten clew as to why the face should seem half familiar.
"have i seen her in london? or is she like some one else? no, i can't fix her at all. surely i must have dreamed about her," mused irene, while aloud she said, almost as if compelled to speak:
"have you been long at school here? are you english, or american, or colonial, or what?"
"a little bit of anything you like," smiled lorna. "rachel gets very muddled about me. i've such a sneaking weakness for naples that i believe she thinks i'm an italian at heart. that's a crime rachel absolutely can't forgive. 'foreign' is the last word in her vocabulary."
"so i gathered when she made me take that oath. i suppose she's head girl and that's why she rules the roost? is she decent or does she keep you petrified? i don't know whether i'm expected to[39] say 'bow-wow,' or to listen in respectful humility when she deigns to notice me."
"you'd better not have any 'bow-wows' with rachel," broke in peachy, "though you just jolly well have to wag your tail the way she wants. she's not bad on the whole, but rather a tyrant, and it would do her all the good in the world if some day somebody had the courage to knock sparks out of her. we do what we can in a mild way," (here the other chuckled) "but she's got the ears of both miss rodgers and miss morley, and if you go on the rampage against her you only land yourself in a scrape. of course, for purposes of protection the transition girls have to unite and——"
"peachy! take care!" exclaimed jess warningly.
peachy blushed crimson under her freckles.
"i wasn't telling anything!" she retorted. "i suppose irene——"
"do shut up!"
"well agnes said herself——"
"it doesn't matter what agnes said."
"she's fixed——"
"peachy proctor, if you blab like this you'll be tarred and feathered. girl alive, can't you keep a still tongue in your head? if you'd lived in the middle ages you'd have ended your days in a dungeon!"
jess spoke hotly, and, by the general scandalized look on the faces of the others, irene judged that luckless peachy must have been on the verge of betraying some secret. she tactfully turned the conver[40]sation with a remark upon the beauty of the sunset, and the clanging of the garden bell opportunely broke up the gathering, and sent the girls hurrying helter-skelter along the terrace in the direction of the house. irene paused for a moment to look back at the sea and the sky, and the distant twinkling lights, and to curtsy to the crescent moon that hung like a good omen in the dome of blue. there was a scent of fragrant lemon blossoms in the air, and she trod fallen rose petals under her feet. suddenly a remembrance of the desolation of miss gordon's garden in a february fog swept across her mental vision. whatever trials she might encounter here—and she did not expect her new life to be absolute paradise—the environment of this school in the south was perfect and would make up for many disadvantages.
"give me sunshine and flowers and i'll always worry on somehow," she murmured, plucking a little crimson rose, and tucking it into her dress for a mascot, then ran with flying footsteps under the orange trees to catch up with her companions, who were already mounting the marble steps that led to the villa camellia.
