the morning following gwen's promotion to the fifth form was wet, one of those hopelessly wet october days when the grey sky and the dripping trees and the sodden grass and the draggled flowers all seem to combine to remind us that summer, lovely, gracious summer, has gone with the swallows and left her fickle stepsister autumn in her stead. it had been raining heavily all night, and it was pouring hard when nellie placed the coffee pot and the porridge on the table and rang the breakfast bell.
"it's an atrocious, abominable morning!" grunted gwen, peering disconsolately through the window into the damp garden. "it's sheer cruelty to be expected to turn out and tramp two miles through the mud. we oughtn't to have to go to school when it rains."
"wet at seven, fine at eleven!" chirped beatrice at the coffee pot.
"it's all very well for you to be cheerful and quote proverbs—you haven't to go out yourself, madam bee!" grumbled gwen. "i wonder how you'd like it if—"
"oh, gwen, don't whine! come and get breakfast," interrupted winnie. "it's five-and-twenty to eight, and i've a strong suspicion the clock's late."
"it is," remarked lesbia calmly, pausing with her
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porridge spoon suspended midway between plate and mouth. "stumps put it back ten minutes last night when father wasn't looking. i saw him."
a chorus of united indignation followed her information, each member of the family trying to bolt breakfast and scold the offender at the same time.
"we've only five minutes. oh, you naughty boy!" shrieked winnie.
"i didn't want to go to bed—i meant to put it on again this morning first thing—i did, honest," protested giles, otherwise known as "stumps".
"lesbia, why couldn't you say sooner?" fretted gwen.
"only just remembered."
"and the porridge is so hot i've burned my mouth!" wailed basil.
"you haven't a moment to waste!" urged beatrice. "have you all got your boots on? i shall tell father what you've done, giles, as soon as he comes downstairs."
even the loss of ten minutes was a serious consideration to those members of the gascoyne family who were bound for school. skelwick was such an out-of-the-way place that they had quite a journey to get to stedburgh, the seaside town where rodenhurst was situated. first they had to walk two miles along a very exposed country road to the village of north ditton, where they could catch the motor omnibus that would take them the remaining four miles into stedburgh, and then there was a further walk of at least ten minutes before they reached the school. the bus always started with the utmost promptitude, so it
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was a daily anxiety to leave home punctually and not be obliged to run the last half mile. on this particular morning there was more than the usual scramble to get off. at the last moment gwen could not find her galoshes, and remembered that she had broken the rib of her umbrella some days before, and had forgotten to mention the fact and ask beatrice to have it mended.
"you're the most tiresome girl!" scolded the harassed elder sister. "why couldn't you tell me and i'd have sent it to johnson's last night? now i suppose i shall have to lend you mine, and very likely you'll go and break that too!"
"i don't want yours!" snapped gwen, tucking her hair inside her mackintosh and putting on her "stormy-weather" cap. "i wouldn't risk smashing it for a five-pound note. i'll go without!" and snatching her satchel of books she rushed after the others, who had already started.
the rain was driving furiously, and the road was full of little running rivers of yellow mud. the strong wind made gwen's eyes smart and water, and she was obliged to hurry to make up for lost time; so when she arrived at north ditton she was a breathless, rather pitiful object, and most decidedly cross. the omnibus was so full that she was compelled to take lesbia on her knee and to sit wedged between a very fat wheezy old farmer and a market gardener, who nursed a parcel of plants.
"it's rather fun, isn't it?" laughed lesbia, graciously accepting the rose that her neighbour offered her. (somehow people always gave things to lesbia.)
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"more fun for you than for me!" growled gwen. "i wish you knew how heavy you are!"
a bad start does not make a good preparation for the rest of the day, and gwen marched into the fifth form room that morning in no conciliatory frame of mind. she was quite prepared to be ill received, so she thought she would meet possible coldness by showing a defiant attitude. it was an extremely foolish move, for it brought about the very state of affairs she anticipated. several of the nicer girls in the form had half repented their wrath of yesterday, and were ready not only to treat her kindly, but to influence the others in her favour. when they saw her enter, however, with a "don't care" scowling air and walk to her desk, without even looking in their direction, they decided that she was an ill-conditioned, disagreeable girl, and that they would not trouble their heads about her. instead, therefore, of going and speaking to her as they had intended, they let her severely alone. as a rule, if we go through life expecting slights and dislike, we get what we look for: the self-made martyr can find stake and faggots waiting round every corner. gwen raged inwardly at the neglect of her classmates, but she did not realize in the least that it was partly her own fault. she sat all the morning with a thundercloud on her face, hurrying out of the room at the interval and eating her lunch alone in a corner of the gymnasium.
"how are you getting on in the fifth?" whispered lesbia, who ran up for a moment to sympathize.
"badly," groaned gwen. "they're boycotting me. of course the fourth won't have anything to do with
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me now; so i'm like mahomet's coffin, swung between heaven and earth! it's not pleasant, i assure you."
"i should think not. i wish i could do anything."
"you can't. go back and play basket-ball."
it was not rodenhurst etiquette for seniors to talk to juniors, so gwen, mindful even in her forlorn state of her new dignity as a member of the upper school, could not indulge in the luxury of a chat with lesbia. she wandered down the corridor, read the time sheets and the announcements on the notice boards, peeped into several empty classrooms, and was glad for once when the bell rang. at one o'clock things were no better. she was given a new place at the dinner-table and had to sit between rachel hunter and edith arnold, both of whom behaved as if unaware of her presence, and talked to each other across her as though she were non-existent. when she asked for the salt (rather shortly, certainly) edith only stared and did not pass it. by the end of the meal gwen began to feel the situation was getting on her nerves. she had been fairly popular in the upper fourth, so the change was the more unpleasant.
"i'm not going to give in, though," she thought. "i believe what they want is to make me ask miss roscoe to move me down again. well, they'll find themselves mistaken, that's all! i'll stay in the upper school if nobody speaks to me till next midsummer, and if i have to stop up half the night slogging away at my work!"
"how cross that gwen gascoyne looks!" whispered hilda browne to iris watson.
"yes, she doesn't seem to want to know us, does she?"
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"she needn't, i'm sure. i think she's horrid!"
it was still raining and impossible to go into the playground, so gwen strolled into the empty classroom, and for lack of anything else to do began arranging and rearranging the contents of her desk. she had not been there more than five minutes when the door opened and netta goodwin, one of her new form-mates, entered, humming a tune. she glanced at gwen, went to her own desk, made a pretence of trying to find a book, sat whistling for a moment or two, then finally turned towards gwen.
"well, how do you like being a senior?" she asked half mockingly.
"too soon to tell yet," replied gwen cautiously. "i shall know better at the end of a week."
"you've not had a very charming reception so far, have you? i saw how rachel and edith were behaving at dinner."
"i don't care!" snapped gwen. "i don't want to talk to them, thanks! the form can please itself whether it's friendly or leaves me alone as far as i'm concerned."
netta whistled softly. there was a rather inscrutable expression on her face.
"all the same i suppose you don't always want to go on being a kind of leper and outlaw? not very interesting, i should say, to come to school every day and speak to nobody!"
gwen was silent. she had no argument to advance.
"they're annoyed with you just at present for being moved into our form, but they can't keep it up long. in a little while they'll feel accustomed to you and
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you'll get on all right. then the question is, are you going to belong to the saints or the sinners?"
"what do you mean?" asked gwen.
"we're all one or other here. we call hilda browne and iris watson and louise mawson and rachel hunter and edith arnold and a few more 'the saints'."
"nothing very saintly about them that i can see!" sniffed gwen.
"well, it depends on your standards. perhaps they thought they behaved like saints at dinner."
"more like pharisees! which are you?"
netta's brown eyes twinkled.
"i leave you to guess!" she replied sagely. "i'm not stiff and stand-off like some of them are, at any rate. if you'd care to take a walk down the corridor, i'll go with you."
a stroll with anyone was better than sitting alone in the classroom; it was still only two o'clock, and there was half an hour to get through before afternoon school began. gwen was not averse to exploring the upper corridor, for as a junior it had been forbidden ground to her. she and netta went into the sixth form room, the senior french and german room, and even looked inside the teachers' room, finding nobody there.
"miss roscoe's private sitting-room is at the end of the passage," said netta. "she's down in the library, so if you like to take a peep, you can."
the spirit of curiosity strongly urged gwen to see what a headmistress's private study was like, and thinking themselves perfectly safe, the two girls
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entered, and began eagerly to scan the pictures, the ornaments, the photographs, and the various objects which were spread about on desk and tables. it was a pretty, tasteful room, with choice prints from the old masters in carved oak frames, and pots of ferns and flowers, and handsomely bound books, and curios from foreign lands. the girls moved softly about, examining first one thing and then another with increasing interest.
"oh, do look at this exquisite little case of butterflies! i never saw anything so perfect!" said netta.
gwen was standing absorbed in contemplation of a stained-wood blotter. she wheeled round, and as she did so her elbow knocked a parcel that had been placed on the corner of the desk, and sent it flying on to the floor. there was a smashing sound like the breaking of china, and at that exact moment somebody entered the room. hopelessly caught, the two girls turned to face the newcomer. it was not miss roscoe—that was one thing to be thankful for—but it was emma, the housemaid, which was quite bad enough. she looked at them as if she knew herself to be mistress of the situation, then waxed eloquent.
"i should just like to know what you two's doing here?" she demanded. "you've no business in this room—none at all. and you've gone and smashed that parcel as is only come five minutes ago from the china shop. i could hear it break. my word! what will miss roscoe say to this?"
"she mustn't know!" gasped netta. "emma, you must promise us faithfully not to tell you've found us here."
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"me not tell? and what for, please? why should i screen you?"
"we shall get into such an awful scrape!" pleaded gwen.
"you should have thought of that before you came!"
"oh, emma!" urged netta. "we can't, we daren't let miss roscoe know. she'd be so fearfully angry. she might even expel us!"
"and what am i to say about this parcel you've broken? you don't suppose i'm going to take the blame of that on my shoulders! no, thank you!"
"the cat," murmured netta.
"cat, indeed!" repeated emma scornfully. "that's too old a story to take in miss roscoe; besides which, there's not a cat in the house. she hates 'em. you'll just have to own up, and serve you both right for meddling."
"is it badly broken, i wonder?" sighed gwen, feeling the unfortunate parcel carefully. "it seems to be a box."
"yes, but what's inside the box is smashed. you can hear the bits rattle when you shake it," returned emma smartly. "it's her new afternoon tea set, i'll be bound. she told me she was going to order one from parker's."
"there's parker's name on the label," agreed gwen despondently.
"yes, and if you think—"
"look here, i've got an idea," interrupted netta. "you said the box only arrived about five minutes ago, so miss roscoe can't possibly know that it's
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come yet. if we could get it taken back to the shop and ask parker's to send some more, and we pay for it, she need never know."
"a pretty idea!" snorted emma.
"oh, it would be grand!" exclaimed gwen, grasping at any way out of the dreadful predicament.
"you'll help us, emma, won't you?" entreated netta.
"not i! it's none of my business."
"but suppose it were worth your while? wouldn't half a crown buy you something nice?"
"nothing i'd care for."
"five shillings, then?"
emma's face showed signs of yielding.
"i don't want to get you into trouble if i can help it," she replied more gently. "i dare say parker's would replace the things if you was willing to pay for them, and nothing need be said. i'm not one for wanting scenes, and a scene there'd be if miss roscoe found her set broken. she's a sharp tongue, as i know to my cost."
"then, emma, will you take away the box now, and hide it somewhere, and we'll meet you in the pantry at four o'clock, and you can give it to us, and we'll take it ourselves to parker's, and ask them to send some more china to-night. we'll bring you the five shillings to-morrow morning. it shall be a present from us both, and thank you so much for helping us! you promise you won't tell? well, that's a weight off our minds! come, gwen, we'll scoot!"
