"HILTON VOLUNTEERS."
After Katherine was dismissed, Jennie was sternly reprimanded for
her infraction of rules, cautioned against future disobedience, a
penalty imposed upon her, and then told she might go back to her
duties.
She moved slowly to the door, stood there a moment irresolute, a
thoughtful look on her young face; then deliberately turned and
walked straight back to her principal.
"Prof. Seabrook," she began, "I have another confession to make to
you, and I'm willing to take any punishment you may think I
deserve. I do this because I want you to know the kind of girl
Miss Minturn is, for--I think you do not half appreciate her. I've
loved her from the first minute I saw her in this room with you,
the day she came; she makes everybody love her, and I've often
wondered if it is her Christian Science that helps her to be so--
so dear and true. I've tried to make her tell me something about
it, but she wouldn't--she always says you told her not to talk
about it to the students. I asked her last week to let me go with
her to her service on Sunday. But she said no, unless I would get
permission from you. But--I did go," Jennie continued, growing
scarlet to her brows, yet looking the man unflinchingly in the
eyes. "I started out early and was there when she came into the
hall, and walked home with her afterwards. She didn't spare me;
she told me I had done wrong and read me a lecture about spoiling
my record by breaking rules. I want you to know this, because some
one may have seen us come out of the Christian Science hall
together and might think she took me there; but she never breaks a
rule, and she isn't a bit priggish about it, either. She tried her
best to make me go back to my room before the 'racket' last night,
and I just want you to know that she's true blue, through and
through."
Jennie looked very spirited and pretty with her flushed cheeks and
glowing eyes as she faced her principal, and, without flinching a
hair, told her simple, straightforward story in the presence of
the other teachers.
Prof. Seabrook was fond of the girl, for she possessed many
lovable qualities and was very faithful in the performance of her
duties. If he had been inclined to be severe, because of her other
offense, his heart was very tender towards her now; for he fully
appreciated her honesty and the moral courage she had manifested
in taking this stand for Katherine.
He was uncomfortably conscious, too, that his own attitude towards
Miss Minturn had not been quite considerate. He recognized her
loveliness of character, her excellence in scholarship, her
conscientious deportment; in fact, he had no fault whatever to
find with her, except that she was a Christian Scientist, and the
remembrance of this always stirred him, in the most unaccountable
manner, whenever he came in contact with her.
He regarded Jennie thoughtfully for a moment after she concluded,
then a gleam of amusement crept into his eyes and his lips
twitched with repressed mirth, as he dryly observed:
"Well, Jennie, it seems that you are making quite a record for
yourself by breaking rules. I hope there will be no occasion for
further self-condemnation after this. You may go now."
The girl was glad to go, and was "scared stiff," as she affirmed
afterward, when she came to think over what she had said. But her
desire to have justice done Katherine had made her forget herself,
for the time, in defending her.
Still, as was characteristic, her spirits quickly rebounded, and
she flew away to find some of the sophs and reel off a graphic
report of what had just occurred in the principal's study.
Consternation at once took possession of some of their number, for
it was evident that, even though Prof. Seabrook and the teachers
were ignorant of the names of the guilty ones, Miss Minturn had
recognized the ringleaders, and so their supposed secret was out.
A private meeting of all concerned was immediately called, and the
matter thoroughly discussed.
"So Miss Minturn claims it would 'rob us of our moral
responsibility' if she should give us away!" remarked Rose Tuttle,
a buxom girl of eighteen, with a roguish face and an independent
air. "That's a novel way of looking at it--isn't it, girls?--and
escaping the fate of a 'telltale,'" and the ringing laugh which
completed these remarks was echoed by several others.
"Puts us in a tight box, though," said Carrie Archer, another
merry sprite, as she gnawed the rubber on her pencil with a
thoughtful air.
"All the same, I think Katherine Minturn is O. K., and I'm ready
to make my best courtesy to her," gravely observed a girl who was
sitting beside her.
"Well, I begin to think she is rather fine myself, in spite of her
absurd Christian Science. But what are we going to do about this
affair?" inquired Miss Tuttle, with an impatient shrug of her
plump shoulders.
"Oh, let's fight it out," cried a shrill voice from a corner.
"That means let Miss Minturn fight it out," retorted Carrie
Archer, spiritedly.
"Well, she's game--she won't tell, and it will all die out of
itself, after a while."
"But that would leave a very uncomfortable sting behind--the sting
of cowardice," said Rose Tuttle, with very red cheeks. "I tell you
what, my dear fellow sophs," she went on, after an irresolute
pause, "if Miss Minturn had given us away to-day every mother's
daughter of us would have called her a 'spy' and a 'tattler.' But,
although she knows exactly as well as you and I do"--a chuckle of
mirth escaping her--"who tied those ropes to the doors, she has
just faced the professor and those teachers and practically told
them that she would not give us away."
"Why couldn't she have held her tongue altogether, then?" grumbled
a discontented voice.
"Good gracious, Nell! knowing what she did she couldn't keep mum
and let 'Wild Jen'--poor goosie! whose curiosity is always getting
her into some scrape or other--bear the whole brunt of it," Miss
Archer replied, with curling lips. "No, she has put us upon our
honor, and if we don't do the square thing I think she'll have a
right to call us--sneaks."
"Carrie, you're hitting out pretty straight from the shoulder,"
cried her friend Rose, with a short laugh.
"Well, maybe; but I didn't miss myself in the trial of my muscle,"
was the dry rejoinder.
There was much more talk after the same order, the ayes and nays
on the question of "open confession" being about equally divided;
while all began to feel that there wasn't quite as much fun as
they had anticipated to be gotten out of midnight escapades.
"Well, sophies, I'll tell you what I'm going to do," finally said
Miss Archer, breaking in upon the hubbub of voices, a look of
determination settling over her face, "but first I'll say what I'm
not going to do: I'm never going to hear it said that I forced
somebody else to stand in a gap that I hadn't the courage to fill.
I'm not going to sneak out of sight behind another to save myself.
I started this ball rolling and planned the details of the affair,
and, now, I am going straight to Prof. Seabrook and tell him so
and swallow the bitter pill he gives me with what grace I can. It
won't be sugar-coated, either. I won't give anyone else away, so
don't be afraid," she interposed in response to terrified
exclamations and frightened faces. "I'll just do the square thing
myself, and you know it is always the commanding officer who is
held responsible for leading his subordinates astray."
Miss Archer was the daughter of an ex-colonel, which will account
for her simile.
There was dead silence for a full minute after she ceased
speaking, and the faces in that quiet room would have been an
interesting study for a physiognomist.
Then Rose Tuttle sprang to her feet and held out her hand to her
friend.
"I wonder who is 'game' now?" she cried, in a ringing voice.
Miss Archer's eyes flashed with sudden inspiration.
"Here! give me a pencil, somebody; I've broken the point off
mine," she said, as she moved her chair to a table and drew a
blank sheet of paper towards her.
Half a dozen were handed her, and, selecting one, she continued:
"This is going to be a voluntary surrender. I'm not going to wait
to be summoned before my superior officer and 'given an
opportunity.'"
She wrote rapidly for a few minutes, while her companions regarded
her in curious silence.
"Hear now," she finally commanded, as she threw down her pencil,
and, lifting her paper with an impressive flourish, read:
"TO THE COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF AT HILTON: News of certain matters,
pending at headquarters, just received by scout. Wherefore this is
to certify that the undersigned planned and led the attack on West
Wing on the night of May the twentieth. In view of the demands of
honor, of admiration for, and the sentence menacing the valiant
party at present held as hostage, I hereby make confession, and
unconditional surrender, together with all munitions of war, and
also herewith beg absolution for subordinates.
"Signed. CAROLINE WEBSTER ARCHER, "Capt. Co. S, Hilton Volunteers,
U. S. A."
"How will that do, my brave company of sophomores?" she cried,
with laughing eyes, as she finished reading her effusion. "I'm
afraid it isn't quite up to the mark in military technicalities,
but, perhaps, it will answer our purpose."
"It isn't going to do at all, Carolina MIA," returned Rose Tuttle,
with an emphatic nod of her head. "If you assume that you were the
captain in the fracas, I certainly was first lieutenant, and I'm
going to stand by the cap. until the last gun is fired. Give, me
that paper."
It was passed to her, and in a clear, bold hand she wrote:
"The captain cannot be allowed to go to the front alone.
"Signed. ROSE ASHLEY TUTTLE, First Lieutenant Co. S, H. V., U. S.
A."
There were grave faces all about her as she read what she had
written and then pushed the paper from her.
Presently a voice remarked:
"Girls, good soldiers always follow their leader." Then another
figure glided to the table and a third signature was appended to
the document.
It was the "bugle call" that fired them all, and in less time than
it takes to record it, the name of every other girl in the room
was signed underneath, then inclosed in a bracket and the name
"Private Co. S, H. V., U. S. A." written outside of it, after
which the paper was passed back to Miss Archer.
"Company S, I'm proud of you!" she exclaimed, with crimson cheeks
and something very like tears in her eyes.
"I--I hope the professor won't think it is too--too flippant,"
some one suggested, in a doubtful tone.
"Do you suppose he will, Carrie?" queried Rose, turning to her
friend in sudden consternation.
Miss Archer flushed hotly.
"I--don't--know," she said, with a thoughtful pause between each
word. "I am sure I did not mean it to sound so. The idea came to
me to put it that way when I spoke of the 'commanding officer
being held responsible.' I'll tear it up, if you say so, and go
and tell him the whole story instead." And she held it up between
the thumb and forefinger of both hands as if to suit the act to
her words.
"No! no!" "Send it as it is!" "It's all right!" "He'll
understand!" cried several voices; though one weak sister
murmured, with a plaintive sigh: "I'll be glad when it's all
over."
"This having to face a 'court-martial' was overlooked in planning
the campaign, hey?" observed another, with a grimace.
"I don't care! It was fun to hear those teachers tugging at their
doors for dear life, and I have it from an eyewitness, when
Johnson cut Miss Craigis loose she keeled over in the most
undignified manner!" laughed a pert young miss, who was one of the
giddiest in the class. "And, oh!" she went on, breathlessly, "did
you see poor old Webb on the upper floor? It was perfectly
killing! She had on that startling palm-leaf kimono--her false
front had slipped down over one ear; she had her precious
herbarium under one arm, her bird cage in one hand, and a huge
hatbox in the other. She was frightened nearly out of her senses,
and demanded, right and left, 'Young ladies, where is the fire?
oh, where is the fire?'"
A merry shout greeted this graphic description, and it is to be
feared that some of the delinquents were not as deeply impressed
with the enormity of their recent insubordination as could have
been desired.
"Sh! sh! do hush, girls!" cried Miss Archer, waving her paper to
enjoin silence, "This will have to be nicely copied in ink, and
you'll all have to sign it again. And let me warn you," she added,
soberly, "you'd better keep pretty mum about last night, or we
will get a bigger pill than will be comfortable to swallow."
She seated herself at the table again and made a neat copy of her
document, after which the signatures were carefully appended, then
the meeting was dismissed, and the "captain" of the disorderly
sophomores went directly to Prof. Seabrook's study.
It was very nearly supper time, and she had reasoned that he would
issue an order, at the table, for the class to meet him in one of
the recitation rooms, in the near future, to give the guilty ones
an opportunity for confession; and her plan was to forestall this
summons with the paper she had prepared.
When, in response to her knock, he bade her "come in," it must be
confessed that she opened the door with fear and trembling; while
something in her bearing and the tense lines of her face at once
aroused a suspicion of the nature of her errand in the principal's
mind.
"Prof. Seabrook, I have been commissioned to hand you this
communication," she gravely said, as she laid, it on the table
before him.
"Ah! by whom were you 'commissioned,' Miss Archer?" he inquired,
his keen eyes searching her flushed face.
"By--by the parties whose names you will find signed to it."
"And what is the nature of the communication?"
"I--er--it will explain itself," replied the trembling emissary,
blushing furiously and averting her eyes.
"Very well; I will give it my earliest attention," the professor
returned, but eying the missive curiously.
"Thank you, sir," and, with a nervous bow, entirely at variance
with her habitual sang-froid, the girl hurried from the room, her
bounding heart causing her to pant as if she had been running a
race.
Prof. Seabrook waited until the door closed after her, then
unfolded the paper and began to read. But his face grew stern and
his brow heavily overcast as his glance hastily swept the page.
After reading it through and noting every signature, he began it
again, perusing it more carefully, and, gradually, a gleam of
amusement crept into his eyes; his stern features relaxed, and the
corners of his mouth twitched suggestively.
"The little mischief is game," he at length observed, "and this
document is a very clever stroke of business; though at first it
sounded rather pert, as if she were bound to make a joke of the
affair. But there is a straightforwardness and an appreciation of
Miss Minturn's position in it that rings true. Really, I begin to
think that girl is a power for good in the school, in spite of her
fanaticism and heresy. Hum!"--reading aloud--"'news of matters
pending at headquarters'--it traveled pretty fast; who was the
'scout,' I wonder? Ah! Jennie, of course; the little gossip! Well,
Miss Archer, you didn't waste any time before dispatching your
flag of truce, and you have rather a fine sense of honor
underneath your lawlessness, after all. So you are 'captain' of
your company of sophomores! I think we will rob you of your
commission and see how you will stand the discipline. 'Co. S,
Hilton Volunteers!' pretty good--pretty good!" and a light laugh
rippled over the man's lips. "And Miss Tuttle is 'first
lieutenant,'" he continued, "and gallantly came forward to share
the self-imposed mission of her friend 'to go to the front.'
There's pluck there, too; but you are a precocious pair--you two--
and keep one busy guessing what you will do next. All the same,
with the right check-rein, I believe you'll both make fine women,
and--the school would surely lose some of its spice without you."
He carefully refolded the quaint document, locking it in a drawer
of his desk, and the next moment the supper bell rang.
A meeting of the faculty was called for that evening, when the
communication from the mischief-makers was read and discussed;
and, in spite of their lawlessness, which demanded the imposition
of a penalty severe enough to insure immunity from future
ebullitions of the same nature, the originality and spirit
pervading it were thoroughly appreciated by all.
The following day, at dinner, Prof. Seabrook gravely announced
that he would meet the sophomore class at four-thirty, that
afternoon, in the "north recitation room," and every member was
ordered to be present.
There were some quaking hearts during the intervening hours, and
there were not a few anxious faces among the thirty-six sophomores
gathered in the appointed place, when the principal appeared upon
the scene and at once proceeded to business.
"Young ladies," he began, "I have summoned the entire class here
in order that those who are innocent of wrong may know that they
are no longer under the ban of suspicion, in connection with the
disgraceful escapade of Monday night; and, also, that those who
were guilty of complicity in it may acknowledge their offense in
their presence. Those of you who have made confession to that
effect may rise."
Fourteen of the class arose and stood with downcast faces,
awaiting what was to follow.
"Were there any other accomplices in the affair?" inquired the
principal, glancing around upon those who had remained seated.
No one responded or moved, and he then proceeded to arraign the
offenders in no light terms, and not one ever forgot the scathing
words that fell from his lips or the shame which followed his
vivid portrayal of their hoidenish behavior.
"And now," he said in conclusion, "for two weeks you will forfeit
your afternoon recreation hour, and pass it in this room with your
books, and with a monitor to preserve order. Miss Archer and Miss
Tuttle, who acknowledge having been the ringleaders, will be on
probation for the remainder of the year, and any further
infringement of rules will be followed by summary expulsion. I
will add"--and the professor's stern face relaxed visibly--"that
you all have saved yourselves much by your voluntary confession;
but the 'Hilton Volunteers' are here and now disbanded for all
time. Young ladies, you are dismissed."
Well, it was over, and heavy hearts grew lighter, though there
were some who were inclined to grumble over the severity of the
penalty.
Carrie Archer and Rose Tuttle made no talk whatever about the
matter. Both felt that they had had a narrow escape, and were
thankful, even under the sentence of "probation."
Of course, the whole affair was aired and freely discussed by the
entire school, and thus Katherine became somewhat conspicuous
because of her forced participation in it; while it was
interesting to observe how radically the attitude of almost
everyone changed towards her, the sophomores, particularly,
manifesting the greatest admiration for her.
Miss Archer and Miss Tuttle were the first to express their
appreciation of the stand she had taken in their behalf, and her
sweet reception of their overtures made them her stanch friends
for all time.
"I'll never sneer at Christian Scientists again," Rose afterwards
confided to her friend, "for if they are all as lovely and plucky
as she has shown herself, we can't have too many of them in the
world."