THE COMPACT
"DEAR IRMA," wrote Marjorie, the moment she reached her desk,
"will you meet me across the street from school this afternoon?
I have something very important to say to you.
"MARJORIE."
She wrote similar notes to Muriel Harding, Susan Atwell and Jerry Macy,
managing in spite of the watchful eyes of Miss Merton to convey them,
through the medium of willing hands, to her schoolmates. This done, she
made a valiant effort to dismiss her personal affairs from her thoughts
and settled down to her lessons. The first period in the afternoon was
now her study hour, due to the change she had made in her geometry
recitation.
Marjorie managed to study diligently for at least twenty minutes, on the
definitions in geometry given out by Miss Nelson as an advance lesson.
Then her attention flagged. She found herself wondering what she had
better do in regard to asking Constance to release her from her promise.
She was sure Connie would do it. Then, if Mary could be coaxed to listen
to her, she would---- Marjorie took a deep breath of sheer dismay. Of
what use would it be to plan to help Mignon find her better self, then
deliberately turn the one girl who liked her against her by relating
her past misdeeds? Here indeed was a problem. She knitted her brows in
troubled thought over this new knot in the tangle. One thing she was
resolved upon, however. She would open her heart to Connie. Perhaps she
might be able to suggest a satisfactory adjustment.
The afternoon dragged interminably to the perplexed sophomore and she
hailed the ringing of the closing bell with thankfulness. She had caught
distant glimpses of Mary during the session and in each instance had
seen her in conversation with the French girl. Mignon was losing no
time. That was certain.
As Marjorie rose from her seat to leave the study hall she had half a
mind to wait just outside the door for Mary. Then a flash of wounded
pride held her back. Mary would undoubtedly pass out with Mignon. If she
spoke to her chum, she was almost sure to be rebuffed. She could imagine
just how delighted Mignon would look at her discomfiture. Unconsciously
lifting her head, Marjorie left the study hall without so much as a
backward glance.
Outside the door she encountered Jerry Macy.
"Your note said, 'Wait across the street,' but this is a lot better,"
greeted Jerry. "Let's hurry and get our wraps. Irma and Susie will
probably steer straight for your locker. I haven't seen Muriel to speak
to this afternoon, but she'll be on the scene, I guess. The sooner we
collect the sooner we'll hear what's on your mind. I can just about tell
you what you're going to say, though."
"Then you're a mind-reader," laughed Marjorie. Nevertheless, a quick
flash rose to her face at Jerry's significant speech.
"I can add two and two, anyhow," asserted Jerry.
True to Jerry's prediction, three curious young women stood grouped in
front of Marjorie's locker, impatiently awaiting her arrival.
"Wait until we are outside, girls. I'll be ready in a jiffy." Marjorie
slipped into her raincoat and pulled her blue velour hat over her curls.
"We can't talk here. Miss Merton is likely to wander down, and then you
know what will happen."
"Oh, bother Miss Merton!" grumbled Jerry. "I can stand anything she says
and live. Still, I don't blame you, Marjorie. It tickles her to pieces
to get a chance to snap at you. Now if Mignon La Salle wanted to sing a
solo in front of her locker at the top of her voice, Miss Merton would
encore it."
Susan Atwell giggled. "I can just hear Mignon lifting up her voice in
song with Miss Merton as an appreciative audience."
The quartette thoughtlessly echoed her merriment. So intent were they
upon their own affairs that they did not notice the two girls who were
almost hidden behind an open locker at the end of the room. The black
eyes of one of them gleamed with rage. She turned to the fair-haired
girl at her side with a gesture which said more plainly than words, "You
see for yourself." The other nodded. Mignon laid a finger on her lips.
Then noiselessly as two shadows they flitted through the open door
without having been observed by the group at the other end.
For the moment Marjorie's back had been turned toward that end of the
room. She whirled about just too late to see Mignon and Mary as they
hurried away. Unusually sensitive to impressions, she had perhaps felt
their presence, for she asked abruptly, "Girls, have you seen Mary? She
can't have gone, for I'm sure I left the study hall before she did. I
ought to wait for her, but I don't know what to do." She glanced
irresolutely about her. Then, her pride again coming to her rescue, she
said, "Never mind. Suppose we go on. Perhaps I'd better not try to see
her now, because I must tell you my plan and I--well--I can't--if she is
with us."
Muriel Harding elevated her eyebrows in surprise. Of the four girls who
had received Marjorie's notes, she alone had no suspicion of the purpose
which had brought them together.
Five pairs of bright eyes scanned the street across from the school
building as the little party came down the wide stone steps.
"The coast is clear," commented Jerry. "Now do tell us what's the
matter, Marjorie. No, wait a minute." Jerry fumbled energetically in a
small leather bag. "Hooray! Here's a real life fifty-cent piece! I can
see it vanishing in the shape of five sundaes, at ten cents per eat. We
can't go to Sargent's. They cost fifteen----"
"I've a quarter," insinuated Irma.
"All contributions thankfully received," beamed Jerry. "On to Sargent's!
We'll talk about the weather until we get there. It's been such a
lovely day," she grimaced. "If it rains much more we'll have to do as
they do in Spain."
"What do they do in Spain?" Susan Atwell rose to the bait, despite a
warning poke from Irma.
"They let it rain," grinned Jerry. "Aren't you an innocent child?"
Well pleased with her success in putting over this time-worn joke on one
more victim, Jerry continued with a lively stream of nonsense that
lasted during the brief walk to Sargent's.
Once seated about a small round table at the back of the room, which
from long patronage they had come to look upon almost as their own, an
expectant murmur went the round of the little circle as Marjorie leaned
forward a trifle and began in a low, earnest tone. "Girls, I am going to
ask you to do something for me that perhaps you won't wish to do. All of
you know what happened last year to Connie and me. You know, too, that
if anyone has good reason to cut Mignon La Salle's acquaintance, we
would be justified in doing it. I was awfully surprised to see her come
into the study hall this morning, and I said to myself that aside from
bowing to her if I met her on the street, I would steer clear of her.
But since then something has happened to make me change my mind. Mary
wishes Mignon for a friend, and so----"
"What a little goose!" interrupted Jerry disgustedly. "I beg your
pardon, Marjorie, but I can't help saying it."
"This _is_ news!" exclaimed Muriel Harding. "Come to think of it, I
_did_ see your friend Mary walking into geometry with Mignon, Marjorie.
Why don't you enlighten her on the subject of Mignon and her doings?"
"That's just it." Marjorie repeated briefly what she had said to the
others at noon. "I'm going to Gray Gables to see Constance before I go
home," she continued, addressing the group. "You see, it's like this.
Even if Connie says I may tell Mary everything, will it be quite fair to
Mignon? And now I'm coming to the reason I asked you to come here with
me. Sometimes when a girl has done wrong and been hateful and no one
likes her, another girl comes along and begins to be friendly with her.
That makes the girl who has done wrong feel ashamed of herself and then
perhaps she resolves to be more agreeable because of it."
"Not Mignon, if you mean her," muttered Jerry.
"I do mean Mignon," was Marjorie's grave response. "Every girl has a
better self, I'm sure, but if she doesn't know it she will never find it
unless someone helps her. We've never even stopped to consider whether
Mignon had any good qualities. We've judged her for the dishonorable
things she has done. I can't help saying that I don't like her very
well. You can't blame me, either. Still, if we are going to be sophomore
sisters we must all stand together." She glanced appealingly about her
circle, but on each young face she read plain disapproval.
"You might as well try to carry water in a sieve as to reform Mignon,"
shrugged Muriel Harding.
"You can't tame a wildcat," commented Susan Atwell.
"Look here, Marjorie," burst forth Jerry Macy. "We know that you are the
dearest, nicest girl ever, but you are going to waste your time if you
try to go exploring for Mignon's better self. She never had one. If you
try to be nice to her she'll just take advantage of your goodness and
make fun of you behind your back. Let me tell you something. You know
Miss Elkins, who sews for people. Well, she's at our house to-day. She
is making some silk blouses for me, and when I went upstairs to the
sewing-room for a fitting to-day she asked me if Mignon was in school.
Her sister is the housekeeper at the La Salle's and she told Miss Elkins
that Mignon was expelled from boarding school because she wouldn't pay
attention to the rules. She was threatened with dismissal twice, and the
other night she coaxed a lot of the girls to slip out of the dormitory
and go to the city to the theatre without a sign of a chaperon. One of
the girls had a key to the front door and she lost it. They didn't get
home until after one o'clock, and then they couldn't get into the
dormitory. The night watchman finally had to let them in and he reported
them. She and two others were expelled because they planned the affair.
I don't know what happened to the rest of them. Anyway, that's why our
dear Mignon is with us once more. I only wish that girl hadn't lost the
key." Jerry's face registered her disgust.
"I don't believe Mother would like to have me associate with Mignon."
This from gentle Irma Linton, who was usually the soul of toleration.
"And you, too, Irma!" was Marjorie's reproachful cry. "Then there isn't
much use is asking you girls to help me."
This was too much for the impulsive Jerry.
"Don't look at us like that. As though you had lost your last friend.
Just let me tell you, you haven't. I take it all back. I'll promise to
go on a hunting expedition for Mignon's better self any old time you
say."
"Sieves _have_ been known to hold water," acknowledged Muriel, not to be
outdone by Jerry's burst of loyalty.
"And wildcats have sometimes become household pets," added Susan with
her infectious giggle.
"So have mothers been known to change their minds," put in Irma. "I'm
ashamed of myself for being a quitter before I've even heard your plan."
Marjorie's dark eyes shone with affection. "You are splendid," she
praised with a little catch in her voice. "I can't help telling you now.
After all, it isn't a very great plan, but it's the best I could think
of just now, and this is it. Mother said I might give a party for Mary
when she first came to live with us, but I wished to wait until she got
acquainted with the girls in school. Then Connie gave her dance. So I
thought it would be nice to have mine in about two weeks, after we were
settled in our classes and didn't have so much to worry us. But now I've
changed my mind. I'm going to give my party next week and I shall invite
Mignon to it You girls can help me by being nice to her and making her
have a pleasant evening. If we are really determined to carry out our
plan we will have to invite her to our parties and luncheons, too, and
ask her to share our good times. The only way we can help her is to make
her one of us. If we draw away from her she will never be different. She
will just become more disagreeable and some day we might be very sorry
we didn't do our best for her."
The eloquence of Marjorie's plea had its effect on her listeners.
"I guess you are on the right track," conceded Jerry Macy warmly. "I am
willing to try to be a busy little helper. We might call ourselves the
S. F. R. M.--Society For Reforming Mignon, you know."
This proposal evoked a ripple of laughter.
"Irma, do you suppose your mother wouldn't like you to--to--be friendly
with Mignon?" asked Marjorie anxiously. "We mustn't pledge ourselves to
anything to which our mothers might say 'no.'"
"I think I can fix that part of it," said Irma slowly. "If I explain
things to Mother, she'll understand."
"Perhaps we all ought to talk it over with our mothers," suggested
Susan.
"I guess we'd better," nodded Jerry. "But what about Connie? Suppose she
shouldn't be in favor of the S. F. R. M.? You couldn't blame her much if
she wasn't."
"I'm going to see her to-night, after dinner. I intended to go to Gray
Gables after school, but you see me here instead," returned Marjorie.
"I am almost sure she'll say 'yes.'"
"How are we going to begin our reform movement?" asked Muriel Harding.
"That's what I'd like to know. Who is willing to be the first martyr to
the cause? Let me tell you right now, I'd just as soon make friends with
a snapping turtle. Only the snapper would probably be more polite."
"You are a wicked Jerry," reproved Marjorie smilingly, "and you know you
don't mean half you say."
"Maybe I do, and maybe I don't. Anyhow, on in the cause of Mignon! I
feel like one of the knights of old who buckled on his armor and went
forth to the fray with his lady's colors tied to his sleeve, or his
lance, or some of his belongings. I've forgotten just what the style
was. We are gallant knights, going forth to battle, wearing Marjorie's
colors, and Mignon will have to look out or she'll be reformed before
she has time to turn up her nose and shrug her shoulders."
"Suppose we start by being as nice to her as we can in school
to-morrow," proposed Irma Linton thoughtfully. "If she meets us in the
same spirit, maybe something will happen that will show us what to do
next."
"That wouldn't be a bad idea," declared Susan Atwell. "I sit near her,
so I'll be the first one to hold out the olive branch. But if you hear
something drop on the floor with a dull, sickening thud, you'll know
that my particular variety of olive branch was rejected."
"Somehow, I have an idea she won't be so very scornful," said Marjorie
hopefully.
"Being expelled from boarding school may have a soothing effect on her,"
agreed Jerry grimly. "I suppose it really isn't very knightly to say
snippy things about a person one intends to reform."
"I think you are right, Jerry," broke in Marjorie with sweet
earnestness. "We must try to think and say only kind things of Mignon if
we are to succeed." Taking in the circle of girls with a quick, bright
glance, she asked: "Then you are agreed to my plan? It is really a
compact?"
Four emphatic nods answered her questions.
"Hurrah for the S. F. R. M.!" exclaimed Jerry. "Long may it wave! Only
there's one glorious truth that I feel it my duty to impress on your
minds. The way of the reformer is hard."