"ENOUGH IS AS GOOD AS A FEAST"
THE crew of the "Jolly Susan" did little work during the evening study
hour; Judith, especially, found that she could not keep her mind on her
tasks. This was the full flavour of life at a boarding-school, surely,
to break the rules, and creep down the corridor in the dark to eat
forbidden food! She even let her mind play round the food
itself--chicken, meringues! She could hardly wait for bedtime.
If Catherine had not been in the secret, she would have been amazed at
the swiftness with which her family went to bed. Josephine was usually
incorrigibly slow, and Sally May always needed reminding that the
devotion bell would ring in two minutes' time. To-night clothes were
neatly arranged ready for the morning, rooms were in impeccable order,
hair was properly brushed, and there was no mad rush to be at one's own
door when the fatal bell sounded.
At last "Lights out" bell rang and silence descended on South House.
Ten o'clock, and the prefects put out their lights, only the tiny red
fire-escape lamps shone dimly at intervals down the corridor. Eleven
o'clock, and the night watchman had creaked by on his way to East House.
The way was clear.
Out of bed slipped the conspirators. Judith's cheeks burned with
excitement as, obedient to orders, she put on her warmest kimono, and,
carrying mug and sofa pillow, followed Josephine and Jane to the
corridor.
Nancy and Sally May had already gone, Josephine informed her in a
piercing whisper, and Nancy had said to be _very_ careful of the boards
opposite Miss Marlowe's door because they sometimes squeaked horribly.
Stealthily in Indian file they crept down the corridor.
Horrors! The boards certainly did creak! Miss Marlowe's light was still
on! What if she should open her door!
Judith, with her eyes glued on the crack of light, clutched her kimono
more tightly as if to escape being seen, and in some inexplicable way
her mug slid from her cold fingers.
The fate of Sally May's party hung in the balance for just so long as it
takes a mug to fall to the ground, and Judith for a nightmare second
felt the bitterness of having betrayed her friends to the enemy; but
Jane, with a magical dexterity, caught the mug "on the fly" as Judith
described it later, and for the time being they were saved.
Judith's heart was still thumping from their narrow escape when they
joined the rest of the party in the common room at the head of the
stairs. The blinds had been pulled up to let in the pale moonlight, and
in the semi-darkness Judith could see five shadowy forms seated on their
pillows around the precious box.
"Are we all here?" said Sally May in a sepulchral whisper.
"We are--thanks to Jane," said Judith, and the episode of the mug was
told to appreciative listeners.
"Put on your flash, Nancy," commanded Sally May; "no one is going to
pass this door and we'll never manage to carve the chicken with this
miserable knife unless we have more light."
With infinite precautions the papers were unwrapped, and mouths began to
water as certain favorite goodies appeared.
"Who's going to carve?" asked Sally May surveying with a certain dismay
a plump brown bird and a seemingly inadequate pocketknife.
"Draw lots," suggested Rosamond.
"Uggledy wuggledy doo,
Rackety wackety boo,
Out goes you!"
"Here, Jane, you're it." And Jane lost no time in attacking her job.
"My children! what _do_ you think? Here's a jelly or a mousse or
something--it's all creamy and quivery, anyway, and we haven't any
spoons!"
"I asked you--" began Jane reproachfully.
"Yes, I know you did, but Mother never mentioned a jelly and I thought
spoons would make a noise."
"Well, we'll have to have some," said Nancy practically.
"Uggledy wuggledy doo,"
Judith felt in her bones she was going to be _it_. And she was.
"Let me go," said Nancy generously.
"No," said Judith, "Certainly _not_. Where'll I get spoons?"
"Oh, just collect what you can," said Sally May, handing round rolls
and sandwiches. "I've got a shoe-horn and a medicine spoon, and so has
Jane. Watch out for Miss Marlowe."
Fear and the desire to partake of the "eats" speeded Judith on her way,
and she lost no time in gathering up what utensils the "Jolly Susan"
could offer. Her thoughts flew to Catherine for a moment as she passed
her door and she wished their beloved captain could be with them. She
little knew how nearly her wish was fulfilled.
On the return journey as she hurried up the corridor, having safely
passed Miss Marlowe's door, she suddenly heard a soft footfall or the
swish of a kimono, and then discovered a dark form bearing down upon
her. Could it be Miss Marlowe? No, it wasn't tall enough. It must be
Miss Ashwell. Judith flattened herself against the wall, which was
fortunately in the shadow, in the hope that she would not be seen. But
it was a very slender little hope, and for the second time that evening
Judith was sure that their plans for a good time were ruined, when, just
as she had given herself up for lost, the figure turned about and a
voice, unmistakably Miss Ashwell's, said, "Bother! I've forgotten my
sponge again."
Another disaster averted!
What a _gorgeous_ time they had! What a heavenly chicken!
What luscious meringues! And if you have never in semi-darkness balanced
a precious morsel of jelly on the end of a nail-file, you have missed
one of thrills of _real_ living.
"The spiffingest feed I ever had," declared Judith as they began to pack
up the remains and remove all traces of their feast.
"Well, we haven't had all the thrills that you've had to-night, Judibus,
but for once I've had a perfectly good meal," confessed Rosamond, who
was holding the useful little flashlight, "and now I'm good and ready
for my perfectly good bed." She was voicing a unanimous thought--they
had had a jolly time, but their feet had gone to sleep and their eyes
were beginning to feel drowsy--yes, certainly bed would be good.
Pillows were sorted out, and Nancy with the tiny light led the way. She
tried to open the door; it would not budge! She pulled hard. Josephine
pulled harder; Sally May tried; and then consternation took possession
of their souls. Some one _had them_, had them with a vengeance! Whatever
would they do now?
Sally May was not in the least daunted, whatever the others might feel.
"I'll tell you," she said; "it's some one who wanted to come to the
party doing it for a joke"--but that brought little comfort. The party
was a secret, and who would know where to find them? Forebodings as to
to-morrow's punishment filled their minds.
Sally May, however, was accustomed to punishments. "Sufficient unto the
day" was evidently her motto. "Come on, let's tell ghost stories," she
said, and the others obediently seated themselves on the floor again.
Sally May produced a large box of chocolates which they were keeping for
another time, and began a long tale of a ghost who followed, and
followed, and followed a man up and down, up and down, the corridors of
an old manor house. The hero could hear the ghost's footsteps and its
blood-curdling laugh, but he was afraid to turn his head, and when he
did--very, very, very, slowly--the muscles of seven little necks
stiffened obedient to Sally May's suggestion--he saw a terrible--but
here Rosamond broke in with an hysterical cry, "Please, Sally May, I
can't bear any more"--and Sally May's spell was broken.
Indeed they all began to be frankly miserable, for they were chilly by
this time, and even schoolgirls' stomachs are susceptible to unlimited
cake and candy. Nancy fell asleep and leaned on Judith, making her most
uncomfortable. Sally May confessed quite openly to a feeling of
sickness, and in a steady whisper poured into Judith's ear the ghastly
details of how ill she had been at Knowlton after a lobster supper. The
night wore on. Most of them finally went to sleep in uncomfortable
attitudes, but about four o'clock in the morning, Judith, who was much
too unhappy and too uncomfortable to sleep, got up stiffly from the
floor and walking about the room, tried the door once more. To her huge
astonishment and joy it opened! Catherine had come up a couple of hours
before, but the striking of the big clock in the hall had covered the
very slight noise of the turning of the lock.
"It was open all the time," protested several unhappy voices.
"You didn't try it properly."
"We did," said other cross voices, and sulkily and stiffly they creaked
down the hall to their longed-for beds.
The rising bell rang in about an hour's time; at least so it seemed to
eight very sleepy girls. Pancakes and maple syrup, the favourite York
Hill breakfast, brought them no solace; indeed, to the surprise of their
friends, they refused them. Sally May, who demanded much sympathy,
reported to the nurse after breakfast.
"I don't feel well, Miss Anderson, I don't really. I'm tired all over. I
think if I had a little rest--" she added plaintively.
"Put out your tongue," said Miss Anderson cruelly. "Hm, blowing up for a
bilious attack. Oh, yes, you can go to morning lessons, but report at
the Infirmary this evening for a dose of calomel."
Poor Sally May! The thought of the horrid dose haunted her all day, and
when evening came her punishment was indeed complete.
Judith, Nancy, and Josephine had separately and independently resolved
by hook or by crook to escape the hated morning walk or "crocodile." A
walk after their wakeful night seemed simply impossible and the weather
was too bad for games. Many excuses were thought of and rejected, but
eventually they presented themselves to the mistress-in-charge, a
certain zealous Miss Martin.
"Too tired to go out, Nancy? Very well, early bed, of course"--and she
chalked up Nancy's name with "Bed at eight-thirty." Judith and Josephine
were treated in like manner; not that they minded very much, for bed at
eight-thirty had a soothing sound. But Madam Retribution was not done
with them yet.
For a week or more they had been expecting an invitation from Catherine
to supper in her room. It was a regular first-term institution that a
prefect should entertain her set of cubicles, and rumours of other
suppers had already reached the ears of the crew of the "Jolly Susan."
Judith, especially, had been looking forward to this treat. An evening
in Catherine's room, what a delight!
At evening prayers it was announced that to-night's lecturer would not
be able to come, and promptly afterwards Catherine gave the longed-for
invitation. "Supper in my room at eight-thirty," she whispered to each
of the five; "we'll have a jolly time." Her surprise and astonishment at
their stammered refusals were great.
"Slacking the walk?" she said coldly. "Of course, then, you can't have a
treat"--and she wasted no sympathy on them. Judith could have wept with
vexation and disappointment.
At half-past eight the crew of the "Jolly Susan" crept sadly into bed
and listened to the laughter of the prefects gathered in Catherine's
room, devouring _their_ supper. Sally May had gone to the Infirmary, but
one vow was registered by the other chastened souls in the "Jolly
Susan"--"No more midnight suppers!"