Now there was one girl of that walking party, you may be sure, who did
not congratulate Laura Belding upon her happy thought in aiding the man
on the steeple of St. Cecelia's Church. That was Hester Grimes.
Since the evening previous Hester had had little to say to anybody--even
to her chum. The fires of wrath always burned deeply in Hester; she
hugged an injury--or a supposed injury--to her, and made it greater
therefore than it was.
In the first place, she had hoped much that the M. O. R.'s would give
her the "touch." For months--ever since she had become a soph at Central
High, indeed, she had been looking forward to that end. She wanted to
"make" the secret society more than she wanted anything else in her
school life.
And now it would be another year, at least, before she could stand her
chance again, while Laura Belding, whom she hated, was one of the
favored candidates. She could not understand it. Hester had toadied to
juniors and seniors alike--especially to those who were members of the
secret society. Of course, she had paid little attention to such girls
as Mary O'Rourke. She could not understand how the daughter of a
laborer, who had neither money nor influence, could have become a
prominent member of the M. O. R.'s. But by the girls of wealthy parents
Hester had tried to make herself noticed.
She could not understand her lack of popularity, when Laura, and Jess
Morse, and Dr. Agnew's daughter and the Lockwood twins had received the
touch. And rage burned hotter in her heart.
Besides, Bobby's impudent trick had made Hester appear ridiculous, she
could not forget that. And she insisted upon holding Laura responsible
for the joke. She told Lily she was sure that Laura Belding had put
Bobby up to it. And it was nothing that would pass over quickly.
Already, on this Saturday, she had heard some of the lines of the
doggerel repeated by giggling girls--and she hated them all for it!
"I'll get square--you just see," she whispered to Lily Pendleton. "No
girl like Laura Belding can treat me so----"
"But it was those freshies and Bobby Hargrew," interposed her chum.
"Laura was back of it--believe me!" declared Hester, shaking her head. "I
should think you would feel the slight, too, Lily. For those stuck-up
M. O. R.'s to choose Belding, and Morse, and those other girls of our
class, and overlook _us_."
"But the candidates had nothing to do with it," said Lily, weakly.
"Belding and the others benefited, just the same--didn't they?"
"Um--m. They're in and we're out."
"Well!" said Hester, with flashing eyes.
"But what are you going to do about it? What _can_ we do?"
"Never mind. You'll see," promised the butcher's daughter, darkly.
It would not have changed Hester's attitude at all--for she was not one
to easily forgive--had she known that Laura Belding had taken occasion
that very morning to take Bobby Hargrew to task for what she had done
the evening before. Bobby came into Mr. Belding's store while Laura was
dusting and re-arranging the show cases.
"Have a scrumptious time at the club house, Laura?" asked the
irrepressible.
"Oh, it is nice, Bobby!" cried Laura. "I wish you had been touched."
"Me? Huh! I'd have about as much chance of ever being an M. O. R. as
Hester Grimes," and she chuckled.
"Less chance than Hester, I fear," said Laura, with sudden gravity.
"Especially after last evening. Bobby Hargrew, I never knew you to do so
mean a thing before."
"Well, wasn't she mean to me?"
"That does not excuse you. And I told Mr. Sharp that you had never done
a really mean thing within my knowledge----"
"Ah! Now I see why I have not been promoted to the outside of Central
High," cried Bobby, quickly. "You have been interceding for me."
"I--I---- Well, it was nothing much I said, dear," said Laura.
"I'm grateful," said Bobby, really moved. "But I can't tell you how
much."
"Show me, then," urged Laura.
"How do you mean?"
"Give up this practical joking. Stop making trouble for the teachers----"
"I have! Gee Gee hasn't had a chance to criticize me all this week. And
sometimes I feel as though I should burst," cried the spirited girl.
"But I _did_ tell the principal that you never did anything mean--and see
what you have done to Hester!"
"And see what she has done to me," snapped Bobby.
"Perhaps she _thought_ she saw you throw something into that basket."
"No, she didn't. She and I sassed each other," declared Bobby, who was
plain if not elegant of speech at all times, "right there in the
principal's office when Miss Gee Gee sailed out into the music room.
Hessie _was_ the last girl to leave me--true enough. But she did not see
me near that basket, for I started for the corridor when she was going
out of the room."
"But she might have been mistaken----"
"You don't more than half believe me yourself, Laura Belding!" accused
Bobby.
"I do. I believe just what you say about it."
"Then you can take it from me," said the emphatic Bobby, "that Hester
Grimes told that story to Miss Carrington for the sake of getting me
into trouble--and for no other reason."
"I'd hate to think her so mean," sighed Laura.
"I'd hate to be foolish enough to believe she was anything _but_ mean,"
growled Bobby, sullenly. "We've always known what she was. Why so tender
of her all of a sudden?"
"But she must be hurt dreadfully by that trick you played on her last
evening."
"Serves her right, then. I've no love for her, I confess. But if you
don't want me to I'll let her strictly alone hereafter. I guess I've
squared things pretty well with her anyway," and Bobby Hargrew laughed
lightly.
"I want you to be good, Bobby," said Laura, yet smiling at the younger
girl. "Show them there is something in you besides mischief. The
teachers have a wrong idea of you. You want to change all that."
"Gee! I couldn't be a Miss Nancy," chuckled the other.
"Just see how you are cut out of all our good times," warned Laura. "And
we need you in athletics, Bobby! Our eight-oared shell will be without
its cox--and we hoped to have a boat of our own this season. You see,
Bobby, one girl can't do wrong without hurting the rest of us. 'All for
one and one for all' is the motto of Central High, you know."
"Oh, dear, Laura, I _didn't_ set that fire," cried Bobby, suddenly, and
almost in tears.
"I don't believe for a minute that you did," returned her friend. "But
you might use your superabundance of wit in finding out who did set it.
I've racked my brains, I am sure, and I can't see the answer."
"Then, how do you expect me to do so--and you always so ingenious?"
complained Bobby.
Laura's ingenuity about the kite and the steeple-jack delighted most of
the girls who were with her on that Saturday afternoon tramp. And when
they knew she intended giving the gold eagle presented to her by Colonel
Swayne to the treasury of the Girls' Branch they cheered her--all but
Hester and Lily.
The explanation of the fire in Mr. Sharp's office eluded Laura, however,
as it did everybody else. But she gave considerable thought to the
problem as the days passed.
The Athletic Field was being put in shape as rapidly as possible.
Already the high board fence was being erected and a large shed with
lockers for the girls. As the field joined their old bathing pavilion
there were shower and plunge baths already at hand. Mrs. Case promised
the school that, other things being well, the girls should have an
exhibition field day for parents and friends before many weeks. The
indoor exercises were practiced assiduously, and most of the advanced
classes, at least, tried to stand well in these so as to take part in
the outdoor games.
With the regular school work, the physical instruction, and the
after-hour athletics, the girls of Central High found their time filled.
But Laura Belding and her close friends had the added excitement and
interest of the coming M. O. R. initiation.
A full week elapsed from the Day of the Touch to the hour when the
candidates were to be made full members of the secret society. This
initiation was usually a novel affair, and on this occasion it was
announced to the candidates that Robinson's Woods was the scene and
Saturday at four o'clock the time of the exercises. Secrecy was
maintained--or should have been. No one but members of the M. O. R., or
the candidates, was to know the time and place; but events which
followed showed that there was a "leak" somewhere.
Robinson's Woods was a fine picnicking ground, back among the hills. One
of the Market Street cars passed a road which led to the grove; one
needed to walk but half a mile, and through a pleasant byway. But once
at the Woods, it was as though the primeval forest surrounded the place.
There was a small hotel, tables and benches in the open, swings and a
carousel, and a dancing pavilion. But the M. O. R.'s did not propose to
hold their exercises in so exposed a place. Up from the regular grounds
devoted to entertainment led a narrow, rocky path through the thicker
wood. The goal to which this path led was a high, open plateau in the
midst of the forest, from which one could overlook a winding country
road and a more winding, tumbling, noisy brook which came down from the
heights.
Two special cars awaited the M. O. R. girls and the candidates for
initiation, and it was a merry party that debarked at the head of the
wood road. They marched straight away from the regular picnic grounds
and were soon on the plateau.
The sun was going down and the view over the valley, in which lay the
City of Centerport, was beautiful indeed. There were nearly a hundred
girls, and in their bright dresses they made a very pretty picture in
the open space in the forest.
They were far from human habitation. Indeed there was no house in sight,
save an abandoned farmhouse at the upper end of the clearing. Surrounded
by a straggling fence, with a gate hanging from one hinge, and the
out-houses behind it fallen in ruins, this old dwelling presented a
rather ghostly appearance. It did, indeed, go by the name of "Robinson's
Haunted House"; but in the late afternoon sunlight none of the visitors
thought of the grewsome stories told of it.