NORMA MAKES REPAIRS
This had to content the Tucker twin who took Bobby's chaffing
good-humoredly.
Bob Henderson did indeed look very well. The uniform was most becoming,
and though he was studying hard to make up for lack of preparation, his
clear eyes and skin and firm muscles told of a wise schedule that
included plenty of outdoor exercise.
"We want you girls to come over to a practice game," announced Tommy
Tucker presently. "We've got rather jolly rooms, and we thought if you
brought Miss Thingumbob along we could have you in for tea and show you
the sights. Do you think the powers that be will say yes?"
"Well, I don't know," answered Betty thoughtfully. "I didn't know you
Salsette boys had much to do with girls. Of course the whole school goes
to the big football games, but asking us to see a practice game is
something new. Of course it will be difficult to get an afternoon when
every one is free--"
"Every one!" exploded Bob. "Who said anything about every one? We don't
want the whole school--just you and Bobby and Louise and Frances and
Libbie and the Guerin girls."
"Sure, the same bunch that came up on the train," said Tommy Tucker.
"Lead me to Mrs. Eustice and I'll ask her."
"Mrs. Eustice is not in this afternoon," announced an extremely cold and
disapproving voice. "Have you permission, young ladies, to see these
er--callers?"
It was the elderly teacher whom Tommy had tormented on the train!
For once in his life that young man was thoroughly abashed. He threw
Betty an appealing look that asked her to save him.
"Miss Prettyman, may I present my friends?" said the girl with the
formality that is subtly flattering to an older woman. "This is Bob
Henderson, who came from the West with me and who is really like my
brother, since my uncle is his guardian. And this is Tommy Tucker, who
lives in Washington."
"How do you do, Robert and Thomas?" said Miss Prettyman austerely. "Did
Mrs. Eustice know you had callers?" she persisted, turning to the girls.
"She took the last bus to Edentown."
"Yes, she knew. It is all right. Caroline said so," babbled Betty, in
frantic terror lest the boys make the mistake of telling Miss Prettyman
about the proposed visit.
"What was it you wanted to ask Mrs. Eustice, young man?" the teacher
demanded next. "I am her secretary and try to save her work whenever
possible. Perhaps I can answer your question."
Behind Miss Prettyman's narrow back Betty signaled wildly.
"Don't tell--hush!" she wig-wagged, laying her finger against her lips.
Tommy stared at her idiotically, his mouth gaping.
"Thank you, but only Mrs. Eustice could really give us an answer," said
Bob, coming to the rescue of his stricken chum. "Betty, will you deliver
our message and perhaps you can telephone the answer?"
"No Shadyside girl is allowed to telephone Salsette Academy," announced
Miss Prettyman, with grim satisfaction.
Betty had not known of this rule, but she realized it was undoubtedly in
existence.
"We'll let you know some way," she promised.
Still pursued by Miss Prettyman's icy glare, the wretched boys backed out
of the room and the unfortunate Tommy walked into a handsome china
jardiniere with disastrous results. There was a sickening crash, a
ladylike scream from Miss Prettyman, and Betty heard Bob's voice in a
tone of suppressed fury: "You've done it now, you idiot!"
Bobby giggled, of course, but Miss Prettyman, who had followed the boys
into the hall ("I think she thought we'd steal something on the way out,"
Bob confided later to Betty) maintained her poise.
"I'm--I'm awfully sorry," faltered the culprit. "I hope it wasn't very
expensive. I'll pay Mrs. Eustice, of course, or buy her another one--"
"That jardiniere happened to be imported from Nippon," remarked Miss
Prettyman coldly. "I doubt if it can ever be replaced. It has stood in
that exact spot for seven years. But then, naturally, our callers are
accustomed to leaving a room gracefully. I'm sure I--"
The agonized Tommy tried to get in a word, failed, and took a step toward
the door. His foot caught in the rug, and for one dreadful moment he
thought he was doomed to create another scene. As he recovered his
balance, Ada Nansen came down the stairs.
"What was that noise we heard a few minutes ago?" she asked sweetly,
looking at the boys.
Betty and Bobby, laughing in the doorway of the reception room, the
unyielding Miss Prettyman, and the cool and curious Ada swam before
Tommy's eyes. Bob retained his presence of mind and, opening the door
with one hand and pushing Tommy before him with the other, managed to
effect their exit.
"Gosh, Bob, wasn't that awful!" sighed poor Tommy, when they were finally
clear of the school portal. "Don't I always have bad luck? How could I
know we were going to walk smack into that dame? She remembered us, too."
"She remembered you," said Bob significantly. "And you were within one of
asking her to let the girls come over to the game, too! Didn't you know,
you poor fish, that she would jump for joy if she could have a chance to
turn you down?"
"Well, anyway," replied Tommy more contentedly, "Betty will let us know.
She can find a way."
Betty lost no time in putting the invitation before Mrs. Eunice when she
returned from her town expedition. The principal knew all about Bob
through Mr. Gordon's letters and those from Mrs. Littell, and she knew
most of the parents of the other lads Betty mentioned.
"I see no reason, my dear," she said graciously when she heard of the
morning's visit, "why you should not go. Get the consent of your
chaperone and then settle on the afternoon. How many of you are invited?"
"Seven," answered Betty truthfully. "But I want Constance Howard to go,
Mrs. Eustice. The boys didn't know about her. She is Louise's roommate
you see, and we eight always do everything together."
"All right, Constance may go, too," acquiesced Mrs. Eustice.
Betty thanked her warmly and danced off to find Bobby. Then they flew to
ask Miss Anderson to be their chaperone, a duty that young woman assumed
cordially, and before bedtime Betty had written Bob a note to say that
they would be over Friday afternoon about half-past four.
Watched a little enviously by the others, the eight piled into the school
bus the next Friday afternoon. Miss Anderson tripped down the steps, took
her place among them, and they were off.
"Did you see that lovely blouse Ada had on?" Norma Guerin whispered to
Betty. "I do wish I could have one like that to wear with my suit."
"You look fifty times prettier than she does," flared Betty loyally. "And
you know I've told you to borrow anything of mine whenever you want to."
"I know it," admitted Norma. "But I can't borrow clothes! Silly or not, I
just can't seem to! I don't mean to complain all the time, either, but I
don't believe mother or granny realized how difficult it was going to be.
Alice cried so hard this afternoon when she started to get dressed I
thought she'd never get her eyes right again. They look red yet."
Sure enough, Alice's eyes were suspiciously pink about the corners. Betty
knew that the Guerin girls were unhappy, not alone because they could not
have as many or as pretty frocks as the other girls, but because they
were constantly worried about financial affairs at home. They had both
been made the confidantes of their parents to a greater degree than is
customary in many families, and Betty shrewdly suspected that Norma had
kept her father's books for him.
"I wish I could get hold of that treasure, or a part of it," Betty
thought. "Isn't it maddening to think of a string of pearls at the
bottom of a chasm and the girls to whom it should go struggling along on
next to nothing!"
They were half-way around the lake when the motor slowed down and the
bus stopped.
"What's the matter, George?" Miss Anderson asked.
"Don't know, Ma'am," answered the driver, a rather sleepy-looking
middle-aged man. "Guess I'll have to investigate her."
Scratching his head, he proceeded to "investigate," and at the end of
fifteen minutes hazarded an opinion that they were "out of luck."
"Looks like I'll have to go back to the school garage and get 'em to
send us a tow," he announced pleasantly.
"We want to go to the Academy!" chorused the girls. "We're late now. Oh,
George, can't you fix it?"
"Betty, don't you know anything about cars?" appealed Miss Anderson,
who had discovered that Betty was apt to be invaluable in an emergency
of any kind.
Betty had to confess that her experience had been confined to horses. The
Littell girls had been used to cars all their lives, but like the
majority of such fortunates, knew nothing about them beyond the colors
suitable for upholstery.
"I've helped my dad with his car," ventured Norma diffidently. "This
isn't the same make, but perhaps I can tell what the matter is."
The beautiful, expensive school bus was in fact another type than the
shabby, rattly affair Dr. Guerin made spin over the rough country roads.
However, Betty remembered at least one night, and she knew her experience
had been duplicated by many others, when the noise of the asthmatic
little car had been like sweetest music in her ears.
The doctor's daughter took off her plain jacket, rolled back her white
cuffs, and bent over the engine. George regarded her respectfully, and
Miss Anderson and the girls watched anxiously. If Norma could not send
them on their way it meant the trip must be given up.
Norma put her slim hands down among the oily plugs, selected a tool from
the kit George held out to her, and did something mysterious to the
"innards."
"Start her," she commanded briefly.
Obediently George took the wheel and touched the self-starter. The engine
purred contentedly.
"By gum!" cried George inelegantly, "she's done it!"
He produced a towel from the box for Norma, who managed to rub off most
of the grease from her hands. She put on her jacket and climbed into her
place between Betty and her sister. George proceeded to make up for lost
time at a speed that left them breathless.
"Here's the girl who got us here!" said Betty to Bob, when the group of
cadets met their bus at the athletic field where several cars were drawn
up on the sidelines.
"Then she shall have my fur coat and my best curly chrysanthemum,"
announced Tommy Tucker gallantly, throwing a handsome raccoon fur coat
over Norma's shoulders and presenting her with a magnificent yellow
chrysanthemum.