A BITTER MOMENT
Marjorie went soberly up the steps of her home that afternoon. Her
pleasure in making the team had been short-lived. She wondered if it
would not be better to write her resignation. How could she bear to play
on a team when three of the members had decided to drop her
acquaintance? Still, they had not chosen her to play on the team; why,
then, should she resign? She decided to consult her captain on the
subject; then changed her mind. She would not trouble her mother with
such petty grievances. This prejudice against Constance Stevens had
originated wholly with Mignon La Salle. Perhaps the French girl would
soon forget it, and it would die a natural death. Marjorie was not
mortally hurt over the turn of the afternoon's affairs. She had not been
so deeply impressed with the importance of Mignon and her friends that
she failed to see their snobbish tendencies. She made mental exception
of Jerry and Irma. She was secretly glad that they had declared for her.
She liked Jerry's blunt independence and Irma's gentle, lovable
personality. With the optimism of sixteen, she declined to worry over
what had happened, and her report to her captain at the end of that
troubled afternoon included only the pleasant events of the day.
When she went to school the next Monday morning she discovered that it
did hurt, just a trifle, to be deliberately cut by the Picture Girl,
and, instead of being greeted with Susan Atwell's dimpled smile, to
receive an icy stare from that young woman, as, later in the morning,
they passed each other in the corridor.
In some mysterious manner the story of the disagreement had been noised
about the freshman class, with the result that Marjorie's acquaintance
was eagerly sought by a number of freshmen whom she knew merely by
sight, and that several girls, who had made it a point to smile and nod
to her, now passed her, frigid and unsmiling.
As for the members of the little group Marjorie had watched so earnestly
before she had been enrolled as a freshman at Sanford, they were now
divided indeed. As the week progressed the "Terrible Trio," as Jerry had
satirically named Mignon, Muriel and Susan, endeavored to make plain to
whoever would listen to them that there was but one side to the story,
namely, their side. Emulating Marjorie's example, Jerry and Irma had
taken particular pains to be friendly with Constance Stevens. After an
eloquent dissertation on friendship, delivered by Marjorie at their
locker on the Monday morning following her disagreement with the other
girls, Constance had shed a few happy tears and admitted that she had
rather be "best friends" with Marjorie than anyone else in the world.
The hardest part of it all for Marjorie was her basketball practice. It
was dreadful to be on speaking terms with only one girl on the team,
Harriet Delaney, and she was not overly cordial. Marjorie tried to
remember that Miss Randall had appointed her to her position, that the
right to play was hers; but the unfriendly players made her nervous, and
she lost her usual snap and daring. The second week's practice came, and
she resolved to play up to her usual form, but, try as she might, she
fell far short of the promise she had shown at the tryout. She also
noted uneasily that, no matter how early she reported for practice, the
team seemed always to be in the gymnasium before her and that one of the
substitutes invariably held her position.
The freshmen had challenged the sophomores to play against them on the
first Saturday afternoon in November. It was now the latter part of
October and both teams were utilizing as much of their spare time as
possible in preparing for the fray.
"Are you going to practice this afternoon?" whispered Geraldine Macy to
Marjorie as they left the algebra class on Monday morning.
Marjorie nodded.
"Oh, dear," grumbled Jerry under her breath. "I wanted to talk to you
about the Hallowe'en party."
"What Hallowe'en party?" asked Marjorie, opening her eyes.
"Haven't you your invitation?" It was Jerry's turn to look surprised.
"I don't even know what you're talking about."
Their entrance into the study hall put an end to the conversation. It
was renewed at noon, however, when Jerry, Irma, Marjorie and Constance
trooped out of the school building together, a seemingly contented
quartet.
"Just imagine, girls," announced Jerry, excitedly. "Marjorie doesn't
know a thing about the Hallowe'en party. She hasn't her invitation
either. I think that's awfully queer."
"I haven't mine, but I know all about it," put in Constance Stevens,
quietly.
"Who has charge of the invitations?" asked Marjorie.
"Miss Arnold. You'd better see her about yours to-day. Of course you
both want to go."
"But what is it and where is it held?" questioned Marjorie.
"It's a big dance. Weston High School, that's the boys' school, gives a
party to Sanford High on every Hallowe'en night. It's a town
institution and as unchangeable as any law the Medes and Persians ever
thought of making," informed Jerry.
"Oh, how splendid!" exclaimed Marjorie. "I should like to know some nice
Sanford boys, and I love to dance!"
"Then you ought to meet my brother Hal," declared Jerry, solemnly, "for
he's the nicest, handsomest, best boy I know."
"Wait until you see the Crane," laughed Irma Linton. "He's the tallest
boy in high school. He's six feet two inches now. They say he hasn't
stopped growing, either, and he is awfully thin. That's why the boys
call him the 'Crane.' He doesn't mind it a bit. His real name is Sherman
Norwood, but no one ever calls him that except the teachers."
During the rest of the walk home the coming dance was the sole subject
under discussion. Yes, the girls wore evening gowns, if they had them.
Lots of girls wore their best summer dresses. The leading caterer of
Sanford always had charge of the refreshments and the boys paid the
bills. There was a real orchestra, too. Of course all the teachers were
there, but the pokey ones went home early and the jolly ones, like Miss
Flint and Miss Atkins, stayed until the last dance.
There were countless other questions to ask, but the luncheon hour was
too short to admit of any lingering on the corner.
"I wish we had more time to talk," sighed Marjorie, reluctantly, as she
came to her street. "I'd love to hear more about the dance."
"We'll tell you all there is to tell after school," promised Jerry. "Oh,
no, we can't either. You'll have to go to that old basketball practice.
What a nuisance it is. And to think you have to play on the team with
Mignon, Muriel and Susan, after the way they've treated you. Why don't
you resign?"
"I don't believe I'll play next term," said Marjorie, slowly, "but I
feel as though I ought to stay on the team for the rest of this term.
Our game with the sophomores is set for two weeks from to-morrow; then,
I believe we are to play against two teams from nearby towns. It
wouldn't be fair to leave the team now, after having practiced with it."
"I don't believe I'd bother my head much about that part of it," sniffed
Jerry, "I'd just quit."
"No, you wouldn't, Geraldine Macy," laughed Irma. "You might grumble,
but you wouldn't be so hateful."
"You don't know how hateful I can be," warned Jerry. "Some other girls
are likely to find out, though."
"Good-bye. I must not stop here another second," declared Marjorie.
"Good-bye!" floated after her as she walked rapidly toward home.
"How goes it, Lieutenant?" asked her father, who, with her mother, was
already seated at the table as she entered the dining-room.
"Pretty well, thank you, General," she replied, touching her hand to her
curly head.
"I haven't heard you say a word about school for at least a week, my
dear," commented her mother. "Has the novelty of Sanford High worn off
so soon?"
"No, indeed, Captain," returned Marjorie, earnestly. "I'm finding out
new things every day." She did not add that some of the "new things" had
not been agreeable, nor did she volunteer any further information
concerning her school. This touch of reticence on the part of her
usually talkative daughter caused her mother to look at her searchingly
and wonder if Marjorie had something on her mind which in due season
would be brought to light. The subject of the dance returning to the
young girl's thoughts, she began at once to talk of it, and her
enthusiastic description of the coming affair served to allay her
mother's vague impression that Marjorie was not quite happy, and she
entered into the important discussion of what her daughter should wear
with that unselfish interest belonging only to a mother.
When Marjorie returned to school that afternoon she felt happier than
she had been since her advent into Sanford High School. The thought of
the coming dance brought with it a delightful thrill of anticipation.
She had always had such good times at the school dances given by her boy
and her girl chums of B----. She hoped she would enjoy this Hallowe'en
frolic. She wondered if the "Terrible Trio" would be there. She smiled
over Jerry's appropriate appellation, then frowned at herself for
countenancing it. Good soldiers didn't indulge in personalities.
That afternoon she found it hard, however, to concentrate her
thoughts on her studies, and when Miss Atkins asked her on what day the
Pilgrim Fathers landed in America, she absent-mindedly replied
"Hallowe'en," to the great joy of her class. During her physiology hour
she managed to keep strictly to the subject; but she was impatient for
the afternoon to pass so that she could go to Miss Arnold for her
invitation.
Her eyes sparkled, however, when, on returning to the study hall, she
saw lying on her desk a square white envelope addressed to her.
"Oh, here it is," she thought delightedly. "I'm so glad. I wonder if
Constance has hers."
She tore open the end of the envelope with eager fingers and drew out a
folded sheet of note paper. But the light died out of her face as she
read:
"My dear Miss Dean:
"For some time the members of the freshman team have been dissatisfied
with your playing, and have repeatedly urged me to allow Miss Thornton
to play in your position on the team. Not wishing to seem unfair, Miss
Randall and I watched your work at practice Wednesday afternoon and
agreed that the requested change would be best. As manager of the
freshmen team, their welfare must ever be my first consideration. I
therefore feel no hesitation in asking you for your resignation from the
team.
"Yours sincerely,
"MARCIA ARNOLD."
A sigh of humiliation that was half a sob rose to Marjorie's lips. Her
chin quivered ominously. Suddenly a dreadful thought flashed across her
brain. Suppose Mignon and the others were watching her to see how she
received the bad news. Marjorie's desire to cry left her. She leaned
back in her seat and assumed an air of indifference far removed from her
real state of mind. Then she calmly refolded the letter and placed it in
its envelope with the impassivity of a young sphinx.
Later that afternoon, as Mignon La Salle strolled out of school between
her two satellites, Susan and Muriel, she was heard to declare with
disappointed peevishness that that priggish Miss Dean was either too
stupid to resent or too thick-skinned to feel a plain out-and-out snub.