The game that won the championship for the Lyon High team passed into
history without much effect upon Betty’s relations to any one. It must
be said that the Lyon High boys and girls could not always forbear to
mention their victory in the presence of their rivals from the other
school and were immediately dubbed too “cocky” over the “accident” or
“trick” which permitted the result. But argument died out in the
interest of other things and the football season closed at the usual
time.
The next bit of excitement for Betty was the visit of her friends from
home. “_Please_ arrange,” she wrote to Janet, “to come in time to visit
the school on Wednesday at least. Of course, I could take you to see the
buildings; but it will be so much more interesting for you to see them
full of all of us. And I can introduce you to the girls and everything.
“You must meet Carolyn and Peggy, that I’ve told you about, and then
there are such a lot of other nice girls; and we’ll probably have an
auditorium session Wednesday morning with something or other that you
would enjoy seeing go on. It isn’t going to hurt you to miss a day or
two of school–_please!_ Get the teachers to let you make it up and tell
’em why.”
In consequence, two bright‐eyed and inwardly excited girls descended
from their car at the railway station, to find Mr. Lee meeting the
crowds that were hurrying along with their bags inside by the long
train; and Betty was close to the iron gates, watching with eager look
to catch the first glimpse.
Betty had not known Sue as intimately as Janet, but she had always liked
her and Sue belonged to her Sunday school class as well as to her class
in school. At any rate Sue was as warmly received as Janet and tongues
went rapidly indeed on the way home.
“Tell me everything,” Betty had said, and in reply Janet had suggested
that Betty “show them everything.” But the sights had already begun, for
Mr. Lee went home by a roundabout way to drive through one of the most
beautiful parks, from which they could see the river and its scenery and
villages on the other side. He also drove past the high school which
Betty attended and Betty was quite satisfied with the exclamations of
her friends.
“I met Father down town,” Betty explained, “for I went right down after
school, with some of the girls, and we had a soda. Then I went to
Father’s office and waited for him to be ready. Did you girls miss much
school?”
“Only this afternoon, and tomorrow, of course,” Sue answered. “Janet’s
father drove us to Columbus, so we caught this train.”
“It’s pretty yet, isn’t it?” remarked Janet, looking about at the trees
and bushes in the park, “and not a bit of snow.”
“We had a wee bit one day; but you can notice quite a difference, one of
the girls said, between the climate here and where we used to live.”
“Doesn’t that sound awful, Janet?” asked Sue, “where she _used_ to
live!”
“But then you couldn’t visit me here, you know,” Betty hastened to say,
and Janet smilingly replied “Sure enough.”
“Anyhow, you still _own_ your house and the lot next to it, don’t you?”
queried Sue.
“I guess so–don’t we, Father?” answered Betty, who did not pay much
attention to business affairs, and Mr. Lee nodded assent as he drove
rapidly along the boulevard, now homeward bound.
“Do you know, Betty,” said Janet a little later, when they were almost
home, “I never was inside of an apartment house!”
“I never either,” laughed Betty, “till I came here; but we don’t live in
a real apartment house. Ours is what they call a ‘St. Louis.’ And don’t
you know when one of the girls called it that–her own place, I mean–I
thought she said she lived in St. Louis! I didn’t like to ask her to
explain how she lived in St. Louis and went to school here, so I kept
still and afterwards heard somebody else speak of a St. Louis flat!”
“I’m going to keep still, too,” said Janet, with some firmness. “You
shan’t be ashamed of your friends from the ‘country.’”
Mr. Lee spoke now, with a kind smile. “Betty isn’t one to be ashamed of
two such nice girls, and moreover, girls, I think that you may vote for
the country, or at least the lovely little village that is still home to
us, when you see how every one except the wealthy must live in the city.
I own to my wife that there are some conveniences and advantages. She
rather likes it now. But it’s pretty crowded and unless you like that,
the small town is better. Fortunately we live away from the street cars,
a few squares, so you may be able to sleep at night.”
“Mer_cee_,” exclaimed Janet. “But I shan’t mind not sleeping–I’m not
sure I could anyway. Just to think of being here with you, Betty!” and
Janet squeezed Betty’s arm in anticipation.
“Here we are,” cried Betty just then, and Mr. Lee, driving in, ordered
them facetiously to “pile out.”
They “piled,” while Dick and Doris, still disappointed that they, too,
had not been permitted to meet Janet and Sue, came running out, followed
by Amy Lou, whose mother was trying to hold her back or at least to
throw something around her to protect her from the frosty air. “O,
Janet, it’s going to be such a glorious Thanksgiving!” exclaimed Sue in
Janet’s ear, as she followed her up the steps and into the house. And
Betty was crying to the welcoming mother, “O, Mother, they can stay over
Sunday and don’t care if they miss school on Monday!”
“Well, isn’t that fine,” warmly responded the hostess. “I’m glad, too,
to see the girls from the old home and thankful to have room enough to
tuck you away. Take the girls back to your room, Betty, and have them
get ready for dinner. Doris, you may set the table if you will, and
Betty will help me take up the dinner presently.”
This was the beginning. On Wednesday morning, Betty took her guests to
school with her, for Janet, particularly, wanted to visit a few of the
classes. Sue told Betty that she could “dump her any place” if she
liked. Impressed with the numbers and the apparent complexity of the
system, the girls visited one or two classes, met Betty’s home room
teacher and the others, in a hasty way between classes, and then waited
for Betty in the auditorium or the library, where there was much to
interest them.
There was an auditorium session, with a few exercises appropriate to the
Thanksgiving season and then a brief organ recital by a visiting
organist, whom the principal had secured for a real treat to the entire
school.
“Oh, I’m _so_ glad that you heard our big organ,” said Betty as she took
them to the library to leave them there while she went to her last class
before lunch.
“And it was great to see that immense room filled with nobody but high
school pupils, and their teachers, of course,” added Janet, “only–only,
I believe, Betty, that I’d be too confused. Some way, I like the little
old high school at home, and we have such a pretty building, even if it
is small.”
“Oh, you’d get used to it,” Betty assured Janet. “I have, and still,
there’s something in what you say, of course. Now I’ll be right up to
take you to lunch; it’s on the floor just above the library, you know,
and I’m going to bring Carolyn and Peggy along so we’ll sit together at
lunch and talk. Don’t you think they’re sweet?”
“Peggy’s a perfect dear,” promptly Sue replied, “and Carolyn is too nice
for words, simply adorable.”
After this tribute, the girls followed Betty into the library, where
Betty spoke to the librarian in charge and took them to a seat at one of
the tables. “You can look at the books, if you want to,” she whispered.
“I spoke to Miss Hunt, so it will be all right.”
The time did not drag, for boys and girls were coming and going, or
sitting at the tables to read or examine books. The girls felt a little
timid about investigating any of the shelves, but the pleasant librarian
came to speak to them and to suggest where they might find books of some
interest. Accordingly, each with a book spent a little while in reading,
though, it was hard to put their minds on anything requiring consecutive
thought.
And now bright faces peeped in, for Janet and Sue sat not far from the
door. Betty was beckoning and leaving the books upon the table, the two
guests joined Betty, Carolyn, Peggy and Kathryn Allen, whom they had not
met.
“This is Kathryn Allen, girls,” said Betty in the breezy, hurried way
made necessary by the rapid movement of events. “I’ve told her who you
are. Let’s hurry in and see if we can get places together. Mary Emma
Howl and said she’d try to save places for us at that table by the
window that we like. She’s in line now. Look at that long line already!
I’m glad we happened to have first lunch, Janet, since you’re here.”
“What is ‘first lunch,’ Betty? Do you have to take turns?”
“Yes. There are several periods. Father says that that is the only thing
he doesn’t like about this school, that there isn’t enough time to eat
without swallowing things whole. But it isn’t as bad as that, really;
and most generally we don’t try to eat a big meal. Still, things are so
good, and you get so hungry, you know, especially if you can’t eat a big
breakfast.”
“I don’t like all your stairs,” said Sue, “but I suppose it can’t be
helped. I guess your mother’s right–you need wings.”
“Oh, you get used to where rooms are and it isn’t so bad. Of course, the
building does spread out awfully and up the three stories and basement.
And by the way, we can eat all we want to this time, for I saw Miss
Heath and told her that I had company, and if I was a little late to the
first class would she give me a chance to make it up–and she was in an
awful hurry and said, maybe without thinking, that I could.”
The tables did look tempting. “First lunch” saw the whole array of
pretty salads and desserts, the chief temptations to the pupils, the
steaming meats and vegetables, so good in cold weather. Cafeteria
fashion, the long line passed, choosing what to put on their trays, and
oh, the noise, within the concrete floors and walls! Sue said to Janet,
as they walked along, that she was fairly deafened; but she had no
sooner sat down with the other girls at the table where places had been
successfully held for them by Mary Emma, then she began “shouting” with
the rest to be heard.
Betty saw to it that her guests had a good selection of viands, for
neither Sue nor Janet were inclined to take enough, not wanting to run
up the price for their young hostess. “Mer_cee_, Betty, do you want to
kill us?” asked Janet as Betty placed a particularly toothsome looking
fruit dessert in her tray, in addition to the modest piece of pie which
she had herself selected.
“Oh, no, not yet, Janet. Remember the turkey we’re going to have
tomorrow; but you must have nourishment!”
Carolyn’s tray was slimly furnished, Janet thought, and she wondered if
she could not afford to get more; or did she just like desserts? Peggy
had meat, dressing and gravy and a fruit salad, of which she began to
dispose with some haste, though daintily enough. Sue and Janet concluded
that they must not look around too much, though the surroundings were so
interesting, but apply themselves to the contents of their trays, not a
difficult task, since everything was so good.
“Is there anything else you’d like, girls? I can go back as easily as
not,” said Betty, pouring milk from a bottle into her glass.
“No, indeed,” answered both the girls together. “We have too much now,”
added Janet.
“If you can hear what I say,” called Carolyn across the table, around
whose end the girls had gathered, “will you, Janet and Sue, come with
Betty to our house Friday evening after dinner? Say about half‐past
seven or eight o’clock? I’ll call up, too, Friday some time. I’m going
to have a few of the boys and girls to meet your cousins, Betty.”
“Oh, how lovely, Carolyn, but I should have the little party myself. I
can’t let you do it. I was going to ask you and Peggy and Mary Emma and
several other girls for Saturday. I had to wait to make sure that the
girls really got here, you know.”
“Well, that would be just as nice as can be, Betty. I’d love to come,
but I know such a lot of the boys and girls, so please come to our
house.”
“We could do both, then,” said Betty.
“All right, we’ll see about it, then,” assented Carolyn. “Oh, yes, Chet,
see you right after school!”
Carolyn had turned to answer Chet Dorrance, who spoke to her, tipping
his chair and leaning back from the next table. A crowd of boys there
were not uninterested in the little group of girls, whose demure glances
had been cast in their direction occasionally.
“That’s Budd, Janet, next to Chet,” Betty was saying, “and Kathryn’s
brother Chauncey is right across at that other table, the boy that just
sat down there with his tray. They’re all sophomores. But there’s a
freshman bunch at the next table. I told you about Budd and Chauncey and
some of the rest when I wrote you about Carolyn’s house party, didn’t
I?”
“Maybe you did, Betty, but I can’t remember, only about those you ‘rave’
about, like Carolyn.”
“I imagine that you’ll meet a lot of them at Carolyn’s. Isn’t it
wonderful of her to entertain for us? I think I did say to her not to
have too much planned for Saturday and that I was hoping that nothing
would happen to keep you girls from coming. I was pretty scared about it
when I heard from Sue that her mother was half sick; but you did come,
thank fortune!”
It was more easily possible for bits of conversation with one person to
be held, since when more were included it was necessary to raise the
voice. The general conversation and laughter, the jingle of silver and
the clatter of trays and dishes seemed to be louder than the numbers
served would justify, although there was no special carelessness among
the boys and girls, and oversight made rude scuffling or trick playing
impossible, had there been any temptation or time for it. “It’s just
this big, echoing room, Sue,” said Janet, for both visitors noticed it.
“But it’s lots of fun, and such good eats for next to nothing, according
to what Betty says.”
“They just charge enough to cover expenses, of food and help and so on,”
said Betty, who had turned back from talking to Kathryn in time to hear
this last. “How was the pie, Janet?”
“Grand; good as home‐made.”
“It _is_ ‘home‐made.’ I wish we had time to go back and see all the
place they have to cook and bake. Well, we can’t do everything in one
day, can we?”
“We are doing enough,” replied Janet. “My brain is whirling as it is,
going from one thing to another and trying to remember who is who and
what is what.”
“Don’t try,” said smiling Betty. “I’ll tell you again, or remind you. I
felt the same way at first, and remember that I had to learn to live it
and do it–them–everything!”
On the way out Betty had a chance to point out, figuratively speaking,
both Freddy Fisher and the “Don” of football fame, and she almost ran
into Ted Dorrance in the hall. “Say,” said he, catching Betty’s shoulder
for a moment, “we seem to run each other down, don’t we? Oh, beg
pardon!” The last expression was addressed to Janet, whom he had brushed
against in avoiding Betty and a crowd of teachers that were coming from
the opposite dining hall, sacred to the instructors of youth.
“Please stop a second and meet my friends that are visiting me–Miss
Light and Miss Miller, Mr. Dorrance, a prominent junior, girls.”
Betty smiled up at Ted as she added the last in complimentary fashion,
but he shook his head at her, pleasantly acknowledging the introduction.
“She doesn’t say what I’m prominent for, you notice,” but with a salute
from his hatless forehead, Ted was gone. There was no standing on
ceremony when school hours were on and everything, even lunch, ran on
schedule.
“I’ll not have to hurry as much as I thought, girls, since it was first
lunch. I’m about crazy today, I suppose, with delight at your being here
and wanting you to know about everything and everybody. What would you
like to do while I’m in class and study hall? Want to visit both of
them?”
“How many periods have you this afternoon, Betty?”
“Three, but one of them’s in gym.”
“All right, we’ll visit study hall and gym and stay in the library or
auditorium during your class.”
So it was decided. “Gym” proved most interesting. Study hall was full of
possibilities, Sue said, for it was interesting to see whether this one
or that one studied or not, to guess who they were and to recognize
those whom they met. And after the last gong had rung, how odd it was to
pass through those crowded halls, where pupils were putting away their
books in their lockers, getting their wraps from them, and going to
their home rooms until dismissed. It was all on a bigger scale than in
their home school. And the crowded street car was another feature, not
so pleasant, perhaps.
But Betty looked out for the girls, to see that they had each a strap,
until Chet and Budd and a freshman boy Betty knew, who were, happily,
near, caught Betty’s eye and signaled the girls to come where they were
sitting, half rising, yet holding the seats until the girls should be
ready to slide into them.
“Now, then,” said Chet, hanging to a strap in the aisle, after a brief
introduction to Janet and Sue, “what do you think of our school? I
noticed you had company, Betty.”
“We’re quite overwhelmed by the school, really,” answered Janet,
politely, and smiling up at the boy whose seat she was occupying. “But
we have a good school, too, and I think you can learn anywhere.”
“I suppose you can,” said Chet, “if you work at it. Did you see the
stadium?”
“Yes, and it’s just marvelous. I don’t wonder Betty raves over
everything!”
This satisfied Chet, who did not much care for the remark about learning
anywhere. “I’m invited to meet you at Carolyn’s Saturday, no, Friday
night, so I’ll see you there. Yep, coming,” and Chet moved down toward a
boy who had beckoned him.
Gradually the jam lessened, as one after another reached a stopping
place. By the time Betty and her friends had reached their own stop,
every one was seated. Budd was the last one to swing off, and like Chet
he parted from them with a “So long, girls, I’ll see you Friday night.”
“Those boys must know you pretty well Betty,” said Janet.
“They do. Ever since Carolyn’s party.”