It took the school, and particularly the old wing, several weeks to
recover from the result of the contest. Janet, much to her surprise,
remained a heroine, and was not forgotten after the flush of the first
few days, but she was not happy.
Phyllis, after her failure on Archery Day, had steadfastedly refused to
have anything more to do with the sport, and half the pleasure of the
prospect of making the team was gone, when Janet realized that Phyllis
would not be with her. Daphne, too, refused to show any interest, and it
was Sally that Janet spent most of her time with, practicing before the
target.
They were coming up from the lawn this afternoon. The warm days of late
summer had chilled with the coming of Autumn, and in the late afternoon
the girls found sweaters comfortable.
When they reached the lower hall they met Ethel Rivers. She was still
incorrigible on the subject of the wings.
"I hope you know, that even if you did beat us at Archery, we're going
to win out in Dramatics."
"Win in anything your little heart wants," Sally laughed; "the old wing
is never selfish."
"Well, you just wait and see," Ethel began angrily, but she turned
suddenly to Janet and stopped. "I've--I've--wanted to congratulate you
for a long time," she said shyly. She was the same age as the two girls
before her, but a class below. She was feeling the difference acutely.
"Thanks awfully," Janet was almost as embarrassed as she was. She was
trying hard not to feel her position as a future member of the team, but
it was difficult when girls like Ethel forgot their feeling of animosity
long enough to offer congratulations.
Without realizing it Janet mounted the pedestal of a personage.
"I--I--really thought you were wonderful," Ethel continued grudgingly,
"and I'm not a bit sorry, really, that you beat our twins."
"That's awfully decent of you Ethel. I'm glad to see you're coming
around to the right way of thinking. Mustn't take the rivalry of the
wings too seriously, you know. Come down to target practice some day,
while I'm there, and I'll show you how to fix your arrow. I saw you were
having trouble with it." And Janet walked up the broad stairs, her head
held high, as a queen might have walked on after she had spoken to her
humble courtier.
But when they reached Sally's room and she threw herself down on the
bed, her face suddenly fell.
"Sally," she said seriously. "I think Phyl is a little hurt that I spend
so much time away from her. She's going to hate it if I make the team,
so I think, if I am elected, I'll refuse."
Sally whistled then she looked seriously at Janet.
"You are going to do nothing of the kind, if I can help it," she said
emphatically, "but we won't talk about it now. Let's go find Phyl and
Taffy."
They went over to the Twin's room, but there was no sign of them.
"Maybe Glad'll know where they are," Sally suggested.
But they found Prue and Ann and Gladys cheerfully munching crackers and
peanut butter, as they studied their English for the next day.
"Come and join us," Ann invited shoving forward the peanut butter.
"We've got a marvelous system. Prue reads aloud to us and then we
discuss it."
"You might as well join us," Gladys suggested. "We've only just
started."
"We're looking for Daphne and Phil," Sally replied.
"Oh, you won't find them," Gladys told her. "They're down in the
Senior's Retreat."
"What under the sun are they doing down there?" Janet demanded.
"Dramatic Club," Prue said solemnly. "Shakespeare meeting and all that
sort of thing."
Sally and Janet looked at each other in bewilderment. "How did they get
down there? They aren't Juniors or Seniors," Sally protested.
"Can't help it, Miss Slocum sent their names in to Poppy as shining
lights in literature," Ann replied. "And Poppy, of course, was tickled
to death."
"So was Helen Jenkins, by the way," Prue added. "She's really the brains
of the club, while Poppy's the looks."
"And they're both Old Wing Girls," Gladys exulted. "Just imagine how
they feel at the idea of letting in two Sophomores!
"But it's unheard of," Sally objected, "don't you have to be a Junior at
least, before you're eligible?"
"'Tisn't a rule, it's simply a custom," Ann told her. "It just never
happened before, that the Sophomores showed very much brains."
"But, oh my beloved hearers!" Gladys exclaimed excitedly, "can't you see
that our Phyllis and our Taffy may be the brilliant exceptions?"
Janet had looked wonderingly from one to the other of the girls.
"You don't mean Phil and Taffy could possibly make the Dramatic Club?"
she asked at length.
"But I exactly do mean just that," Gladys informed her. "And, oh my Aunt
Jane's Poll-parrot, if they should, think what a victory it would be for
the Old Wing!"
Prue picked up the book that she had been reading when Sally and Janet
interrupted her.
"I refuse to think of it," she said with decision. "Come on, girls, sit
down and make yourselves comfy, and in my most dulcet tones I will read
to you the lesson in _Guy Mannering_ for tomorrow."
Janet and Sally curled up on the end of the Countess's bed and Prue
began.
It is a question whether any of the girls kept their mind on the book.
The Dramatic Club at Hilltop was a very important institution of school
life. There were hardly ever more than twelve members, and they were
chosen for a variety of reasons. The principal one was an understanding
and appreciation of literature, but equally important were good looks
and an ability to act, for the Dramatic Club gave two plays a year. They
were not the usual amateur performances, for wise Miss Slocum, with the
aid of the Seniors, chose her material carefully and trained it
exceedingly well.
She had hesitated a long time before suggesting two Sophomores for
possible membership, but Daphne's bewildering beauty and Phyllis's apt
reading of lines finally persuaded her.
The Juniors and Seniors had accepted this innovation of an old custom
with surprise, but, as Poppy had explained, it would not be necessary to
make a decision at once, for the Dramatic Club was never chosen until
just before the Christmas holidays.
The girls who were interested met in the Senior Retreat twice a week and
read plays of their own or Miss Slocum's selection. The meeting was over
at six o'clock.
Daphne and Phyllis hurried to the latter's room as quickly as possible.
"Taffy, was there ever such luck?" Phyllis exclaimed, "wasn't it
adorable of them to let us be there!"
"Indeed it was," Daphne agreed heartily. "And we're only new girls, too,
and that makes it all the nicer. But, Phil, what do you suppose they
really mean?"
Phyllis shook her head and her brows puckered in a puzzled frown.
"I wish I knew, Taffy," she replied slowly. "When I went in, Poppy
squeezed my arm and Helen Jenkins asked me how I liked the Dramatic Club
pin."
"And when you said you loved it, she asked you how you would like to
wear one," Daphne finished for her. "I know, I heard it, and my heart
just flopped right over."
Phyllis walked to the balcony and stood looking out over the lawn.
"Isn't it funny the way people get jumbled up," she said musingly. "We
four haven't paired off as we ought to. It almost looks as if we had
changed partners. Just look at this afternoon. Jan and Sally were
practicing with their ever-lasting bows and arrows, and you and I were
sitting in all our glory in the midst of the Dramatic Club."
"That's what makes us such bully good friends," Daphne explained. "It
doesn't matter which two of our four are together, they are bound to
have a good time, and the very best times of all are when we are not
paired off, but doing something that we can all enjoy."
Phyllis nodded. "I used to think, at Miss Harding's that we weren't so
very remarkable, and that if we got away to boarding school we'd find
plenty of friendships as strong as ours----"
"What nonsense!" Daphne interrupted, drawling the words until they held
a wealth of scorn. "Prue and Gladys and Ann are a wonderful combination
but they're not nearly as wonderful as we are," she added with her queer
little laugh.
They both picked up books and pretended to study.
"Taffy," Phyllis said suddenly, "it really isn't fair." There was a
little catch in her voice.
Daphne looked up from her copy of _Guy Mannering_. "What isn't?" she
inquired.
"My being chosen, when Janet's left out. She knows twice as much about
books as I do. Why she knew every book in _The Enchanted Kingdom_, and
she can quote poetry by the yard."
"But she can't recite it the way you do," Daphne protested. "You read
Rosalind's lines in _As You Like It_ when we had it in class, until I
honestly thought I was in the Forest of Arden. I agree with you that Jan
loves it and appreciates it as much as you, but she reads it as though
she hated to have to share it with anybody else."
"Perhaps you're right," Phyllis sounded only half convinced. "But I'll
tell you this, if Jan isn't elected to the Dramatic Club, I won't join
even if they ask me."
"Oh, yes you will," Daphne drawled. Her words were almost an echo of
Sally's used earlier in the day under a similar circumstance.