"You each have to prove yourself."
"How?"
"By some courageous deed. If it's good enough then you can help with
the initiation Saturday afternoon."
"The initiation?" Gloria asked suspiciously.
Erna grinned in anticipation and the light flashed on the gold braces
on her teeth. "Oh, the big general initiation. All the old girls
in our class are going to initiate the new girls who haven't done a
magnificent enough deed by Saturday lunch. It was my idea."
Saturday afternoon, Flip thought. That was when I was planning to go
look for Paul and Ariel. Well, maybe I can go tomorrow after Quiet Hour
though it doesn't give me too much time. I do want to see Paul again.
He was nice to me by the lake and I don't think he disliked me. Going
off to see Paul would be quite a Deed only I can't tell anyone.
Gloria was smiling a secret pleased smile to herself.
"What's the joke?" Jackie asked, always eager for something to laugh at.
Gloria twined her arms about her ginger colored head and tried to look
mysterious. "I was thinking of a Deed."
The door opened and Miss Tulip burst in. "Girls! The Light Bell rang
five minutes ago. Just because I wasn't able to get here sooner is
no reason for you to be out of bed. Get in at once. Do you all want
Deportment marks?"
"We didn't hear the bell, Miss Tulip," they chorussed, making a mad
scramble for their beds.
The matron waited until they were lying down and the covers drawn up;
then she switched off the light. "Now I don't want to hear another
sound from this room or I'll have to report you to Mlle. Dragonet. Good
night." And the door clicked shut behind her.
2
Every morning before classes, Call Over was held. All the students
gathered in the Assembly Hall and one of the teachers called the roll.
On Saturday and Sunday mornings Call Over was held as usual, although
it was not followed by lessons. On Saturdays the girls trooped into the
Common Room for sewing, and on Sundays they remained in formation and
marched from the Assembly Hall down to the chapel.
The morning after Erna's and Jackie's inquisition, Gloria did her
Courageous Deed during Call Over. Fräulein Hauser, the gym teacher,
was calling the roll. She was considered one of the strictest of all
the teachers (though not so strict nor so quickly obeyed as Madame
Perceval) and when it was her turn to take Call Over the girls stayed
very quietly in their lines, answering smartly as their names were
called. It wasn't long, then, this Sunday morning before Flip and most
of the girls in her class, and the classes standing near, noticed
that Gloria, with an expression of unconcerned innocence, was chewing
something. Chewing gum was strictly forbidden and although the girls
frequently smuggled it in, none of them would have dared chew openly in
the presence of a teacher.
"Anne Badeneaux," Fräulein Hauser was saying, "Moire Beresford,
Anastasia Bechman, Hanni Bechman, Lischen Bechman, Jacqueline
Bernstein, Esmée Bodet, Ingeborg Brandes, Dorothy Brown, Gloria
Browne...." As Gloria answered to her name Fräulein Hauser looked at
her sharply. "Gloria Browne," she said.