THE PRINCIPAL.
IT seemed to Molly that she had only just dropped off to sleep when she
was awakened by a booming, crashing sound, which seemed to get upon her
head and half crush her. She rubbed her sleepy eyes, wondered whether a
thunder-storm or earthquake were taking place, and then suddenly awoke
to the fact that she was a member of Redgarth School, that she had
just spent her first night at St. Dorothy's, and that this unearthly,
inhuman sound must be the noise made by the gong, which was telling
the girls to arise. She jumped out of bed, and looked around her with
a momentary sense of dismay. The arrangements of her complex bedroom
puzzled her not a little. She was just preparing to attack her washing
apparatus, when a low knock came at her door, and Kate's roguish,
laughing face peeped in.
"Are you up? That's right," she said; "you are sure to long for a nice
hot bath after your journey. Hurry as fast as ever you can to the
bathroom; there is no one in it now. Lock the door, and have a good
splash. Never mind if the girls come in dozens to turn the handle:
first come, first served, is the motto here. I got up at six, and had
a glorious cold dip. Now it is your turn."
"Thank you very much," said Molly, with a beaming face.
"When you are dressed," continued Kate, "I'll come and take you down to
breakfast. You don't know any of our daily routine yet, of course; you
shall be under my wing to-day."
Molly gave Kate a beaming look of gratitude. She then hurried off to
the bathroom, had a good wash, and afterward dressed herself quickly.
As she did so, she could not help rejoicing that Kate had taken her up.
"I begin to fall in love with her," thought Molly; "it must be that
Irish way of hers. She is so frank, and her eyes have such a delicious
sparkle in them; then her voice--it has so many notes in it. It can be
daring, and mischievous, and mirthful, and tender, and solemn almost in
the same sentence. Yes, I am quite certain that I shall love Kate very
dearly. If Cecil should not come--if anything prevents my father doing
what I have begged of him to do, then, perhaps Kate will be my friend;
but oh, of course, I can never put anyone before Cecil."
Molly was dressed and had put her little room in order before the
second gong, which was to summon the inmates of St. Dorothy's to
breakfast, sounded through the house. Before the last boom had quite
died away, Kate appeared.
"Let us come down at once," she said. "Miss Leicester has very short
prayers in the hall, then breakfast immediately follows. After
breakfast, those of us who are preparing for lectures are generally
glad to get away by ourselves until it is time to go to school."
"Please remember that I don't know anything about anything," answered
Molly.
"Well, you will after to-day. Now, here we are in the dining hall.
Good-morning, Miss Leicester!"
"Good-morning, my dear Kate!" replied Miss Leicester. "Molly Lavender,
dear, I hope you slept well?"
"Yes, Miss Leicester, I slept beautifully," answered Molly.
"Take your stand near Kate. Now, I am going to begin."
The hall was filled with from forty to fifty girls of ages varying from
seventeen to fourteen. Miss Leicester stood at the head of the hall.
A troop of servants appeared. The principal read a psalm; the collect
for the day followed; then the hungry girls marched straight into the
breakfast room.
Molly found herself once again at Kate's table.
"If you like, you can sit here always," said Kate to her.
"I should like it very much," answered Molly.
"All right; I will speak to Miss Leicester. Miss Leicester, Molly
Lavender would like to have a seat at my table."
"Is there a vacant place?" asked Miss Leicester.
"Yes, here to my right."
"Very well, Molly can sit there for the present."
At this moment Molly met the quizzical eyes of Hester Temple. Hester's
eyes seemed to say, as plainly as if she spoke the words, "How
disgraceful it is of you to enthuse in that open manner! I knew you
would do it--I read your character from the first."
Molly found herself blushing; then a slight sense of irritation took
possession of her heart.
Breakfast was a meal quickly got over. The girls were all more or less
preoccupied with the thoughts of the lectures which they were to attend
that morning. Amy Frost, who sat next to Molly, was quite disconsolate.
"I don't know half my French," she said, appealing to Kate. "Mlle.
Lebrun is so frightfully strict, and she does gabble so when she
gets excited, that I can't take in half she says. She was awfully
dissatisfied with my last _résumé_ of her lecture--she held me up to
ridicule before the other girls. I blush to think of it even yet."
"Well, Amy, know your French, and you won't be ridiculed," replied
Kate, in a somewhat tart voice.
She was busy pouring out coffee, attending to the wants of everyone,
and giving herself no thought at all.
"You haven't touched anything," said Molly at last.
Kate gave her one of her quick, brilliant smiles.
"It is all right," she answered; her smile was followed by a sigh. "I
am only at the other end of the pivot," she continued. "I thought of
no one but myself a fortnight ago, and now I think of everybody except
myself. It is just the reaction, nothing more whatever. You will soon
deplore my selfishness."
"That I'm sure I never shall," answered Molly, but she felt worried.
"I do wish the girls here would sometimes talk downright sensible
English," she said to herself. "I suppose the sort of sharp repartee
which goes on all over the place is very clever, but it certainly
puzzles a newcomer like myself. I wonder how Cecil will like it when
she comes. The girls are not a bit in her style, but they can't help
loving her for all that. She will be a sort of revelation to them. She
is so quaint--so unlike anybody else. I wonder when I shall hear from
father. Surely father must say yes. I think the Indian mails came to
London yesterday; if so, they will be delivered at Redgarth to-day. Oh,
I certainly ought to hear from father to-day. I wonder what he will
have to tell me."
"A penny for your thoughts, Molly Lavender," said Amy, giving Molly's
wrist a pinch.
Molly started and blushed.
"I was thinking," she began.
"Anyone could see that. About what?" Amy asked.
"About my dearest friend."
"For goodness' sake don't answer her when she says 'a penny for your
thoughts,'" interrupted Kate. "It is shabby of you, Amy, to try to
probe a newcomer. I am head of this table, and I insist on being
obeyed. Girls, will you stand up, please? I see Miss Leicester is just
about to say grace."
A moment later Molly found herself alone in the hall. The girls had
all rushed off to their work in different parts of the house. Miss
Leicester, who was passing through the hall in a hurry, saw Molly
standing near the fire. She paused to speak to her.
"My dear," she said, "prayers are at the school at a quarter to nine.
Don't forget to ask Kate to introduce you, immediately after prayers,
to Miss Forester."
Molly promised to obey, and then went up to her room. She found it in
the hands of one of the housemaids. She put on her hat and jacket, and
ran downstairs again. It was a crisp and beautiful autumn day. Not a
leaf stirred on the trees; the sky was of a clear, pale blue; there was
just a faint touch of frost in the air.
"Everything is lovely," she said, under her breath. "I mean to have a
splendid time here. I mean to show grannie and father of what stuff I
am made."
Her meditations were cut short by a troop of girls who were seen
passing St. Dorothy's.
They stopped abruptly when they saw Molly. One of them--a girl with a
plain, freckled face--came close up to the paling which divided St.
Dorothy's from the rest of the school.
"Say--are you a newcomer?" she called to her.
"I don't understand you," answered Molly, with a little haughtiness.
"But do say--are you a new-comer?"
When the girl spoke a second time, two or three of her companions
giggled. Molly's face grew crimson.
"I have just come to St. Dorothy's," she replied, in a low voice.
"Oh, dear!" The girl with the freckled face dropped a mock courtesy.
"Oh, dear, what a privilege for St. Dorothy's! I say, girls, isn't it
a prim little darling? Good-by, dearie! we'll meet very soon in the
presence of the great Miss Forester. _Au revoir_, love, _au revoir_."
The girl, with the rest of her companions, hurried across the grounds,
and Molly returned to her station in the hall. The rest of the St.
Dorothy girls now appeared, dressed in hats and jackets.
"Come," said Katie, "we are late; we must make a rush for it. I
promise to steer you through the shoals. Why, what's the matter? You
look worried."
"I ought not to be," answered Molly, "but I'm afraid I am. A girl who
was passing the house called out to me in a very disagreeable voice.
Oh, of course I ought not to mind. Is she a Redgarth girl?"
"Has she sandy hair and a freckled face?" inquired Kate.
"Yes; she is a plain girl."
"I know her--her name is Matilda Matthews. If I were you, Molly, I
wouldn't take the least notice of her. She doesn't belong to our house,
and is never likely to. You'll have little or nothing to do with her,
unless by chance you happen to attend the same lectures; she can make
herself very disagreeable--none more so. I don't believe she is a
high-principled girl, and I should recommend no friend of mine to have
anything to do with her. Of course, you won't, and she isn't worth a
thought. Now, come on; we must run, or we'll be late."
A moment later, and the girls entered the wide quadrangle of the
school. They entered the enormous hall, where four hundred girls were
assembled for prayers. Molly, to her joy, found her place by Kate's
side, and after a moment of dazed wonder, had courage to raise her
brown eyes to look around her. Hundreds of other eyes seemed to meet
hers. In multitudes, however, is safety. Molly could not be afraid
of all the eyes. Soon a voice at the other end of the hall arrested
her attention. She saw a solitary figure standing on a platform. The
figure was that of a tall and noble-looking woman in the prime of life.
There was a look about the whole face which immediately arrested the
attention of those who gazed at it. The eyes had a kindling light in
them, the mouth was shrewd as well as kindly, the brow was very full,
broad, and of noble proportion; but it was the voice which awoke that
quick enthusiasm with which Molly herself was full.
"That is Miss Forester, the principal of the school," whispered Kate to
her companion.
Molly nodded; she could scarcely take her eyes from Miss Forester's
face.
The principal gave out the first line of a hymn. A few bars were played
on an organ, and then the whole of the great hall became full of the
sweetest and most trained melody. The girls sang in parts: the music
was simple, but beautifully rendered.
"At thy feet, O Lord, we lay,
Thine own gift of this new day,"
sang the four hundred girls.
Molly found herself entering into the spirit of the well-known words.
Toward the end of the hymn tears very nearly choked her voice. She
was just the sort of girl to be easily influenced by her present
surroundings. The hymn was followed by a psalm, which Miss Forester
read aloud in her deep and beautiful tones. A second hymn followed;
then there came a short prayer, followed by the benediction.
Immediately afterward all was bustle and movement. Miss Forester held
up her hand. The girls and teachers stood still, as if by magic.
"I will take the class for Scripture in the north room in five
minutes," said the principal. "Now, file out in order, please; every
girl to her class."
The girls and teachers began to move up the hall.
"Stay behind one moment, Molly," said Kate; "I will take you to Miss
Forester."
As she spoke Kate led Molly to the upper end of the hall. Miss Forester
stood erect and dignified on the platform. It was very evident that her
dark eyes took in each particular of the whole scene. Mistresses and
pupils alike were all under her domination. Suddenly her eyes fell upon
Kate.
With an imperious wave of her hand she beckoned the young girl to her
side.
"Tell me why you are not going to your class, Kate O'Connor?" was her
query.
"If you please, Miss Forester, I have brought Molly Lavender here."
"And who is Molly Lavender?"
"She is the new girl at St. Dorothy's."
"Yes, of course, I remember. Tell her to come here."
Kate beckoned to Molly, who came up at once.
"How do you do?" said Miss Forester, looking at the young girl as if
she would read her through.
Molly raised her eyes to the principal's face. Something in their
earnest gaze kindled an answering light in Miss Forester's eyes.
"I hope, Molly Lavender," she said, "you have come to this school
imbued with an earnest spirit, and a desire to avail yourself of the
great advantages which will be offered you?"
"I trust I have, madam," replied Molly, lowering her eyes.
There was something in the expression of the sweet face which touched
the principal. She laid her firm hand for a brief instant on Molly's
shoulder.
"If that is the case, my child, you will do well," she replied, in a
gentle but thrilling voice. "Thank you, Kate, you can now attend to
your own work. Molly, you have found no niche as yet. You can come with
me to the north room; afterward I will take you to see the different
professors, in order to ascertain what classes you are best fitted to
join."