SCHOOL
Two big old-fashioned drawing-rooms thrown into one made the study hall
at Miss Harding's school. It was not a bit like an ordinary
schoolroom, for a fireplace filled one corner of it, books and pictures
covered the walls, and in every window flowers nodded. Only the rows
of double desks bespoke study.
On the Monday after Janet's arrival there was a suppressed current of
excitement in the air. At the slightest sound from the hall every eye
turned expectantly toward the door.
Phyllis was sitting in her old seat beside Muriel Grey; but the old
feeling of friendship that had always existed between the two was
missing, and it was to Sally Ladd that Phyllis turned for sympathy.
Sally was sitting just behind her, and she took advantage of every
glance that Miss Baxter, who was on duty at the desk, cast in any other
direction.
"Aunt Jane's poll parrot," she whispered excitedly, "if she doesn't
come soon I shall expire." Phyllis nodded and looked again at the door.
Janet was with Miss Harding in her office upstairs. The principal was
deciding the grade she had better enter, and to Phyllis the decision
was all important. Although she would never have admitted it to any
one, the thought of Janet in any class but her own made her miserable.
As for the rest of the girls, they were all eager and curious to see
the new twin, as Sally insisted upon calling Janet. Eleanor and
Rosamond had already met her. Sally had been in bed with a cold when
Phyllis had called up to ask her to luncheon, and she was still waiting
for her first glimpse of her.
At last the door opened and Janet came into the room. It was an
entirely new Janet from the one who had arrived at the Grand Central
Station a few days before; that is, to all outward appearance. She had
on a dark blue serge dress with white collar and cuffs, and her hair
was tied loosely in the nape of her neck with a black ribbon. The
curls, that Martha had tried so hard to keep tidy, were blowing about
her face, her cheeks were pale from nervousness, and her eyes shone
brighter than ever.
Miss Harding nodded to Miss Baxter, and then turned to the girls.
"I think we have all been more than usually interested in Phyllis's
twin sister," she said, smiling. "I want to introduce her to you; this
is Janet Page. You had better all look at her very hard for I think it
is going to be almost impossible to tell her from Phyllis unless we are
very careful. Perhaps I'll have to ask one of them to wear a pink
string tied to her finger and the other a green."
The girls, including Janet, laughed heartily. Whispers of "she's the
very image," "what a dear," and "won't it be funny," ran around the
room.
"I must find you a seat, my dear," Miss Harding continued. "Let me
see. It would never do to put you beside Phyllis, for we'd all be sure
then that we were seeing double. I think--Sally, are you alone?" she
asked.
Sally stood up. "Yes, Miss Harding," she replied so quickly that the
girls laughed.
"Well, then I think Janet will sit beside you. And now you must all
get back to work for there are only a few minutes left of study period.
But this has been an occasion, hasn't it?" Miss Harding smiled,
nodded, said a few words in an undertone to Miss Baxter, and left the
room, leaving behind her a joy and charm that were always hers to give.
Janet walked down between the rows of desks to the beckoning Sally, but
her eyes were looking into Phyllis's. As she passed her desk Phyllis
caught her hand and whispered, "What class?"
"Yours," Janet whispered back. She did not think it necessary to add
that Miss Harding had found her ready for the grade higher but that she
had chosen to stay with Phyllis.
Sally almost hugged her as she took her place beside her, and under
cover of supplying her with books and showing her the lessons, she
managed to talk until the bell rang. There was a ten-minute recess
before lessons began. The girls made the most of it and crowded around
Janet's desk.
"Oh, Aunt Jane's poll parrot, was there ever such luck?" Sally
demanded. "I think I hypnotized Miss Harding, I really do. I thought
so hard about your sitting beside me that she simply had to let you."
"Did you want me to sit beside you?" Janet asked with genuine surprise.
"But of course I did,"--Sally was equally surprised.
"It was rank favoritism," laughed Eleanor. "I thought too, good and
hard. Why I even pointed to the forlorn and empty chair beside me and
it didn't do a bit of good."
"Introduce us, introduce us," several voices demanded, and Phyllis was
kept busy. Even the seniors came and laughed and envied. It was quite
a reception.
"What a lucky girl you are," one of them, a tall girl with
copper-colored hair named Madge Cannan, exclaimed, "I've wanted a twin
all my life and _I_ never found one."
"Poor Madge, I'll be your twin," some one offered.
"Can't do it," Phyllis laughed. "There's only one twin in the world
and I've got her."
"I'm sorry,"--Janet looked at the older girl and spoke quite seriously.
"It would be very nice to have two _yous_."
Madge flushed, and the girls laughed.
"Of all the precious things to say," she exclaimed. "Phyllis, I can't
speak for the rest, but as far as I am concerned your nose is
completely out of joint."
Just then the bell rang, and the day's lessons began.
The next recess was at eleven-thirty, when hot chocolate and crackers
were served. School did not let out until one-thirty, and Miss Harding
thought the girls needed something to eat before that time.
"Now, Sally, leave Phyllis's twin alone," Rosamond insisted, as she
handed Janet her cup and prepared to sit down beside her. "You've had
her all day long and now it's some one else's turn."
Janet looked from one girl to the other in mystified amazement. She
had never been made a fuss over except by Phyllis in all her life and
she couldn't understand it. For one terrible moment she thought they
were making fun of her, but a glance at their smiling faces reassured
her on that point but came no nearer helping her solve their reason.
[Illustration: She had never been made a fuss over except by Phyllis in
all her life and she couldn't understand it]
"Thank you," she said quietly. It was fortunate that the girls did not
expect her to do much talking and were content with her shy answers.
Perhaps the interest in her brown eyes made up for her lack in that
direction.
"Do you play basket ball?" Eleanor was asking.
"No." Janet shook her head.
"Well, then I'll teach you. We play this year, and you simply must
love it."
"Do you like to swim?" Rosamond demanded, and again Janet shook her
head.
What must these girls think of her! Why, she couldn't do anything.
"Skate?" some one else asked.
"No, I don't." Janet looked imploringly at Phyllis, but for once she
was looking at some one else. Only Sally noticed the look and she gave
no sign--then--
"What can you do?" It was Muriel who spoke and in spite of the angry
eyes that were turned toward her she managed to smile, but it wasn't a
pretty smile.
For a minute Janet's face flamed to a deep red, then as suddenly her
cheeks grew very white. There was a pathetic silence. She knew that
it would end soon, but before it ended she must answer or Phyllis would
be ashamed of her.
"I'm afraid I can't play any games," she said slowly; "you see, I never
went with girls and I never went to school."
"Did you go with boys then?" Muriel still smiled. She felt quite sure
that the answer would be "no."
"Why, yes, I did," Janet confessed, "and, you see, they liked to play
ball and to go sailing or canoeing,"--she thought of Peter Gibbs, and
the thought of him made the color come back to her cheeks--natural
color this time.
"We coasted a lot in the winter and then of course there was always
fishing," she finished lamely. How could she explain the hundred and
one things that went to make up her days in Old Chester?
"Oh, well, I suppose you will find it very strange here." It was a
chastened Muriel that spoke.
"Now, my Aunt Jane's poll parrot, I ask you, why under the sun should
she?" Sally broke the silence that followed angrily.
Eleanor laughed at Janet.
"Have you been properly introduced to Sally's Aunt Jane's poll parrot?"
she asked to change the subject.
"He's a very wise bird, and we all consult him when our own reason
fails,"--Rosamond took up the explanation.
"Sally consults him oftener than any of the rest of us, because you
see, Sally's reason fails her oftener. Excuse my breaking into the
conversation, but no one has had the manners to introduce me. My name
is Daphne Hillis, but no one ever calls me anything but Taffy on
account of my hair." It was a long speech, but the speaker took twice
as long as was necessary to say it; her slow drawl held a hint of
laughter, and her voice sounded warm and furry.
Janet looked at her and laughed without meaning to.
"How do you do," she said. "I'm awfully glad to know about the poll
parrot," she added with a smile.
Phyllis, who had been talking, very much against her will, to one of
the teachers, joined them and nodded to Taffy. Janet noticed that she
looked surprised and pleased.
Daphne smiled lazily.
"I like your twin, Phyllis," she drawled and then left them.
"Now isn't that just like Taffy?" Sally demanded.
"Not a bit," Eleanor protested. "Taffy likes very few people."
"Well, you know what I mean," Sally insisted. "It's like her to say a
thing like that and then leave."
It was not until Janet and Phyllis were alone in the living-room that
Phyllis explained.
"Daphne Hillis is the most popular girl in school," she said, "but I
think she has fewer friends than any other girl, and that's what makes
it strange."
"But if she's so popular?" Janet queried.
"Oh, she could have dozens of friends, but she doesn't seem to want
them. She's queer and different somehow; none of us understand her,
but we all love her."
Janet looked out of the window and smiled softly to herself. If being
different from other girls meant being like Daphne, why, being
different was not so bad after all.
She didn't even bother to turn her head when Phyllis exclaimed angrily,
"I think I hate Muriel Grey."