WITHOUT LEAVE
"Want to go to a party, Rosalind?"
It was a dull, uninteresting-looking day in early December. Snow was
threatening and out-of-doors looked anything but attractive. Rosalind
was toiling over a history lesson and wishing that all the kings and
queens of France had been guillotined before they made trouble for
future generations of schoolgirls, instead of afterward, when a tap at
the door heralded Marcia and her exciting question.
Rosalind dropped her book, casting Louis XIV to the winds.
"Of course I do. Where? And when? And how? Tell me quick."
Marcia shut the door carefully. "Any chance of your roommate coming
in?"
"No, she's gone home for the week-end. No one will disturb us. I'm
supposed to be studying. Didn't you see the sign?"
"Yes, but I knew you weren't hurting yourself with study. Now listen. I
am invited to a party at Sara Marshall's tonight, and I can bring a
friend with me. Her brother will meet us at the corner with a car, at
nine o'clock. I thought of you. Will you go?"
"I'd love to. Have you asked Miss Harland? Will she let us?"
"Rosalind, you _are_ green. What Miss Harland doesn't know won't hurt
her. I haven't asked her, and I don't intend to. If you would be afraid
to go without leave, I'll ask Alison--but she's such a stickler for
rules, I didn't think she would. And this is such a good chance, with
your roommate away, and all. We can dress in here after supper, and I'll
spend the night with you, if anybody asks. As soon as lights are out,
we'll slip down to the basement. There'll be a window unlatched. Ann
will do anything for me. See how easy it will be."
It did strike Rosalind that the plan was too clearly arranged to have
been settled on such short notice. She said doubtfully, "But when did
you see Sara Marshall?"
"Oh, she sent me a note yesterday. I've been thinking of it ever since,
and planning it out." But Marcia did not explain that she had seen Sara
Marshall the day before, and that all the arrangements had been
carefully canvassed before a word was to be said to Rosalind. The note
had been merely to say that all was as they had planned, and that her
brother and a friend would be waiting at the corner for them. To
Rosalind it seemed an impromptu plan for a little fun, and her
pleasure-loving little head was quite turned at the prospect.
"The only trouble is," Marcia was off on a fresh tack, "I haven't a
thing that is decent to wear. I spoiled my old blue the last time I
wore it. It was dreadfully unbecoming, anyway. I don't believe I can
go, after all."
"I'll lend you my pink," offered Rosalind, dismayed at the thought of
disappointment. "I have a new white dress mother just sent me. Please
wear my pink. It would be so becoming to you."
Marcia knew it would be, and after a proper amount of hesitation and
protest, she yielded, and the die was cast. The afternoon was an
exciting one, and after supper they retired to Rosalind's room,
ostensibly to study together. Marcia had asked and obtained permission
to spend the night with Rosalind, and with the door securely shut and
fastened, the business of dressing was before them.
All went as they had planned. At nine o'clock they cautiously opened the
door. All was dark and still in the corridor, and they crept noiselessly
downstairs to the basement, where the window had been unlatched for them
by one of the maids, bribed by Marcia.
They climbed out, ran swiftly across the lawn, in terror lest someone
might be looking from an upper window. But there was no sound or
movement from the sleeping rooms. They climbed over the low place in the
wall and found themselves out in the quiet street.
No one was in sight, and they scurried along, only intent on getting out
of sight of those dark windows. At the corner two dark figures
confronted them, and Rosalind barely suppressed a scream. But it was
only Tom Marshall, who greeted them cordially.
"Hello, girls, here you are. This is Ray Gordon. We've got a car here.
Hop in, it's cold out here. Glad to see you have warm coats."
The coats had been put on chiefly to cover their evening dresses, but
they were shivering with cold and excitement, and were glad to find
themselves in the warm car.
They were soon in Mrs. Marshall's bright parlors, where a merry crowd
was gathered, and were pleasantly welcomed by Mrs. Marshall herself,
and by Sara, who introduced them to her friends, some of whom were known
to Marcia, but not to Rosalind.
"Miss Harland did not object to your coming, dear?" Mrs. Marshall asked.
"I was sure she would not, she and I are old friends--"
"Oh, no, she did not object in the least," said Marcia quickly,
forestalling the words she saw on Rosalind's lips, and replying, as she
argued to herself, quite truthfully, since Miss Harland had _not_
objected, not having been consulted.
The evening went on. Marcia was very bright and animated. The pink dress
was becoming to her. Her cheeks glowed with bright color. A pearl
necklace clasped her throat, and on one finger gleamed a ring--a
beautiful pearl ring which she certainly had not worn when they left the
school. Rosalind wondered. Could she have had the jewels in her
hand-bag, and put them on in the comparative darkness of the car? That
must have been it, she decided. But she felt uncomfortable, and could
not throw herself into the spirit of whole-souled enjoyment as the
others did. She was glad when the time came for breaking up, and their
two escorts took them back through the quiet streets.
"Here we are," said Tom Marshall, drawing up at the corner. "We'll see
you safe to the gate--"
"Oh, no, thank you. It is only a step, and we have to climb the wall.
Thank you, and goodnight," protested Marcia, her teeth chattering with
cold and nervousness.
Not daring to speak aloud, the girls sped along, keeping close to the
wall until they reached the low place where they could climb over
without risking the opening of the gate. The basement window was still
unlatched. Carefully they scrambled through, and finally stood on the
floor--"Safe, and nobody saw us," exulted Marcia in a whisper.
And then, without warning the light flashed on, and the culprits stood
revealed to the accusing eyes of Miss Charlton, the teacher on their
hall.
For a long minute they faced each other, the girls too dismayed and
startled to speak a word in their own behalf. At length Miss Charlton
said slowly and very distinctly,
"I thought so. Marcia West and Rosalind Forrest, I shall report you
absent without leave. You will both go to Miss Harland's office after
chapel tomorrow morning. She will deal with you as she thinks best. Go
to your rooms now. Goodnight!"
Thankful to be thus summarily dismissed, the girls scurried noiselessly
up two long flights of stairs and reached Rosalind's room without
meeting anyone. Every door was shut, the occupants of the rooms sleeping
safely and sweetly. How passionately Rosalind envied them. If she were
only safe in her own bed now, with no sense of wrongdoing to hound her,
no punishment awaiting her.
"It's all your fault, Marcia," she sobbed, tearing her white dress in
her hurry to get it off. "I wish I had never listened to you--"
"My fault! Well, I like that. You were very willing to listen at the
time, it seems to me," returned Marcia crossly, pulling at the clasp of
the pearl necklace so roughly in her irritation that it snapped, and the
beautiful thing lay broken in her hand. "There! see what you made me
do," she added angrily.
"I didn't," contradicted Rosalind, too exasperated to sympathize; and
presently she was in bed, with the covers pulled over her head.
Frightened and ashamed, she remembered that she had not said her
prayers. She tried to say them in bed, but the first words of contrition
brought tears, and she cried herself to sleep.
As for Marcia, she lay long awake, wondering what she should do with the
broken necklace she had "borrowed," in anticipation of this very party.
Finally she rose softly, and without turning on the light, found a small
box in the dresser drawer, placed the broken necklace in it, and opening
the door noiselessly, slipped past the line of trunks in the hall until
she came to the one she wanted. She placed her little
tissue-paper-wrapped parcel behind it, and returned as noiselessly to
Rosalind's room, and slipped into bed beside her.... Daylight was
brightening the windows before she fell into a troubled doze.