The dressing-bell was rung at seven, and all the students were expected
to meet in the chapel for prayers at eight. Nothing was said if they
did not appear; no reproofs were uttered, and no inquiries made; but the
good-fellowship between the students and the dons was so apparent in the
three Halls, that known wishes were always regarded, and, as a rule,
there were few absentees.
The girls went to chapel in their white-straw sailor-hats, simply
trimmed with a broad band of ribbon of the college colours, green with a
narrow stripe of gold. Breakfast immediately followed chapel; tea and
coffee and different cold meats were placed on the side-tables, and the
girls helped themselves to what they pleased.
The great event at breakfast was the post. Each student, when she
entered the breakfast-hall, would make an eager rush to the side-table
where the letters were neatly placed. During breakfast these were read
and chatted over. The whole meal was most informal, and seldom lasted
more than a quarter of an hour.
After breakfast the notice-board in the large entrance-hall was visited
and eagerly scanned, for it contained a detailed account of the hours
for the different lectures, and the names of the lecturers who would
instruct the students during the day. By the side of the large official
notice-board hung another, which was read with quite as deep interest.
This contained particulars of the meetings of the different clubs and
societies for pleasure or profit got up by the girls themselves.
On the morning after her arrival, Priscilla, with the other students,
read the contents of these two boards, and then, in the company of a
Fresher, nearly as shy as herself, she wandered about the lovely grounds
which surrounded Heath Hall until nine o'clock, when lectures began.
Lectures continued without interruption until lunch-time, a meal which
was taken very much when the girls pleased. The time allowed for this
light midday refreshment was from half-past twelve to two. The
afternoons were mostly given up to games and gymnastics, although
occasionally there were more lectures, and the more studious of the
girls spent a considerable part of the time studying in their own rooms.
Tea was the convivial meal of the day; to this the girls invited outside
friends and acquaintances, and, as a rule, they always took it in their
own rooms.
Dinner was at half-past six, and from half-past seven to half-past nine
was usually the time when the different clubs and societies met.
There was a regularity and yet a freedom about the life; invisible
bounds were prescribed, beyond which no right-minded or conscientious
girl cared to venture, but the rules were really very few. Students
might visit their friends in Kingsdene, and receive them at the college.
They might entertain them at luncheon or dinner, or at tea in their own
rooms, at a fixed charge; and provided the friends left at a certain
hour, and the girls themselves asked for leave of absence when they
wished to remain out, and mentioned the place to which they proposed to
go, no questions were asked, and no objections offered.
They were expected to return to the college not later than eleven at
night, and one invitation to go out in the week was, as a rule, the most
they ever accepted.
Into this life Priscilla came, fresh from the Devonshire farm and from
all the pursuits and interests which had hitherto formed her world. She
had made a very firm niche for herself in Aunt Raby's old cottage, and
the dislodgment therefrom caused her for the time such mental disquiet
and so many nervous and queer sensations that her pain was often acute
and her sense of awkwardness considerable.
Priscilla's best in her early life always seemed but a poor affair, and
she certainly neither looked nor was at her best at first here. After a
few days, however, she fitted into her new grooves, took up the line of
study which she intended to pursue, and was quickly absorbed in all the
fascinations which it offered to a nature like hers.
Her purse was restored to her on the morning after her arrival, and
neither Maggie Oliphant nor Nancy Banister ever guessed that she had
overheard some words of theirs on the night of her arrival, and that
these had put bitterness into her heart and nearly destroyed her faith
in her fellow-students. Both Maggie and Nance made several overtures of
kindness to Prissie, but the cold manner which was more or less habitual
to her never thawed, and, after a time, they left her alone. There is
no saying what might have happened to Prissie had she never overheard
this conversation. As it was, however, after the first shock it gave
her courage.