THE GRAND GUARD BALL
Bess was in a terrible state of mind when the news was told to her. She
told Nan before suppertime that the girls were saying awful things, and
she wanted to know what it meant. The fact that Nan was still bound by
Dr. Prescott's sentence of silence made no difference to Bess.
"You've got to tell me what it means, or I'll never speak to you again,
so there!" cried Bess. "How is it your own chum never knows anything
about your secrets, and other girls do? It's a horrid shame!"
Nan, much troubled herself now, having discovered the loss of her
unfinished letter, ran off to the principal and begged to be relieved of
her sentence of silence. "Else I shall lose my dearest friend!" she told
Dr. Prescott, quite wildly. "Something has happened that I _must_ tell
her about, dear Dr. Prescott! I _must_!"
"'Must' is a hard master, Nancy," said the principal, softly. "Are you
in trouble?"
"Yes, Dr. Prescott," admitted Nan, almost sobbing.
"Can I help you at all, my dear?"
"No! Oh, thank you, no! Oh! it's nothing to do with my own self here at
school; but it is about my father and my mother. They--they are having
some trouble in Scotland."
"I see, my dear," said Dr. Prescott, quietly. "I hope it is not as bad
as you evidently think. But, whatever it is, remember that I am always
ready to help my girls if I can. There may be something later that I can
do."
"Thank you! thank you, so much, Dr. Prescott!" Nan cried, putting up her
lips for the warm kiss the preceptress gave her. "And I may speak to
Bess?"
"I absolve you from further silence. I think you will remember this
punishment," said the principal, with a smile.
Then Nan went back and told Bess all. The two girls read Mrs. Sherwood's
letter again and again, and Bess declared that Nan should not leave
Lakeview Hall, no matter what happened about the Scotch legacy. "My
father will pay for you to stay here with me, Nan Sherwood. You know he
will."
Nan would not argue this point. They had talked that over to a
conclusion long before circumstances had made it possible for Nan to
attend the school. With all her desire for an education, Nan was the
soul of independence. She knew now just what she would do. Her parents
could not get home much before the Christmas holidays, and Nan
determined to go to Tillbury to them when they reached there, and at
once get a certificate from Mr. Mangel, the high-school principal, and
try to secure a position in some store in Tillbury. She told Bess, to
that young lady's disgust and alarm, that she must help support the
family and help her father pay off the mortgage that would have to be
put on the little cottage on Amity Street.
"I think it's just as mean as it can be!" sobbed Bess, fairly given up
to woe. "And we were going to have such fun this winter. And Dad's
almost promised that we should have a nice boat next spring. Oh, dear
me, Nan Sherwood! Something always is happening to you to stir us all
up!"
At another time Nan would have laughed at this way of expressing it; but
she found no food for laughter in anything now. The girls who were
closest to her, and loved her, were just as tender and kind as their
several natures suggested. Grace Mason cried outright and her eyes were
swollen and red the next morning when Walter ran over in the motor car
to see her.
"What's the matter, Sis?" he demanded. "Who's been picking on you now?"
"Sh! Nobody. Nan and Bess and Laura wouldn't let them," his sister
confessed. "But it's Nan--in _such_ trouble!"
She related what she knew of the circumstances, and Walter was deeply
impressed by the story.
"Go ahead and get Nan, and we'll take a little spin," suggested the boy.
While his sister ran to ask permission, and to find Nan, Linda Riggs
came along and stopped, as always, to speak to Walter.
"How is it you never take us girls to ride any more, as you used to last
term?" asked the rich girl, smiling winningly on Walter.
"I--I don't have much time," stammered the boy, awkwardly. "Tutors, you
know, and all that. Awfully busy."
"Yes--you--are!" laughed Cora, who was with her friend. "We see you on
the roads, flying by."
Just then Grace appeared.
"Here we are, Walter!" she cried. "We're all ready."
"Oh! all right," answered the boy, and got out quickly to crank up.
Linda tossed her head as Nan followed Grace down the front steps. "That
is what it means, eh?" she whispered to Cora. "That poverty-stricken Nan
Sherwood! I wonder if Walter knows he's taking out a pauper in that
handsome car."
"Oh! maybe Nan isn't quite a pauper," said Cora doubtfully.
"Yes, she is! And a thief! Or, she tried to be----"
"You know Mrs. Cupp warned you about repeating that story, Linda," said
Cora, hastily.
"Well! just the same there'll be another story to tell," muttered Linda,
watching the automobile party get under way with envious eyes. "I'll
just fix that Nan Sherwood; you see!"
In the automobile Walter found time to say to Nan, when Grace could not
hear: "I'm awfully sorry you're in trouble, Nan. I wish I could help
you. We all like you tremendously. You know that, don't you?"
"I believe you mean it, Walter," said Nan, winking fast to keep back the
tears. "And it's just _dear_ of you to say so. Thanks!" and Nan pressed
the boy's offered hand warmly.
The Grand Guard Ball, a social event that shook Freeling and the
surrounding towns to their social centre, was to be held on this
evening. The older girls of Lakeview Hall were usually allowed to attend
the assembly under the care of one or two teachers. Sometimes Dr. Beulah
Prescott herself attended the ball.
Nan did not really care to go; but Bess insisted, and would not go
without her. Mrs. Harley had seen to it that both girls had pretty party
dresses, and these compared well with the frocks worn by the other girls
who filled Charley's old omnibus and the several automobiles that
transported the pupils from Lakeview Hall to the ball.
Linda Riggs wore a frock as unfitted for her age as Mrs. Cupp would
allow. It was noticed, too, that Linda did not wear the pretty coral
necklace she had displayed so frequently during the term. That was
around Cora's pretty throat, while Linda's neck was bare of any
ornament. Mrs. Cupp did not attend the assembly on this occasion. She
hurried off to the village early in the evening, having received a note
from her sister, Miss Vane. Some of the girls said that Mrs. Cupp and
her sister were in trouble over an orphan boy whom Miss Sadie Vane had
once taken to bring up.
"He was more like a bond-slave than an adopted son, I reckon," Susan
told Laura Polk, in her gossipy way. "If you gals yere think Mrs. Cupp
is a Tartar, yo'd ought to have some 'sperience with Miss Sadie Vane. I
wo'ked fo' her once. Never again!"
"What's happened to the boy?" Laura asked.
"He done run away, and now it tu'ns out that there's money comin' to him
an' the 'thorities want to know whar he done gone. It's makin' Miss Vane
a sight of trouble--an' sarve her right!"
This story Laura, of course, told to her chums; but nobody expressed any
sorrow for Mrs. Cupp but Nan. The latter could not help but feel that,
after all, the matron had shown her some kindness, even if she had told
Dr. Prescott about the boathouse banquet.
Dr. Prescott did not herself attend the Grand Guard Ball. Mademoiselle
Loro was very near-sighted, and Miss Gleason, the physical culture
instructor, who also went to chaperon the girls, was not of an observant
nature.
Therefore, when Linda Riggs suddenly blazed out in all the glory of a
diamond and ruby necklace in an old-fashioned setting "more fit," as
Amelia Boggs said, "for a Choctaw princess to wear than a white girl!"
there really was nobody to forbid the display.
People remarked about it, however. It was plainly a family heirloom and
very valuable. If it was done to advertise Mr. Riggs' wealth, it was in
poor taste, and Dr. Prescott certainly would be greatly displeased if
she heard of Linda's action. However, nobody had any concern about that
unless it was Linda herself.
The girls enjoyed every minute they were allowed to remain at the ball.
Each girl was allowed three dances, and the question of partners was a
burning one.
Walter Mason had done yeoman's duty in this matter. He knew every youth
who attended the ball. He was indefatigable in introducing them to his
sister and the other girls from the Hall. Even Amelia had partners for
her three dances.
In fact, only one girl missed the full complement of dances. That was
Linda. She was so angry with Walter that she refused to let him
introduce any of his friends, and in return Walter did not ask her to
dance at all. So the Linda Riggs' clique, and Nan and the Masons, were
very much at odds when they went back to the hall at ten o'clock.
The necklace disappeared from Linda's neck before the Hall was reached.
But in the morning, at breakfast time, it appeared again in a most
surprising bit of gossip. Around the tables went the rumor, flying from
lip to lip:
"Linda's beautiful necklace is gone! She's in her room in tears and will
not be comforted. She declares it has been stolen."