OFF FOR THREE TOWERS HALL
It was just two weeks to the time when the girls were to leave for Three
Towers Hall.
It seemed to them they would never get done all the things that they had
to do, and they sewed and packed and planned until it seemed they must
stop because of sheer exhaustion.
However, their parents sent them to bed early--and not without
difficulty was this feat accomplished--on the night before the great
day, and the morning found them refreshed and wildly eager for this new
adventure.
As, in her own little room, Billie regarded her flushed reflection in
the mirror it seemed impossible to make herself realize that she was
really going to Three Towers Hall at last--Three Towers which had been
the height of her ambition from the time she had entered the grammar
school.
She was beginning to feel quite grown up--which was perhaps the reason
she regarded her new and very pretty brown hat with a critical eye and
smoothed down her new and very pretty brown dress with hands that
trembled with excitement.
"Well, I think I'm all ready now," she said at last, and gave a little,
half-frightened glance around the familiar room. She wondered how it
would seem to sleep in a strange place with no mother or father near by.
Then she shook herself impatiently and picked up her bag--for was she
not grown-up now?
However, she did not feel very grown-up when a moment later she met her
mother in the hall and saw traces of tears on her face. For Mother had
no new scenes to go to and the departure of her two noisy children would
leave the house strangely quiet and subdued.
Billie flung herself upon her mother and hugged her tight.
"Mumsey, you've been crying!" she said to her accusingly. "And you know
you mustn't."
Then to her great surprise she felt a peculiar lump in her own throat,
and two tears forced themselves to her eyes.
She had never dreamt of crying, and for the first time she realized that
leaving one's mother--even for Three Towers--was not easy, after all!
But it was Mrs. Bradley who came to the rescue and prevented a break
down by asking:
"Isn't that Laura coming down the street? And the boy with her must be
Teddy."
With a quick movement, Billie brushed her hand across her eyes, kissed
her mother hard, and straightened the new brown hat.
"You're coming to the station, M--mother?" she asked, and Mrs. Bradley
nodded.
After that Chet came in, wrestled with the same troublesome lump in his
throat, told his mother, "Not to worry, Mumsey, he'd write every day,
and she mustn't forget to write for he was going to miss her awfully,"
and then Mr. Bradley joined them and they all started for the station.
Mr. and Mrs. Jordon were with Teddy and Laura. Teddy said that Ferd was
on his way, but had told them not to wait for him, he'd catch up to them
later.
A little farther on they picked up Violet and Mr. and Mrs. Farrington,
and after that there was no more time to think of being homesick.
There was something in the sunshine, the crisp air, the brilliant,
changing colors of the leaves on the trees that went to Billie's head
and made her feel as though she were walking on air.
"Do you suppose Ferd will catch up to us?" she asked of Teddy. Teddy was
looking unusually handsome this morning--at least so Billie thought--and
she was surprised to find that he was walking beside her. "It would be
awful if he made us miss the train."
"You don't think we'd _wait_ for him do you?" asked Teddy scornfully.
"If Ferd's late he'll be the only one to miss the train!"
Both Teddy and Billie had always agreed that if you talked of an angel
he or she was sure to turn up, and in this case their faith was
justified.
For just as they reached the station platform a figure that looked very
familiar turned the corner and came rushing down toward them as if bent
on running a Marathon.
"There's Ferd--and here's the train," announced Teddy, as a shrill
whistle made them jump and look eagerly down the track. "Not much time
to waste at that."
The young folks were so taken up in the leave taking that they failed to
notice two girls who got on the train just after them. Even if they had
not been able to see the faces of these newcomers, an overheard sentence
or two would have given them the clue to their identity.
"Isn't it just like them, the stuck up things," one of the girls said to
the other, "to bring all their relations to see them off?"
"Never mind," said the other with a malicious grin. "I guess I gave them
rather a jolt the other day when I told them I was going to Three Towers
too. I guess they thought they owned the place and ought to have it all
to themselves."
However, the boys and girls were perfectly unaware of this conversation
concerning themselves; although it probably would not have bothered them
very greatly if they had heard it.
They were still leaning out of the window, calling to those left on the
platform and answering injunctions "not to get killed" from their
mothers and to "please be careful and not get into any more scrapes than
they could help" from their fathers, when the guard shouted a warning
and the train started off.
They waved until the station and the people on it were out of sight,
then settled back in their seats "to view the prospect o'er," Chet said.
For a moment they all felt a little lost and queer, though nothing in
the world could have made them confess to the feeling. But the little
wave of homesickness soon passed off, swallowed up by the vision of the
amazing adventure ahead of them.
Before the little party had stowed away their baggage and taken off
their wraps, several boys and girls they had known at school came over
to greet them and talk things over, and Billie, leaning over to rescue a
box of chocolates that had fallen at her feet, suddenly looked up and
right into the beaming face of Nellie Bane.
Nellie was a friend of the chums who had rather expected to go to Three
Towers Hall with them at first. But Mr. and Mrs. Bane had suddenly
decided to go to Europe and take Nellie with them, which had rather
upset Nellie's plans. And now here she was on the train with them.
"Why, Nellie!" Billie cried, almost dropping the chocolates again in her
surprise and delight. "How did you get here----"
"Through the window," mocked Nellie, and dropped into a vacant seat
beside Laura.
"But," stammered the latter, her eyes round and wide with wonder, "the
last we heard of you you were going to England."
"Yes. But an aunt of Daddy's died and he decided we'd better postpone
the voyage until next summer."
"Are you glad or sorry?" demanded Billie breathlessly.
"Glad," said Nellie without a moment's hesitation. "I want to go to
Europe, of course. But I can go there any old time, and I was simply
wild to go to Three Towers with you girls. You'll never know how jealous
I was," she ended with a sigh.
"Isn't it funny?" marveled Violet. "And here we were envying you!"
They laughed, and thereupon entered into a spirited conversation that
lasted until Ferd interrupted to inquire what they were keeping the
chocolates to themselves for, anyway. Did they think they had a corner
on the chocolate market? To this Billie answered by holding out the
whole box, showing that they had been too busy talking even to open it.
This interruption led to others, however, and they found that nearly the
whole car was occupied by girls and boys from North Bend who were going
to Three Towers or the Boxton Military Academy.
At last, wearied with excitement and visiting, Billie sank into her own
seat. A moment later Teddy came and sat down beside her.
"I see we have your friend with us," he said, handing over the candy
box.
"My friend?" repeated Billie, bewildered.
"Amanda Peabody," he explained. "She is sitting with another girl who
looks as if she might be a second edition of Amanda. There! Away at the
end of the car! You surely missed a lot by not seeing them."
"Another girl," Billie repeated, looking worried. "Then there are two of
them."
"Yes. But don't let it hurt your appetite. Have some more candy."
"Do you know her name--the other one?" asked Billie, ignoring the
offered candy box.
"No, I didn't stop long enough to inquire. In fact," he chuckled and bit
into a chocolate, "I gave them one look and beat it."
Billie dimpled, but the next moment her face was grave again.
"That's all right for you," she said. "But what would you do if you
couldn't 'beat it'?"
It was Teddy's turn to be puzzled.
"What do you mean?" he asked.
"Only," said Billie, speaking very slowly and distinctly, "that Amanda
and most likely that other girl, whoever she is, are both going to Three
Towers Hall with us."
Teddy emitted a long whistle and looked sympathetic.
"Say, I'm sorry. That's tough luck."
"It's worse than that," wailed Billie. "It's--it's ruinous! I just know
that Amanda Peabody will do her best to spoil the term for us girls!"