THE QUARREL
There was a secret club among the girls at Three Towers Hall, and only
the students who stood first in their classes could be admitted to the
chosen circle.
Also the girls who were lucky enough to be elected to the "Ghost Club,"
for that was what the society was called, must be popular among their
fellow students. There was an unwritten law that membership in the club
should not exceed fifteen.
Rose Belser was president of the club, while Connie Danvers and several
of the other girls with whom Billie and her chums were on the best of
terms, were fellow members. Caroline Brant had been asked to join but
had refused on the ground that the club took too much time from her
studies. It was a compliment to Caroline that, in spite of her refusal,
the girls--all except Rose Belser--liked her just the same.
Billie and her chums had not been in Three Towers a week before they had
heard of the secret club--no one but the members themselves even knew
the name of it--and had realized how much all the girls longed to be
members of it.
So when one day Connie came to Billie and whispered something in her
ear, it was no wonder that Billie's heart beat a little faster.
But all Connie had really said was: "We want to see you and Laura and Vi
outside near the old maple tree at ten to-night. It's very important.
Don't keep us waiting!"
And Billie, in a voice she tried hard to keep natural, said that they
would not keep her waiting. And when she imparted the mysterious message
to Laura and Vi they gaped at her, then pulled her down on a bench--it
was noon and they had come out for a bit of sunshine and fresh air
before the afternoon lessons--and showered her with questions.
"But, Billie, didn't she say why she wanted to see us?" cried Laura.
"And who wanted to see us?" added Vi.
"I've told you just exactly what she said," Billie answered a little
impatiently, while her eyes shone with excitement. "She said it was very
important and not to keep them waiting."
"I bet I know what it is," said Laura, almost afraid to put her hope
into words. "It's the secret society, Billie."
"The secret society!" Vi repeated in an awed voice, while two girls who
were passing paused and looked at them curiously. "Oh, Laura, it
couldn't be! Billie, do you think it is?" She looked eagerly at Billie.
Then her gaze traveled on to the two curious girls who were still
lingering within earshot, and she sat up so straight that Billie and
Laura looked at her in surprise. As usual the loiterers were Amanda and
her "Shadow" and as they saw Vi's eyes upon them they smiled
unpleasantly.
"Hello," said Amanda coming over to the girls while the "Shadow"
lingered behind. The latter was not quite as bold as Amanda--nor quite
as mean. "I heard you say something about the secret society. Are you
invited?" The last words were said with such a sneer and the grin on her
face was so aggravating that the girls felt their blood begin to boil.
Billie jumped to her feet and faced Amanda, both hands clenched at her
sides.
"We've stood just about as much as we're going to from you, Amanda," she
said, her eyes blazing. "You've done nothing, you and Eliza, but spy
upon us ever since we came to Three Towers, and I'll tell you right now
we're tired of it."
"Oh, you are!" said Amanda, her grin a little wider, while Laura and Vi,
alarmed at what they saw was going to be a real quarrel at last, got up
and stood beside Billie. Other girls who had come out on the campus
gathered around them curiously. "Well, what do you think you're going
to do about it?"
"I don't know yet," said Billie, trembling with fury--for usually
good-natured, fun-loving Billie had a whirlwind of a temper when it was
roused. "But we'll make you stop your spying and mean tricks if we have
to try your stunt and go to Miss Walters about it."
"What's this?" asked a cool pleasant voice behind them, and the girls
turned quickly to find Miss Walters looking on gravely. "What is it you
want to come to me about, Beatrice?"
But Billie turned all colors of the rainbow and stood as if stricken
suddenly dumb. A minute before she had been furious. Now she was only
ashamed.
How could she explain to Miss Walters without telling about Amanda? That
would be telling tales, and, in spite of her threat, that was the very
last thing Billie wanted or intended to do. Beneath Miss Walters' steady
gaze she hung her head.
"Come, speak up, Beatrice," Miss Walters commanded, not unkindly, for,
like almost every one in Three Towers Hall, she had come to love
reckless, sweet-natured Billie, and even laughed at her pranks in
secret. "I've asked you a question, and my girls are in the habit of
answering me."
"Please," said poor Billie without looking up, "I want to answer you,
Miss Walters, but I don't know how I can without t-telling tales."
"Was there a quarrel?" questioned Miss Walters, her face still grave,
for she disliked that kind of thing. "If you can't tell me about it
without telling tales," here the faintest of smiles flitted across her
face, "I want you at least to tell me that you are no longer angry and
that a scene of this kind will never happen again. Here, Beatrice, shake
hands with Amanda and be friends again."
Billie looked more startled at this than at anything that had happened
so far. Shake hands with Amanda? Pretend they were friends again? Why,
they never had been friends! Instinctively she put her hands behind her
back. Then she looked up at Miss Walters appealingly.
"Please, Miss Walters," she said, "won't it be enough, if I tell you I'm
sorry I made a scene and that I'll never do it again? I won't, truly I
won't."
"Yes, that will do," answered Miss Walters, her eyes really smiling now.
She was thinking that if she had had a daughter she would have liked her
to be like Billie. "Only remember, I have your word that it will never
happen again. Come now, it is almost time for afternoon class," and she
led the way back across the lawn.
The girls followed in groups of two and three while Amanda and the
"Shadow" brought up the rear. There was a smile on Amanda's face, and
for the first time since she had come to Three Towers she was exultant.
She had succeeded in making Billie furious, had seen her called to
account--gently of course, altogether too gently, for "Billie was Miss
Walters' pet"--but called to account nevertheless and before a crowd of
her classmates. That ought to hold her for a while!
As for Billie herself, and Laura and Vi, they were desperate.
"You ought to have told Miss Walters about Amanda, Billie," Laura said
over and over again. "You shouldn't have let that little old sneak get
away with it. Did you see her smile when Miss Walters turned away? Oh,
if I could only give her what I want to give her!" Laura's hands clasped
and unclasped nervously as she talked and her eyes snapped.
"Yes, that's just what she was waiting for," said Vi, hardly less
furious than Laura. "If you only hadn't answered her, Billie. Had just
looked at her with your nose in the air and turned away. That makes her
mad enough to murder you."
"Oh, I know it, I know it," said Billie, still ashamed to look any one
in the face. She had broken one of the rules and had been reprimanded
for it by Miss Walters in public. There was no getting over that. If it
had been one of the "Dill Pickles" she would not have minded so much.
But Miss Walters!
"Never mind," Vi whispered in her ear. "Miss Walters doesn't like Amanda
any more than we do, and she just scolded you because she had to. And I
know she liked the way you refused to tell tales. I saw it in the way
she looked at you."
At this Billie brightened and glanced up hopefully.
"Well, I'm glad if there's something she can like about me," she
answered, and just then the gong echoing through the hall, sent them
scurrying to their classes.
In the excitement of the scene with Amanda the girls had almost
forgotten their mysterious engagement for ten o'clock that evening. But
when they did think of it again it had the effect of making them forget
everything else.
The afternoon dragged on, evening came with supper, and then at last
they were in the dormitory, pretending to undress with the other girls,
while they really left most of their clothing on.
When everything was dark and the whole place seemingly asleep, they got
out of bed quietly, stole softly down the stairs, and finally came out
into the moonlit night.
The old maple tree where they were to meet Connie was a magnificent old
giant which the girls had always admired, set back a little way in the
woods.
The place had probably been picked out because nobody, happening to
look from the windows of Three Towers, would be able to see anything but
shadows and waving branches.
When the girls, moving softly over twigs and branches, so as to make no
noise, finally came to the meeting place they were surprised and a
little alarmed to find no one there.
The woods were dark and silent, save for the soft murmuring of the wind
among the trees.
"Nobody's here," said Vi, glancing nervously over her shoulder.
"Suppose nobody comes," whispered Laura. "Maybe it's all a joke."
"Well, if it is," said Billie with a rueful little smile, "the joke is
on us."