Gertrude W. Morrison

“ The girl had narrated her flight from Centerport when she saw the Gypsies in that town and knew they would hunt her down. “And we girls will help you find your friends.”
“This Miss Carrington,” spoke Margit, eagerly. “She knows. I must meet her. But do you not tell her anything about me. Let me meet and judge her for myself.”
“Don’t you think we’d better tell her something about you?” asked Eve, thoughtfully.
“Perhaps she might not want to know me,” replied the Gypsy girl, anxiously. “Who am I? A Romany! All you other people look down on the Romany folk.” ”

“ Dora Lockwood said it so tragically that Bobby was highly amused.
“My goodness me!” she chortled. “You said that with all the horrified emphasis of a spinster lady.”
“It is a man—isn’t it?” whispered the other twin.
“I—I guess so,” Laura Belding said, slowly.
“It is,” declared Jess. “And he’s a tough looking character.”
“And he is acting quite as oddly as the girl did,” remarked Bobby. “What do you suppose it means?”
“He’s a Gypsy, too, I believe,” put in Eve Sitz, suddenly.
“Say! this is getting melodramatic,” laughed Laura Belding. ”

“ Eve instantly ran out to the edge of the road. One of the Gypsies uttered a shrill, warning cry, and the men turned to intercept the girls.
But into view came the heads of a team of bay horses, and then a farm-wagon, with a bewhiskered man in high boots on the seat, driving the team.
“Hullo! Whoa!” exclaimed the farmer, when he saw Eve. “I declare I Is that you, Evie?”
“Why, Mr. Crook! how glad I am to see you,” said the Swiss girl. “What have you got in the wagon? Just a few bags? Then you can give us a lift, can’t you? We are tired walking.”
“Sure I can, Miss Evie,” replied the farmer. ”

“ At least, let us remember, when we are seniors, not to do as they have done,” concluded Mother Wit.
“If I’m any prophet,” said Jess. “We won’t be like them.”
“Well, you are no prophet!” cried Bobby. “And don’t talk to me any more about prophets and fortune-tellers.”
“Oh-ho!” mocked Nellie. “Bobby no longer believes in the Gypsy Queen!”
“I believe in nothing of the kind. I was a dreadfully foolish girl to pay any attention to that wicked woman. You see, she was wrong. I got into no trouble this term with Gee Gee, after all.” ”

“ The unfortunate girl lay helpless on the edge of the morass. She was a mass of mud, and her eyes were still closed. Eve seized her under the arms and dragged her across the trembling hummock to firmer ground. Once Eve herself stepped over the edge of the solid ground and plunged—knee-deep—into the mire.
But she recovered herself and quickly brought her burden, breathless though she herself was, to the bridle-path. The old gray mare looked upon the muddy figure on the ground with ears pricked forward. ”

“ Although the old brown cloak she wore hid her green skirt, Bobby knew that the girl before her was the one she and her friends had seen escaping from the Gypsy camp nearly a fortnight before. The girl who had been unafraid of pursuit by the bloodhound, and had run upon stone fences and waded in an ice-cold mountain brook to hide her trail, now cowered in the vestibule of the schoolhouse, in a nervous tremor because of the thunderstorm.
“My! but you are scared of lightning, aren’t you?” exclaimed Bobby, after a minute, and when the noise of the elements had somewhat ceased. ”

“ And as Bobby ran by she saw a man come down from this porch, as though he had been listening at the windows, and hurry around the corner of the house and behind the thick hedge of the kitchen garden.
“That was the Gypsy—Jim Varey,” Bobby thought, hesitating before the house. “What is he haunting Gee Gee for? Ought she to know that he is hanging around?”
But the girl hesitated about going in and speaking to the teacher. Gee Gee, she considered, was really her arch-enemy. Why should she try to shield her from any trouble? ”

“ But Laura Belding went forth, fully determined that none of her friends should waste their money upon the chance that the Gypsy queen might see into the future for them.
“It’s wicked, anyway,” decided Mother Wit. “If God thought it best for us to know what the future had in store for us, he would have put it within the power of every person to know what was coming. Professional palmists, and fortune-tellers of all sorts, are merely wicked persons who wish to get foolish people’s money!” ”

“ Sitz had not allowed Margit to get out of bed, but Eve and Bobby took supper in to the Gypsy girl on a tray. She protested that she was not an invalid, and after Otto and the old folks had gone to bed, Margit, well wrapped in shawls and a comforter, came out to sit in a big chair before Eve’s fire.
“I am not like you girls,” she said, wistfully. “You go to school and learn things out of books, eh? Well, I never went to school. And then, this big America is so different from my country. You do not understand.” ”

“ But if you and your school girl friends had been as much devoted to athletics as Laura and her little friends, I doubt if you would have needed the front stairs bannisters as an escape valve for your animal spirits. ”

“ If you’ve got another girl faster than I am, trot her out. I won’t stand in her light.”
“Nor will Eve interfere with any girl who can beat her in jumping, or put the shot farther,” declared Laura, quickly.
“Oh, yes! That’s all very pretty talk. But Mrs. Case is favoring you. She is favoring the whole junior class. We weren’t doing all the athletic stunts last year when we were juniors—no, indeed!”
“Well, whose fault is it if the junior class stands better in after-hour athletics than the senior?” demanded Bobby, laughing. ”

“ Bobby knew that black face, and the huge gold hoops in his ears, at once. It was the husband of the Gypsy queen.
“Oh, I wonder if the whole encampment is in town hunting for that poor girl, Margit?” thought Bobby. “They are such strange, wicked folk. And look at him—why, that’s Gee Gee!”
The lady ahead on the walk, behind whom the Gypsy was walking so stealthily, was none other than Miss Carrington herself. Instantly Bobby’s thought flashed to the mysterious inquiries of the girl, Margit Salgo, about the teacher at Central High. ”

“ The seniors should have their say. We’ll want to boss when we are seniors.”
“They haven’t shown much interest in the scoring of Central High in athletic matters until lately,” Jess Morse said, quickly. “Why should they want to come in now and run it all?”
“They have the right,” declared Lily.
“Don’t see it—do you, Laura?” cried Bobby.
“If they only wouldn’t try to go against Mrs. Case’s wishes so frequently,” sighed Mother Wit, who would have conceded much for peace.
“They don’t propose to be bossed by the teachers all the time,” declared Lily. “And they’re right.” ”

“ You are usually first in everything; but power does not spoil you. You win love as well as admiration—there is a difference. You have parents and at least one brother. You have no sister. There is a——” She shut her eyes for a moment, and hesitated. “There is a black person—a woman—who has something to do with you——”
“Beware of the ‘black man coming with a bundle,’” hissed Bobby, giggling.
“Hush!” exclaimed Jess. “She means Mammy Jinny, Laura’s old nurse.”
Grace Varey had turned swiftly to the scoffing Bobby, and she pointed at her with an accusing finger. ”

“ Laura shook Bobby a little and said, shrewdly:
“I guess she got out of you what she wanted to know, eh?”
Bobby only sobbed.
“Did you tell her what direction that girl was going—that she was wading up stream?”
“Oh, yes! I did!” gasped Bobby. “She made me.”
“Well, it can’t be helped. It’s really none of our business,” said Laura. “But if they try to stop us from going away now, we’ve got to scatter and run. They can’t hold us all very well, and one of us will surely find some house——”
“They won’t dare stop us,” said Eve, decidedly. ”

“ Laura had been delegated by Mrs. Case to watch the sprinters, and most of them were quickly sent to the courts to play tennis, or basketball, or some other game, and the cinder track was soon devoted to those only who were earnestly endeavoring to develop their speed as runners—and who had some small chance, at least, to make a good record.
Bobby tried the first short dash, and then the third. There was some crowding on the track and she could not do her best—nor did she wish to. As long as she made a good enough showing to be advised to wait for the finals, she was content, and so was Laura. ”

“ It is something more serious than Miss Carrington’s severity,” Laura rejoined.
Clara Hargrew probably had more friends among the girls of Central High than any other girl on the Hill; yet she had not one “crush.” She was “hail-fellow-well-met” with all her schoolmates, and never paired off with any particular girl. She had nobody in whom she would naturally confide—not even at home.
For there had been no mother in the Hargrew home for several years. Mr. Hargrew idolized Bobby, who was the oldest of his three girls; but a father can never be like a mother to a girl. ”

“ CHAPTER VIII—THE GIRL IN THE STORM
Now, Bobby Hargrew was not naturally a secretive girl. Far from it. Her mates noted, however, that of late she had grown quieter. Ever since their adventure with the Gypsies she had seemed distraught at times, and not at all like her usual merry, light-hearted self.
“That horrid Gypsy woman told her something that scared her,” Jess Morse said to Laura Belding. “I didn’t think Bobby would be so easily gulled.”
“Those people know how to make things seem awful real, I expect,” returned her chum, thoughtfully. ”

“ It is beyond me,” declared Otto, walking off to attend to his work.
The family—plain Swiss folk as they were—thought Eve quite mad over these “foolish athletics.” They had no such things in the schools at home—in the old country. Yet Father and Mother Sitz were secretly proud of their big and handsome daughter. She was growing up “American.” That was something to be achieved. They had come of peasant stock, and hoped that their girl, at least, would mix with a more highly educated class of young folk in this new country. ”

“ The physical instructor was examining the time card Laura and her assistants had made out. She would not divulge their time to the runners, and the time keepers were sworn to secrecy; but everybody knew that Bobby Hargrew had made a good showing.
“There’s nothing the matter with that little girl,” said the doctor, confidently. “Only, these sudden strains are not valuable. Yes, once, by the way, is all right. As long as one does not go beyond that reserve strength that your instructor harps upon,” and he laughed. ”

“ The identity of the person in peril did not claim Eve’s attention for half a moment, however. It was her necessity, and the fact that she must be rescued immediately that spurred the farm girl to action.
“Hold on! I’ll save you!” she shouted, and even as she spoke she saw the girl slip down a hand’s breadth deeper into the ooze. If she was to save the victim Eve must indeed work rapidly, and to the purpose.
She saw how the girl had come into her evil plight. Beside the tree ran a narrow strip of grassy hummock. It looked sound, but Eve well knew that all such places were treacherous. ”

“ It’s Eve!” shouted Bobby, fairly dancing up and down.
Margit Salgo was right behind the country girl. She hurried with her to the dressing rooms, and before the broad jump was called, Eve appeared, cool, smiling, and quite like her usual self.
“Mrs. Case! I protest!” declared Lou Potter, standing before the physical instructor of Central High, as Eve approached. “This is my chance. I demand the right to make this jump.”
But the instructor only smiled and shook her head.
“Evangeline is in plenty of time,” she said. “You are merely a substitute, Miss Potter. Are you ready, Eve? ”

“ CHAPTER XI—BOBBY IS INTERESTED
Indeed, one could not have ventured many feet from the path at this season of the year, when the heavy Spring rains had filled the swamp, without sinking into the mire. Eve knew this very well, and it was with fast-beating heart that she slipped from her horse, tied the bridle-rein to a sapling, and ventured cautiously in the direction of the half-choked cries.
“I’m coming! Where are you?” she called. ”

“ Sharp understood the reason for the new girl’s presence he gave no sign—ignored her entirely, in fact. So the girls were vastly excited about Margit Salgo, her presence at Central High, where she came from, and—particularly—what relationship she bore to Gee Gee.
One day the teacher was particularly short-tempered and found reason for taking Bobby Hargrew to task over some trivial fault.
“I am amazed, Miss Hargrew, that so light-minded a girl as you ever won your way into the M. O. R. chapter. I do not see, Miss, but that you are just as mischievous as ever. Neither time nor place changes you.” ”