Harriet Pyne Grove

“ That’s one reason I like you,” Carolyn declared, “because you do have ‘dreams.’”
Carolyn looked at Kathryn as if for confirmation of her speech and Kathryn nodded with a wide smile.
“I’m very practical, though, girls. I’m not sure that having dreams is altogether good, either.”
“First you say one thing and then you say another,” Kathryn accused her. “It’s as bad as saying it the way Mr. Simcox answers our questions: ‘Well, yes; and no!’”
Kathryn had so nearly presented their teacher’s voice and intonation that Carolyn and Betty answered with giggles. ”

“ It was awful, Louise said, but “Maybe the Lions have it coming to them,” said Louise. “And it isn’t good for a high school to get too cocky. We’ve got about all the cups there are—so let the Eagle scream this time!”
It was so romantic! Here was Ted again, coming around to talk to Louise, and Louise, more flirtatious and self-conscious than she had been before University days, being just as charming as she could. But Ted paid just as much attention to Betty and was as gallant as ever to both of the girls. ”

“ And oh, how sad it was when a series of defeats made the championship out of the question for Lyon High. At least they must beat the Eagles, and the coach tried to prepare them for that almost final game. But no! Betty, who sat beside Louise Madison, loyal enough to see the great game of the year by her beloved high school, and they shook their heads sadly at each other as the time passed first with no score at all on either side for the first half, then with the Lions unable to “hold them” and the Eagles scoring both by forward passes and “straight football.” ”

“ Betty Lee had not forgotten that, in the nature of a reward, she was to have a surprise at the end of the summer; but nothing had been said about it by her father and Betty felt a delicacy about reminding him of it. Now only two weeks remained before the opening of school. Betty was eager to begin, strange as it may seem; but boys and girls, even those not particularly keen about their studies, do look forward to the companionship, the gay plans, the activities that school brings them.
One week more would bring the twins, Dick and Doris, little Amy Lou and, best of all, Mother! ”

“ Lucia did not speak of her father, but when Betty said that it was all fascinating to hear about and asked her where her real home had been, Lucia after a slight hesitation, waxed almost enthusiastic over an Italian villa where she “loved to live” best. Every now and then Lucia would use an Italian expression, which Betty thought very impressive, though she could not help thinking of some less fortunate Italian girls in school and she wondered how Lucia would treat them, in case she were thrown into classes with them. ”

“ Well, I don’t know that I’d mind being called Gypsy. It is a cute nickname. Oh, did you know that Carolyn is coming back today or tomorrow?”
“Gypsy”—and Betty looked wickedly at Kathryn as she used the term. “Gypsy,” Betty repeated, “I have had just one letter from Carolyn all this summer. I answered it and wrote pages; but not one word more have I had. If you have had a late letter I’m terribly jealous.”
“Good!” returned Kathryn. Then her face grew a little sober. “No, Betty, I’ve not heard from Carolyn either, except a card at the first of the summer. ”

“ She would be playing against Marcella and the other juniors of Kappa Upsilon and Betty thought, though she could not be sure, that she surprised a message between Mathilde and one of the junior players at the other game they played with that class. Mathilde’s play had been a failure. Could it have been that she wanted to give the game to the junior captain, her sorority sister?
Betty told her worries to no one but Kathryn. She did not want to worry Carolyn, who could not imagine that any one would be as mean as that and was too unsuspicious to see anything but the most flagrant acts. ”

“ It is unfortunate that she does not want to come to America.”
“I shall be very glad if I can be of any service to your niece,” returned Betty, a bit stiffly, for Mr. Murchison’s keen eyes rather disconcerted her. Betty was not sure that she liked him “a bit.” But of course she had to, for her father’s sake. Who was that foolish girl that didn’t want to come to America? Of course Mr. Murchison’s sister was one of those American girls who had married a titled foreigner. So her father had said. But Betty smiled at Mr. Murchison and prettily said her farewell. ”

“ They have plenty of money and Mathilde thinks that she is everybody, you know. She was abroad this summer and was somewhere with Peggy last week. They came back earlier than they intended. Somebody was sick. The girls used to call her ‘Finny’ and I imagine that she will hear the same nickname this year, though she hates it.”
Betty laughed. “If she only knew it, she’s given you a pretty nice nickname at that. Why shouldn’t you like to be called Gypsy? Why, Kathryn, I know a perfectly darling girl, only a grown-up one, that everybody calls Gypsy; and she likes it and signs her letters Gypsy!” ”

“ It was folded and the gypsy warned her not to open it until just before she “performed the fatal rite.”
“It will lose its power if you do,” said she. “No, friend gypsy, let me see what the fates have for you. Oh, yes. That’s a nice hand, good lines, some mentality, not too much, some gifts; you will marry and there will be several, one, two, three children, a long life—but beware a dark woman who will try to come between you and the man you love!”
“She isn’t so good,” laughed Kathryn after she and Betty left the tent, “but she was jolly all right. ”

“ Kathryn gave Betty a roguish glance as she decided that they had practiced enough and sat down to change her shoes, donning the ones fit for the street. Betty, too, took off her gym shoes for the same purpose. The gym was almost empty now, for it was after school hours.
“Oh, Mother wouldn’t let me go out at night with the boys yet,” answered Betty. “It’s all right for parties and picnics and things like that, it seems, but not for shows and things. Mothers are funny; but I have a very nice one and I suppose she knows why she lets me do some things and says no about others.” ”

“ But Betty saw that senior mistakes would be corrected. She still thought that her greatest effort would be in the game against the seniors. Still, some had said that the juniors were playing excellent games.
On Wednesday the gym was again full of interested girls who gave their class cheers and cheered for the enemy. The sophomores rooted chiefly for the seniors, but to their great surprise, the juniors won! “Well!” cried Betty. “I’m not a prophet, and that is that!”
“I’m glad we don’t meet the juniors or seniors first,” said Lucia Coletti, who sat next to Betty this time. ”

“ It was generous of Kathryn to praise Carolyn, in view of her acknowledged bit of jealousy.
“Betty, I laughed and laughed over that letter. It was too clever for words. And the funny things that happened to you! How do people ever keep house and remember all the things that they have to be careful about? I suppose it’s nothing unusual to have somebody at the back door, a ring at the front door, the ice man coming and all while a body is talking at the telephone and trying to get an important message, but you certainly made it funny. ”

“ If it is a dark woman, it can’t be you, Betty, so we’ll remain friends, I see.”
“I suppose there’s some arrangements for the mirror stunt,” said Betty. “Oh, there’s the music—let’s see where it is. Why, Gypsy, Marcella has a real orchestra—or a number of the pieces anyhow. Listen! They’re tuning up!”
The fun of the old-fashioned dances began. The Pirate of Penzance made straight for Betty, who wondered more than ever who he could be. ”

“ Betty was sober and earnest, with her eyes somewhat troubled as she looked straight at Marcella, standing aside from the walk a little, away from the hurrying pupils.
“But when it comes to joining any high school sorority you know that there are a lot of things to think about.”
“Not so important as you think. It is just a lot of fun for the most part.” ”

“ Betty laughed. “On that basis, then, Gypsy, I don’t care, but I think one of you ought to be chairman just the same. Will Miss Fox know how much of everything we ought to have?”
“Of course she will. She’s got the names of everybody that signed up to go. I don’t know whether we ought to allow for girls coming at the last minute, or bringing company, or allow the other way for those that think they’ll go and won’t.”
“Always better to have too much, than not enough,” said Betty, thinking of one or two tight squeezes when her mother had had the missionary society and more came than usual. ”

“ Lucia and Mathilde had “made” the hockey team. Betty had been hurt a little in the try-out, and Peggy insisted that Mathilde did it on purpose, but Betty refused to believe it and played happily on what they themselves called the “scrub team,” the team which played with its own team to prepare them for the contest, also to have able material on hand in case it was necessary or best to put in substitutes. Betty was always keen about whatever game she played, but she really cared for excellence in its proper sense only in swimming.
“Don’t worry, Kathryn,” she said to Gypsy. ”

“ BEATING THE JUNIORS WITH LUCIA
Life went on in such a rush! It always did, but that was half the fun now, Betty thought. At home little was demanded of her except the regular little duties, given to each of the children and expected more by their father than their mother, though for her benefit.
Athletics started off with a boom, pep meetings, the new football team on the platform, the organization of the girls’ teams, all sorts of try-outs and some scheming. ”

“ But it would be fun. Kathryn said that any girl who had really done any cooking was capable of bossing the entire affair and if Betty would be chairman of the committee, she would impart all her own valuable knowledge of what to cook and how on picnics.
“Kathryn Allen, I’ve never been to a camp and all you other girls have. I simply can’t be chairman!” This was Betty, in the corner of the big room where the refreshment committee was getting together to discuss arrangements.
“Listen, Betty. The chairman bosses the rest. They do the work!” ”

“ She thought she knew a few of the juniors, whom she had known as sophomores last year. Then there was some of her own class she was pretty sure, boys that would be invited to equalize the numbers of boys and girls, and she knew what girls of her class had been invited. Size, however, was no help, for even if juniors were supposed to be older and to be still “growing,” some of the juniors were shorter than some of the sophomores.
Carolyn Gwynne was going up from the basement as Betty reached the stairs. “Oh, Betty, I mean Titania,” she cried, lowering her voice. ”

“ But look at their clothes, and the way they talk!”
“I never dress up much for school myself,” said Betty, who had a sound suspicion that the reason Mathilde was attaching herself to her this morning was her relation to Lucia Coletti. “And when it comes to language, do you know, some of the worst I’ve heard came from girls out of wealthy homes. So far as I’m concerned, give me the good old public schools, though I’d love to go to boarding school some time, just for the fun of it. Why, there’s Lucia now!” ”

“ Betty looked thoughtfully at Kathryn. “Dotty speaks too quickly and sharply, I’m afraid. I felt real uncomfortable when she had that passage at arms with Mathilde that day. But Dotty is a sincere person and she may have some reason of her own about Mathilde.”
“I haven’t a doubt. But I thought about you, Betty, when I said to the girls I’d rather not have it make any difference with the way they treated Mathilde. You’re always so fair to everybody, and this wasn’t so much after all.” ”

“ She was devoted to the swimming in particular and was getting ready to take part in the events of a girls’ high school swimming meet, in which the swimmers from the different high schools would compete for excellence and points.
“No,” she said to Miss Fox. “Hockey and basketball were enough. I’m out for swimming, and that is all I can do, Miss Fox, if I get my lessons. Oh, of course hikes and all the points I can make when I’m not needed at home.”
“I like to hear you say that, Betty. Too many girls don’t want to help at all at home.” ”

“ Chet, however, was good at concealing his feelings and would not have had the boys guess how much he liked Betty. Of course, they teased him a little for “hanging around,” but Chet, with apparent candor, said that he liked “that bunch of girls” and didn’t care who knew it. “You have to have a little social life,” said he. “It’s a poor sophomore that can’t take a girl out once in a while.”
If it had been Ted, Chet’s brother, now, Betty might have been thrilled a little at the frequent meetings and all the excuses that Chet made to speak to her about this or that. ”

“ Are you a ‘Girl Reserve,’ Betty?”
“Oh, yes. I joined last year, but I don’t belong to the same group in high school that you do, of course.”
“No. We’ve been watching the fall migration and gathering some of the fall wild flowers for botany class, too.”
“I’d like to do that,” said Lucia. Mathilde tossed her head and looked disgusted, saying something about there being such a “fad for nature study.”
“It’s more than a fad,” said Lucia. “It’s good for you to get outdoors more, and then it helps your country to look after the birds and wild flowers. ”

“ Betty, her cheeks pink from excitement, saw that her mother with Amy Lou had a good seat. “Look out, Amy Lou, and don’t get hit with the ball!” and Betty left them to disappear into the regions of the girls’ gym, where the teams were getting ready.
Dick and Doris were there and all the girls of the G. A. A. who could come, to say nothing of various boys, particularly those of the sophomore and junior classes. “Forget the crowd, girls, and whether your nose gets shiny or not,” advised Betty. “You’re a graceful lot anyhow and usually succeed in avoiding a terrible scramble. ”

“ Many sophomore rooters were on hand when the games were played, and sure enough, it was the juniors against the sophomores at the last. Mathilde was hit by one of the hockey sticks early in the games and Betty took her place, much to Mathilde’s discomfiture. Her “hated rival” played along with the daughter of a countess, whose friendship Mathilde so much wanted to have for herself, and only for herself.
“Good, Betty,” said Lucia, when Betty was put in. “I’m sorry for Mathilde, but she makes so many wild plays and isn’t quick enough. Now let’s beat the juniors all to pieces, as you girls say!” ”

“ Betty with a full tray looked around for Lucia and saw that she and Mathilde were together at a table which was rapidly filling up. Carolyn at another table waved at Betty and Kathryn, who hurried there to join her. But the hungry girls were most interested in the business at hand and Carolyn, after the first pangs of hunger was relieved, was started on athletics, lamenting the loss of the senior football men and relating what material she had heard was available for the year’s team. ”