Janet D. Wheeler

“ Miss Johnson,”—a teacher of English at Three Towers Hall—“said it was too flippant.” Laura finished with a chuckle, for Connie had read that composition to Billie and her chums the evening before, sitting cross-legged, like a young Chinese idol, on Billie’s bed. It had been flippant—like Connie—and full of fun. The girls had laughed uproariously.
“Miss Johnson is dried up and old, a hopeless spinster,” was Vi’s merciless indictment of the English teacher. “She can’t be expected to recognize honest fun when she sees it.” ”

“ Billie dragged Edina to her dormitory, hoping to protect the girl, only to find her own friends lying in wait for her.
There was a crowd already gathered there, a crowd that increased in numbers rapidly. At sight of it, Edina shrank within herself and would have fled cravenly had it not been for Billie’s grip upon her hand.
“No use running away,” Billie whispered fiercely. “It’s far better to stay and face the music.”
Ray Carew pushed her way to Billie’s side. She eyed Edina coldly. ”

“ Although her chums understood Billie’s attitude and, in their own way, sympathized with it, no attempt was made to underestimate the dire effect of Billie’s temporary indisposition upon their hope of victory in the fall tennis tournament, now close at hand.
“It isn’t only Billie who may be defeated. It’s our whole crowd that’ll go down in the crash—at least, our pride will crash,” sighed Vi to Laura one day. ”

“ When we return to Three Towers Hall to-morrow you are going to be everybody’s ideal of what a perfect, modern schoolgirl should be!”
Edina’s gratitude, her eager anticipation, warmed Billie’s heart. She carried her mood of elation to bed with her and woke with it in the morning.
“To-day is going to be one of the most interesting I have ever lived through,” she thought. “The look on the girls’ faces when they see my new edition of Edina will be worth all the trouble. Only,” her face clouded, “I wish Laura and Vi could share the fun with me.” ”

“ Connie and Rose Belser and Nellie Bane were on the sidelines, laughing themselves sick. And all this time,” she added resentfully, “I was dying to have a set with Billie myself.”
“Not much fun for us,” agreed Vi, with a thoughtful shake of the head. “You know Billie promised to help me with my math—I am worried about that, Laura, and with good reason—but these days she has no time for anything but Edina. Old friends don’t count.” ”

“ Despite Billie’s protests, her two chums rushed her up the stairs to the dormitory. There Vi ran water into a bowl while Laura invaded the closet to get down a fresh frock.
“There! Stick your head in that, Billie. You do have a look of battle and sudden death about you. And your hair could stand a comb. So! Much, much better. Now you bear a slight resemblance to the Billie Bradley I have known and loved so faithfully.”
Over Billie’s freshened head Laura slipped a cool, peach-colored frock; then ran to the lavatory to wash her own hands. This service Vi also performed for herself. ”

“ Don’t pick on me, Billie. You know very well I’m out.”
Billie looked at Laura, who giggled and raised her hand as though to ward off a blow.
“I’m good—I admit it—on the courts, as elsewhere. But not nearly good enough. Take Edina here,” she added, with a mischievous glance at the “lion cub.” “She looks like your one best bet.”
Edina grinned.
“Me! I can bust the insides out of a ball when I hit it, but my racket and the balls, they seem to be just born enemies. They never git close enough together to be friends.” ”

“ The three girls took the footpath to the right of the lake, the path that climbed steadily until it came out on a high ridge of ground overlooking both Three Towers Hall and Boxton Military Academy,4 the boys’ school directly across the lake from the Hall.
Billie Bradley and her chums knew that on this ridge grew goldenrod, flaming, golden patches of it. The sight of it always fascinated them. As Billie once had said, it seemed as though the sun had touched the earth and become entangled in the weeds. ”

“ I thought it would be heaven if the time ever come—came—when I could go to a real school like other girls and learn the sort of things that were put in books——
“It just goes to show,” said Edina, after another pause, “that things ain’t never the way you’d expect they’d be. When Paw struck oil——”
“He did?” ejaculated Billie.
“I thought me and Maw must be the happiest pair on earth. When Paw said I could come East and go to school here, I thought I’d die, I was that crazy with joy. And now here I am—and—and you see how it is. I can’t hardly go back and face Maw, seems like.” ”

“ Billie was given no opportunity to comment on this peculiar observation for at the moment Vi and Laura dashed in from the woods, rushed to Billie and flung their arms about her. They had come by the woods path “around Robin Hood’s barn” and had reached her as soon as possible.
“Oh-h, look out! Don’t hug so tightly, darlings. I’m—to put it mildly—sensitive. Yes, I’m alive—as you see. No there are no bones broken—I think. But I’ll have to soak in arnica to-night. Bruises—hundreds of ’em. But I’m not complaining. I know how lucky I am just to be alive!” ”

“ The saleswoman threw Billie a startled glance, that at once gave place to eager hopefulness. Edina’s glance was also startled—and hopeful.
“Dare I?” she breathed. “I never had so many clothes in all my life before!”
“That’s why you need them now,” said Billie cheerfully. “It gives a girl no end of confidence to have a complete wardrobe. And I’d add a party dress, or two, if I were you. We have school hops in the gym, you know, and once in a while the boys at Boxton give a dance. Yes, you will need at least two party frocks.”
Edina had surrendered completely to Billie’s guidance. ”

“ In spite of all their precautions, their entrance was observed by practically everybody in the room. Friends of the chums, who were in the majority, pretended not to see them. Their few enemies, led by Amanda Peabody and her shadow, Eliza Dilks, stared openly and tittered.
Billie did not raise her eyes from her plate as Connie Danvers, seated beside her, passed the cold meat and salad.
“Fill up your plate, quick,” whispered Connie. “Maybe Debsy didn’t notice you.”
“Such a chance!” returned Billie, scarcely moving her lips. “I can feel her eagle eye on me now!” ”

“ Billie smiled and shook her head.
“I’m not doing a scrap of buying for myself to-day. Everything must be for the young lady,” indicating the tongue-tied Edina. “And we want everything, from undies to hats.”
The saleswoman glanced dubiously at the dowdy figure of the girl from Oklahoma.
“Everything must be simple, but smart,” Billie continued. “A complete ensemble first of all, if you please—dress, coat, hat. We will pick out the shoes and stockings later.” ”

“ Connie Danvers whispered viciously:
“It isn’t fair! Laura and Vi were just as late as you.”
“Debsy doesn’t like me,” whispered Billie, and her eyes twinkled. “She never has since the day I refused to use my hands when I recited ‘Lochinvar.’ I never could fling my hands about as she does. I’d feel a perfect fool.”
“She’ll give you a discredit, sure,” worried Connie.37 “And you can’t afford too many, Billie, or you’ll be barred from tennis and rowing.”
The words merely echoed the worry in Billie’s heart. To be barred from her beloved athletics was tragedy too dire to be considered. ”

“ Rose spoke soothingly. “Certainly this girl that you seem so keen about has never done anything to make us distrust her. It’s only that she is new and it seems to me that an important post like this should go to one of the older girls—someone we know we can trust.”
Billie wavered. There was justice in what Rose said. Still, the picture of Edina rose to haunt her, Edina pale and silent, Edina making a desperate effort to hide some secret unhappiness or fear. ”

“ The corners of Edina’s straight young mouth turned downward in a sneer.
“Sounds good, the way you tell it. But you can’t fool me. You’re all alike up to that school, with your highfallutin’ manners and uppity ways. You’d come to see me, yes, so that you could laugh at me and talk about me afterward. ‘Native,’ ‘barbarian,’ that’s a couple o’ the names I’ve heard your swell friends call me. Mebbe you could add some to the string.”
“If Billie can’t, I will!” cried Laura, with sudden fury. “You’re nothing but a heathen and an ungrateful wretch! ”

“ Billie was accepted almost unanimously as chairman, Connie Danvers was elected to the secretaryship on almost as great a wave of popularity.
“Not that I want the place at all,” Connie confided to Vi. “It’s the most thankless of all jobs—and the driest. I don’t know what I have ever done to have it wished on me!” Nevertheless, in her heart Connie was as pleased as any other normal girl would be at this proof of popularity.
When Edina’s name was proposed for treasurer and promptly seconded there was a little murmur of surprise. ”

“ While she was considering the advisability of taking the matter to Miss Walters, the wise and well-loved head of Three Towers Hall, she glanced up and met the gloating eyes of Amanda Peabody.
“You think you’re smart,” the look seemed to say. “Yet here you are in bad at the very beginning of the term.”
Amanda bent over and whispered something to Eliza Dilks. The two girls tittered and glanced sneeringly at Billie. Their enjoyment of her predicament was obvious, yet Billie continued to eat roast beef and the very excellent salad without appearing disconcerted in the least. ”

“ Amanda nodded sullenly.
184 “Fifteen love!” sang Billie, and set herself for the serve.
From that moment the match settled into one of the grimmest contests ever witnessed on the tennis courts of Three Towers Hall.
Each point was contested fiercely. Amanda and Billie were all over the courts at once; they swung at the ball as though it were a personal enemy; they caressed it deftly into incredible shots that left the spectators mute and tingling with admiration.
“I don’t much care who wins,” cried Connie Danvers, dancing wildly on the sidelines. “I don’t care! I don’t care! ”

“ It was a lovely picnic. The girls could not remember when they had enjoyed anything so much.
The boys put themselves out to be entertaining, the weather was excellent. No one had ever tasted such nectar as those “hot dogs” cooked in the open, corn boiled in a big, blackened pot over the campfire and fairly dripping butter. Clarice’s chicken mayonnaise sandwiches were not neglected, nor the cake with its filling of thick almond cream. Never was such a feast. The young folks ate to repletion, and then ate some more.
Only Edina Tooker seemed to have lost her appetite. ”

“ And, girls, the description fitted Edina Tooker like a glove. It just couldn’t have been any one else! Edina spent my five dollar gold piece for a pair of shoes!”
Billie got to her feet.
“I don’t believe it, Nellie,” she said quietly. “No matter how strong the evidence is against Edina Tooker, I never will—I never can—believe that she is a thief!”
She hesitated, started off, and then came back to them again.
“Let’s put the thing reasonably. What possible motive would Edina Tooker have for stealing our poor little Gift Club fund? She doesn’t need it. Her father is a rich man.” ”

“ Edina looked red and sheepish, but she joined in the good-natured merriment at her expense. Edina was learning!
“Stand back, Billie,” cried Laura. “If this girl tries another high-diving act, it’s our turn to dash to the rescue. Look out there! Ah, now she’s all right! Come on, everybody. Let’s go!”
The little fleet was launched safely at last—Vi and Laura both in Chet’s boat, since Paul Martinson was missing.
They had gone only a few hundred yards from the dock when they saw Paul himself rowing toward them from the direction of Boxton Military Academy. ”