Ann Crosses a Secret Trail Read online

  CHAPTER VII

  SETTLED AT LAST

  “It was really too easy,” said Ann afterwards, “the way things werefixed up. Nothing like having somebody who can decide for you. Catch metrying to fuss myself with school arrangements! I’m certainly glad thatI did not take up Suzanne’s suggestion and go ahead to change things.”

  The next morning there was a mad scramble to get ready in time, to getlessons, which, it was warned, would be expected; to have breakfast, doa thousand things, more or less, and reach classes on time. Not muchthought could be given to affairs in the rooms and suites. Eleanor andAline rushed over to the conservatory building; Marta had both mattersmusical and matters literary to engage her attention; and Ann, lastbut not least, reading Latin and French at an early hour, went over tobreakfast without a belt which covered some shirring on her dress, andwould have gone to class unmindful of her beltless condition, had notMarta noticed that the dress looked “different” and discovered what waslacking. “This is the life,” laughed Ann, hastily fastening her belt,as she flew out of the room to make the early class.

  “I like it,” said Marta, coming abreast of Ann and wishing that shecould slide down the bannisters. “Are we going to be late?”

  “Hope not,” said Ann, who had spent too long a time in looking overanother lesson.

  So the day went, with the usual fun and the usual worries, hoping thatone would be called on for the part best learned, or easiest to doimpromptu; but the teachers were merciful to the recent comers and themountains and impassable streams of learning became level plains toyoung feet.

  At dinner there were the customary special announcements. Then a listof names was read, while every one listened intently for her own name.

  “The following persons,” read Miss Montgomery for Miss Tudor, “willsee the dean about special matters relating to changes in rooming orstudies. This must receive immediate attention. The young ladies willgo to the library and will be sent for in the order desired.”

  The names were then read, in alphabetical order; and they included, Annnoted, the names of all in her own suite and those in the new cottagesuite occupied by her cousin and her friends.

  A bevy of girls, some wondering for what reason they had been called,all talking, laughing, or exchanging confidences in low tones, reachedthe library after dinner. At the table Ann had caught a look fromEleanor, who whispered to her, as they were on their way, “Do you knowwhat is to be done?”

  “I do not,” said Ann, “though from something Marta said, I fancythat she and I are not to be separated. Marta does not know all theproceedings.”

  Eleanor nodded, and just then Aline joined her. In the library,Genevieve and Madeline were careful to keep at some distance fromEleanor but Suzanne did not join them. She came in later, with twoother girls of her “set.”

  One or two new girls were sent for first. Then Eleanor and Ann wereasked to come together. Miss Tudor looked worn with the efforts of thefirst days, but was as energetic as ever, holding in her hand a paper,evidently a list of what was to be done.

  “I wanted you to come together, girls, for one reason, that thepleasant relations between you might not be disturbed. Eleanor, Ann didnot ask for the arrangement that I am going to make. She only said thatshe did not think it fair, if any change were made, for Marta to sufferin the case.”

  Miss Tudor paused a moment, and Eleanor said, “Yes, Miss Tudor. Annsaid the same thing to me when we talked about it.”

  “Very well. I am making very few explanations about this and shall askyou both to keep your own council. The girls in the other suite aregoing to be offended. Genevieve, at least, deserves it, and I am not sosure, Eleanor that I am doing right in making it so easy for you, whenyou upset the whole thing.”

  “Yes’m,” meekly said Eleanor.

  “But it seems best to break up that arrangement. I am going to putSuzanne, with Lora Collier, in the suite with you, in the place ofMarta and Ann. Both of them told me that they were willing to change,if it seemed best to me; and Miss Sterling, (Miss Tudor regained herformality), I think that you will not be displeased with the suite inwhich I am placing you and Miss Ward. This is the slip, with number andnames.”

  Miss Tudor handed each girl a slip and rose, dismissing them by thatsimple act. But Eleanor hesitated. “Excuse me, Miss Tudor, but Iunderstood that Lora was not coming back.”

  Miss Tudor smiled. “So did I, until last night, when we received awire, asking that I place her with some of her friends. Do you thinkthat you two singers can get along without jealousy?”

  “I should think we can!” exclaimed Eleanor, “and Miss Tudor, I wantto apologize for the way in which I spoke to you the first time I washere. You have certainly poured coals of fire on my unworthy head.”

  Again Miss Tudor smiled. “I accept the apology, Eleanor. See that youare a good girl!”

  “The best I can be!” exclaimed Eleanor, as the two girls walked out ofthe door.

  “Ann, the very idea! I’m awfully sorry that you girls are not to bewith us, but since the change is to be,--Lora! Hurrah!”

  “I say so too, Eleanor,” said Ann, taking Eleanor’s arm. “Lora will bea good room-mate for Suzanne, and you will all be Sig-Eps but Aline. Imay as well warn you now that we’ll get her into the Bats, if she willcome.”

  “I want you to. I’ve exhausted all my arguments on Aline. Her motherdied not so very long ago, and she was a Bat, so it is hopeless. Let’ssee your slip, Ann; who is with you?”

  “There aren’t any other names. Isn’t it funny?”

  “She is giving you a suite by yourselves till she has to put somebodyin it. There aren’t enough sophomores to fill the two halls; So Ishouldn’t be surprised but you’d have it all to yourselves.”

  “Unless there are too many freshmen and they have to put a few overhere.”

  “That is not likely. They enlarged the freshman hall two years ago.See,--here is my slip, all four names on it. What is your number?Second floor, isn’t it? I hope that it isn’t too far away. I’m comingaround once in a while if you have no objections.”

  “Objections! What an idea. I have a lot of studying to do, for I haveto make good for my Dad. But I’m the most ‘gregarious’ being you eversaw. So he says!”

  “All right. Now let me tell you something, Ann. It’s anotherconfession, like the apology I just gave Miss Tudor. But one some wayjust can’t imagine your taking a superior air and saying, ‘that’s justwhat I thought of Eleanor Frost’.”

  Ann was laughing at this, and wondered what was coming. “When I firstasked you to play for me, it was partly because I knew you could do itand partly because I was mad at Suzanne for refusing. Then the girlswanted me to be president of the sophs this year and I said I would,so I started out to be a politician. I thought that you had a lot ofinfluence in your crowd,----”

  Here Ann gasped, stopped in the middle of the walk and looked atEleanor, who laughed and continued.

  “And if I got you to liking me you wouldn’t fight me perhaps. The funnything was that I got to liking you, on your own account, and I adoreyour grandmother, to say nothing of your mother. And while I still willnot refuse the presidency, please punish me by putting up somebody elseand voting for her.”

  “Of _all_ things!” exclaimed Ann. “What on earth makes you tell methis?”

  “I don’t know myself; only I thought that I’d feel better. I’d like tobe a _real_ friend of yours, and I am ashamed of the way it began.”

  Ann held out her hand. “Shake hands on it, Eleanor. I’m glad to haveas strong a girl as you are for my friend. I’ll have to confessthat I was too much influenced by that ‘forest fire’ conflagration,and haven’t known until lately how fine you are. I don’t wonder thatSuzanne felt ‘killed’ over your withdrawing from her suite.”

  The girls clasped hands, Eleanor saying that it was too bad not tobe able to exchange sorority “grips”. They walked along after that,talking of everything else but the recent revelation and the affa
irof the suite. “I’ll remember the number, Ann,” said Eleanor, as shereached their present location and went in, while Ann went on to findher new quarters.

  “You can help us move,” saucily said Ann, while Eleanor, like Suzanne,accustomed to a maid at home, lifted her brows and remarked, “Mayhap Iwill.”

  * * * * *

  The suite, for whose number Ann was looking, was at the end of anothercorridor, which ran at right angles to that on which The Jolly Sixhad their quarters. The outside door was unlocked, the key in it, andthere were evidences of fresh dusting and cleaning. Ann ran first tothe window to see what the view might be and found that she lookedout toward the hillside, the little stream and the rustic bridge. “Olovely, lovely!” she cried, and started back, intending to bring overan armful of clothes at once. At the door she almost ran into Marta whowas on a similar errand, and remarked that at every turn she ran intoher room-mate.

  “Look here, Marta, isn’t this prodigious?--and splendiferous?” Ann drewMarta to the window to see the same picturesque hillside. “See thatbaby cottontail,--right down under the window,--in those bushes!--nowhe’s gone!”

  Marta drew out her slip and pointed to the two names. “Are we reallygoing to be by ourselves for a bit?”

  The girls exchanged glances and smiles. “It will be easier to study,but it would have been fun to be in a suite with other girls.”

  “That may happen yet;” said Marta. “Come on, let’s get moved as quicklyas possible. I’m going for an armful of books.”

  “Noble girl! I was thinking of clothes.”

  “What’s the difference? Both of ’em have to come.”

  At Eleanor’s suite there was an excited and happy group of girls. “Ihired one of the chambermaids to pack my trunk and things,” Suzanne wassaying. “Madeline won’t speak to me and I hate to go over there. Ann,won’t you go over and see that the things in the bureau drawers get in?”

  “Why should I run into trouble, if you do not want to go yourself, mydear?” asked Ann, delving into her closet and coming out with dressesand coats.

  “Isn’t she mean?” complained Suzanne, half in earnest.

  “Gracious me, Suzanne,” said Eleanor. “Brace up and go over after yourjewelry and little things. If the girls won’t speak to you, go aheadanyway. The sooner it’s over the better. _Look_ at Ann!”

  Ann’s load was arranged for her departure on the first trip. One hat,back to the front, was on her head. In each hand she carried severalshoes, precariously held together, and draped over shoulders and armswere as many frocks and coats as she could manage.

  “You’ll muss ’em, Ann,” Suzanne suggested.

  “I would be grateful for assistance,” was Ann’s suggestion in return.“No, not these,” she said, refusing to unload, as Eleanor and Aline ranto her assistance. “There are others in the closet, friends!”

  Laughingly the girls, even Suzanne, selected a load from those garmentsof Marta and Ann which remained in the closet, and the parade downtwo corridors began. Other girls, from suites on the way, heard thelaughter and came to look and join in the merriment, or to pick up ashoe or two, dropped along the way.

  “Oh, isn’t this a ducky suite?” said Suzanne. “See what a pretty rugthere is in the study. I’m glad, Ann, for I feel guilty, turning youand Marta out in this fashion!”

  “Yes,” said Aline, who had brought the hangers and was trying to helpMarta hang up the frocks. “This looks like the ‘ejections’ you readabout, where people are turned out with all their household furnitureand clothing. We haven’t gotten to the furniture yet!”

  Once started, the girls were having such a good time over it that theyhelped with more clothes and the books, until in a short time nearlyeverything was carried over, leaving the little things of the “topdrawers” to be packed more leisurely in the suit-cases.

  Ann, who repented of her careless reply to Suzanne, for she saw thather cousin was really distressed over her own moving, offered to goover with her, to help pack and oversee the maid, who would needtelling about what clothes to select. She was rewarded by Suzanne’sgratitude. “O Ann, _will_ you?” she cried. “I shan’t mind so much ifyou are with me! Anyhow, I think that Maddy thinks I’m going to roomwith you.”

  “It is just as well,” said Ann. “Did you set any time for the maid tocome over?”

  “Yes.” Suzanne looked at her watch. “She could come in about half anhour. Maybe Genevieve and Maddy are not in the suite yet. _Will_ youcome?”

  They were in Ann’s suite now and Ann looked at the books to bearranged, thinking, too, of the lessons to be learned. “It’s a mess toleave you with, Marta,” she said.

  “Go right along,” replied Marta. “I don’t blame Suzanne for not wantingto go over alone.”

  Fortunately for Suzanne, neither Genevieve nor Madeline were as yetat home. “They are probably telling the whole school about it,” saidSuzanne resentfully.

  “I can’t blame Madeline much, can you?” remarked Ann.

  “N-no, maybe not,” Suzanne acknowledged. “Nobody knows a thing aboutLora’s coming, I guess.”

  Rapidly the girls packed and placed everything out in plain sight whichwas to go in the trunk. The maid arrived and was given directions whilethe girls started away, with the smaller articles in Suzanne’s bag anda suit-case which Ann carried. The trunk might not be sent over untilmorning. But after Suzanne and Ann were half way across the interveningdistance, Ann bethought herself of a box which she had forgotten. “I’mnot sure where I left it, Suzanne, so I’d better go right back and getit. It is the one with some of your treasures,--you remember--that youpacked and gave to me to put in the suit-case. I said I would, and laidit down while I got something else.”

  “Oh, yes! If you will get it, Ann,--it’s a shame, though.”

  Ann ran back and by the “irony of fate,” as she told Marta afterwards,had to meet Madeline at the door. “Excuse me, Madeline,” she said. “Ihave been helping Suzanne pack up and forgot to get one box.”

  Madeline stepped back, with exaggerated politeness. Ann, who procuredthe box as rapidly as possible, thought at first that Madeline wasrefusing to speak to her; but as she left the door, Madeline lookedafter her and said, “I hope that you are satisfied at last, to getSuzanne away from me!”

  Ann stopped, surprised, yet knowing how Madeline must feel about it. Itmade all the difference possible in the tone of her reply. “Suzanne isnot going to room with me, Madeline.”

  Proceeding on her way down the stairs and out upon the campus, Annreproached herself, however for the statement. After all, she _had_been glad to “get Suzanne away” from Madeline, though not for thereason that Madeline supposed. Then she thought of Suzanne’s remark toMarta about feeling guilty for turning Marta out. Was that sincere, orfor making an impression on Eleanor? Such had been her thought. “Lookhere, young lady,” she said to herself, “it’s lots easier to judgeother people than to be perfectly sincere yourself!”