Part 58 (1/2)
”What a racket!” Beth exclaimed.
”It'll be quiet enough to-morrow,” Rosa replied. ”The first cla.s.s talks at table in Miss Clifford's room, but we are not allowed to speak a word here, except to the teachers, nor in the bedrooms either, once work begins. Do you see that great fat old thing at the mistress's table? That's Old Tom, the head music-mistress. She is a greedy old cat! She likes eating! You can see it by the way she gloats over things, and she's quite put out if she doesn't get exactly what she wants. Fancy caring! It's just like a man; and that's why she's called Old Tom.”
”Not that she's fastidious!” said Agnes Stewart, a tall slender girl with short crisp black hair and grey-green eyes, who was sitting opposite to Beth. ”I believe she likes mutton.”
”Oh, she's horrid enough for anything!” the girl next her exclaimed with an expression of disgust.
Some of the girls ate their thick bread and b.u.t.ter unconcernedly, others were choked with tears, and could not touch it. Most of the tearful ones were new girls, and the old ones were kind to them; the teachers, too, were sympathetic, and did their best to cheer them.
After tea they all returned to their cla.s.s-rooms. Beth went and stood in one of the great windows looking out on to the grounds, the river, the old arched bridge, and the grey houses of the town climbing up the hill among the autumn-tinted trees. All the windows were shut, and she began to feel suffocated for want of fresh air, and bewildered by the clatter of voices. If only she could get out into the garden! The door at the end of the room, which led into the first and second, was open.
She went through. But before she was half across the room, one of the elder girls exclaimed roughly, ”h.e.l.lo! what are you doing here?”
”It's a new girl, Inkie,” another put in.
”Well, the sooner she learns she has no business here the better,”
Inkie rejoined.
Beth thought her exceedingly rude, and pa.s.sed on into the vestibule unconcernedly.
”Well, that's cool cheek!” Inkie exclaimed.
”Hie--you--new girl! come back here directly, and go round the other way, just to teach you manners.”
Beth turned back with flaming cheeks, looked at her hard a moment.
”That for _your_ manners!” she said, snapping her fingers at her.
Amy Wynne rose from her seat and went up to Beth. ”You must learn at once, Miss Caldwell,” she said, ”that you will not be allowed to speak to the elder girls like that.”
”Then the elder girls had better learn at once,” said Beth defiantly, ”that they will not be allowed to speak to me as your Inkie-person did just now. You'll not teach me manners by being rude to me; and if any girl in the school is ever rude to me again, I'll box her ears. Now, I apologise for coming through your room, but you should keep the door shut.”
When she had spoken, she returned to the big cla.s.s-room deliberately, and crossed it to the other door. As she did so, she noticed that a strange hush had fallen upon the girls, and they were all looking at her curiously. She went into the hall, and was pa.s.sing the vestibule door, when Miss Bey, who was sitting just inside knitting, stopped her.
”Where are you going, Miss Caldwell?” she asked in her sharp way.
”Upstairs,” Beth answered.
”You speak shortly, Miss Caldwell. It would have been more polite to have mentioned my name.”
”I beg your pardon, Miss Bey,” Beth rejoined.
Miss Bey bowed with a severe smile in acknowledgment of the apology.
”What do you want upstairs?” she asked.
”To be alone,” Beth answered. ”I can't stand the noise.”
”You must stand the noise,” said Miss Bey. ”Girls are not allowed to go upstairs without some very good reason; and they must always ask permission--politely--from the teacher on duty. I am the teacher on duty at this moment. If you had gone upstairs without permission, I should have given you a bad mark.”
Beth looked longingly at the hall door, which had gla.s.s panels in the upper part, through which she could see the river and the trees. ”What a prison this is!” she exclaimed.