Part 15 (2/2)
”Do not start home. Letter follows. Every one well. Business reason for waiting.”
”Nothing to worry about in that. My father has often sent me just such word. Perhaps business calls him away. You see he says every one is well.”
”And he would not say that unless it were absolutely true,” said Elizabeth with conviction.
”You'll have the letter by to-morrow's mail. It's something pleasant, depend upon it.”
”I hope so.” She sank down despondently into a chair and rested her head upon the study-table. ”I wish something pleasant would happen. This is 'blue' week for me. Yesterday I became excited and almost said too much, and to-day I rush madly in and mix up affairs in the math. exams. I told Dr. Kitch.e.l.l what I thought of his method of conducting them.”
Mary's eyes grew bright. They fairly danced in surprise at Elizabeth's action.
”Why, even I would not have dared do that,” she said. ”I have dared everything at Exeter but Dr. Kitch.e.l.l. I would as soon think of going to Dr. Morgan and telling her that I do not approve of her method of conducting Exeter.”
”That is about what I will do next,” said Elizabeth dolefully. ”When one begins anything like this, there is no telling where she will end. Oh, dear, I'll be glad to get home where people know me, and don't act as though they expect me to lie or steal.”
”No one thinks that here, Elizabeth. You've run up against a snag. We all have our blue days when we wish we were somewhere else, and when we have a poor opinion of every one, ourselves included.”
”You never do.”
”Yes, often, but I found it didn't pay to give up to them. Come, tell me all the trouble, and when it's all told you may find there's very little of it.”
”I wish I could think so. I'll tell you, Mary, and then I'll go and see Dr. Morgan. I'm to report immediately to her.”
She proceeded with her tale of woe. And although her listener was sympathetic, she laughed heartily during the recital.
CHAPTER VIII.
MIDNIGHT CONFIDENCES.
On going to the office, Elizabeth found that Dr. Morgan had been called unexpectedly to the city, and would not return for several days. She was disappointed, as she much preferred having the thing over and done with than hanging fire for several days. The girls crowded about her, expressing both admiration and criticism and offering advice until Elizabeth did not know whether she was a culprit or a heroine. The maddening part of it was that she must wait three days to find out. Her own opinion in regard to being ”policed” into honesty had not changed. She felt confident of the support of her father in the position she had taken.
She knew how, from the bottom of his heart, he abhorred any questioning of one's honor. The more she listened to the talk of the other girls, the more indignant she was at the insult.
She was not one to give expression to her feeling in words only. After her remarks to Dr. Kitch.e.l.l, the other girls did most of the talking while she listened, turning the matter over in her mind. She had her father's way of straightening matters out. ”If a thing is wrong, make it right--if you can,” she had often heard him say to Joe Ratowsky. Her four months at Exeter had taught her there were people of words and people of action. It was of the last-named cla.s.s she selected her helpers. Landis was not to be considered. It is doubtful if she could have given a reason for the feeling that she would be of no a.s.sistance in a reform movement. It was merely intuition and could not be put into words. Min, too, who was but the shadow of Landis, was to be barred. There was enough to begin with--Anna Cresswell, Nancy Eckdahl, Mary Wilson, Mame Welch, Nora O'Day, strange to say, and herself.
At the dinner table, Elizabeth pa.s.sed the word around asking the girls to come to her room immediately at the ringing of the study bell. Some of the students were already packing to leave for the holidays; and after the midwinter examinations, no strict observance was paid to study hours.
Miss Brosius heard the invitation and smiled. She was learning to know Miss Hobart. After the experience of the morning, she felt these summonses might be followed by a declaration of war. Her position in regard to overseeing examinations was more distasteful to her than it could possibly be to any of the students. But from time immemorial such had been the custom of most schools. There must have been a reason for it. No doubt, it had been forced upon the instructors by the att.i.tude of the students themselves. New conditions may have arisen, but the old law still held.
”There's something brewing,” Miss Brosius said to Miss Watson as they quitted the dining-hall. ”If I read the stars aright, Exeter Hall will be reformed before Dr. Morgan returns from the city.”
”She comes to-morrow.”
”Maybe. Reforms have started in less than twenty-four hours. The fuel has been ready for several years, waiting for someone to apply the match.”
”Who is doing that now?”
”Elizabeth Hobart, if I am not mistaken. Did you not notice the flash of her eyes and the message she was pa.s.sing about to have the girls meet in her room?”
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