Part 17 (1/2)
”No, I think I've fought that all out.”
”That's good! Youth is not the time for tears.”
”But I have just come from a regular downpour.”
”It sounded like a downfall. I was in Madame de Cartier's room, just underneath. We thought the ceiling was coming through.”
”Oh, I'm so sorry. I am afraid it was my fault. Those children were so horribly homesick that I suggested a game.”
”That was very thoughtful, I am sure. Some of those young girls really suffer terribly. Sometimes it makes them quite ill.”
Blue Bonnet wondered why Fraulein could not have been so reasonable.
_She_ certainly was disagreeable. She wished Carita might be under Mrs.
White's wing. What a dear Mrs. White was, anyway.
Blue Bonnet opened her bedroom door, still lost in thought. The early winter twilight filled the room, almost obscuring her room-mate who sat near a window straining her eyes over a book.
Blue Bonnet snapped on the light.
”You'll ruin your eyes,” she said pleasantly. ”That's what my aunt always says to me when I read in the twilight.”
Joy forced a half smile and continued reading.
”I suppose we get dressed for dinner now?” Blue Bonnet, ventured, beginning to unfasten her waist.
”Yes.”
”Is dinner just at six?”
”Yes.”
”What do we do in the meantime?”
”Study--or practise; or read, if you wish.”
Blue Bonnet went into the bathroom and made as much of her toilet as was possible. When she came out, Joy was still poring over her book.
”That must be a hard lesson you are getting,” Blue Bonnet remarked.
”It's a book I'm reading.”
”Oh!”
There was an interval of silence during which Blue Bonnet put the finis.h.i.+ng touches to her toilet. When she was quite dressed she stood hesitatingly by one of the windows, gazing out over the brightly lighted city. Suddenly she turned and flew down the hall, knocking softly at number fifteen.
The door opened slightly and Annabel peered out.
”May I come in--please? I'm threatened with a terrible attack of--the blues, I reckon.”