Betty Gordon at Boarding School Part 16

"Yes, she knew. It is all right. Caroline said so," babbled Betty, in frantic terror lest the boys make the mistake of telling Miss Prettyman about the proposed visit.

"What was it you wanted to ask Mrs. Eustice, young man?" the teacher demanded next. "I am her secretary and try to save her work whenever possible. Perhaps I can answer your question."

Behind Miss Prettyman's narrow back Betty signaled wildly.

"Don't tell--hus.h.!.+" she wig-wagged, laying her finger against her lips.

Tommy stared at her idiotically, his mouth gaping.

"Thank you, but only Mrs. Eustice could really give us an answer," said Bob, coming to the rescue of his stricken chum. "Betty, will you deliver our message and perhaps you can telephone the answer?"

"No Shadyside girl is allowed to telephone Salsette Academy," announced Miss Prettyman, with grim satisfaction.

Betty had not known of this rule, but she realized it was undoubtedly in existence.

"We'll let you know some way," she promised.

Still pursued by Miss Prettyman's icy glare, the wretched boys backed out of the room and the unfortunate Tommy walked into a handsome china jardiniere with disastrous results. There was a sickening crash, a ladylike scream from Miss Prettyman, and Betty heard Bob's voice in a tone of suppressed fury: "You've done it now, you idiot!"

Bobby giggled, of course, but Miss Prettyman, who had followed the boys into the hall ("I think she thought we'd steal something on the way out,"

Bob confided later to Betty) maintained her poise.

"I'm--I'm awfully sorry," faltered the culprit. "I hope it wasn't very expensive. I'll pay Mrs. Eustice, of course, or buy her another one--"

"That jardiniere happened to be imported from Nippon," remarked Miss Prettyman coldly. "I doubt if it can ever be replaced. It has stood in that exact spot for seven years. But then, naturally, our callers are accustomed to leaving a room gracefully. I'm sure I--"

The agonized Tommy tried to get in a word, failed, and took a step toward the door. His foot caught in the rug, and for one dreadful moment he thought he was doomed to create another scene. As he recovered his balance, Ada Nansen came down the stairs.

"What was that noise we heard a few minutes ago?" she asked sweetly, looking at the boys.

Betty and Bobby, laughing in the doorway of the reception room, the unyielding Miss Prettyman, and the cool and curious Ada swam before Tommy's eyes. Bob retained his presence of mind and, opening the door with one hand and pus.h.i.+ng Tommy before him with the other, managed to effect their exit.

"Gosh, Bob, wasn't that awful!" sighed poor Tommy, when they were finally clear of the school portal. "Don't I always have bad luck? How could I know we were going to walk smack into that dame? She remembered us, too."

"She remembered you," said Bob significantly. "And you were within one of asking her to let the girls come over to the game, too! Didn't you know, you poor fish, that she would jump for joy if she could have a chance to turn you down?"

"Well, anyway," replied Tommy more contentedly, "Betty will let us know.

She can find a way."

Betty lost no time in putting the invitation before Mrs. Eunice when she returned from her town expedition. The princ.i.p.al knew all about Bob through Mr. Gordon's letters and those from Mrs. Littell, and she knew most of the parents of the other lads Betty mentioned.

"I see no reason, my dear," she said graciously when she heard of the morning's visit, "why you should not go. Get the consent of your chaperone and then settle on the afternoon. How many of you are invited?"

"Seven," answered Betty truthfully. "But I want Constance Howard to go, Mrs. Eustice. The boys didn't know about her. She is Louise's roommate you see, and we eight always do everything together."

"All right, Constance may go, too," acquiesced Mrs. Eustice.

Betty thanked her warmly and danced off to find Bobby. Then they flew to ask Miss Anderson to be their chaperone, a duty that young woman a.s.sumed cordially, and before bedtime Betty had written Bob a note to say that they would be over Friday afternoon about half-past four.

Watched a little enviously by the others, the eight piled into the school bus the next Friday afternoon. Miss Anderson tripped down the steps, took her place among them, and they were off.

"Did you see that lovely blouse Ada had on?" Norma Guerin whispered to Betty. "I do wish I could have one like that to wear with my suit."

"You look fifty times prettier than she does," flared Betty loyally. "And you know I've told you to borrow anything of mine whenever you want to."

"I know it," admitted Norma. "But I can't borrow clothes! Silly or not, I just can't seem to! I don't mean to complain all the time, either, but I don't believe mother or granny realized how difficult it was going to be.

Alice cried so hard this afternoon when she started to get dressed I thought she'd never get her eyes right again. They look red yet."

Sure enough, Alice's eyes were suspiciously pink about the corners. Betty knew that the Guerin girls were unhappy, not alone because they could not have as many or as pretty frocks as the other girls, but because they were constantly worried about financial affairs at home. They had both been made the confidantes of their parents to a greater degree than is customary in many families, and Betty shrewdly suspected that Norma had kept her father's books for him.

"I wish I could get hold of that treasure, or a part of it," Betty thought. "Isn't it maddening to think of a string of pearls at the bottom of a chasm and the girls to whom it should go struggling along on next to nothing!"

They were half-way around the lake when the motor slowed down and the bus stopped.

"What's the matter, George?" Miss Anderson asked.

"Don't know, Ma'am," answered the driver, a rather sleepy-looking middle-aged man. "Guess I'll have to investigate her."

Scratching his head, he proceeded to "investigate," and at the end of fifteen minutes hazarded an opinion that they were "out of luck."

"Looks like I'll have to go back to the school garage and get 'em to send us a tow," he announced pleasantly.

"We want to go to the Academy!" chorused the girls. "We're late now. Oh, George, can't you fix it?"

"Betty, don't you know anything about cars?" appealed Miss Anderson, who had discovered that Betty was apt to be invaluable in an emergency of any kind.

Betty had to confess that her experience had been confined to horses. The Littell girls had been used to cars all their lives, but like the majority of such fortunates, knew nothing about them beyond the colors suitable for upholstery.

"I've helped my dad with his car," ventured Norma diffidently. "This isn't the same make, but perhaps I can tell what the matter is."

The beautiful, expensive school bus was in fact another type than the shabby, rattly affair Dr. Guerin made spin over the rough country roads.

However, Betty remembered at least one night, and she knew her experience had been duplicated by many others, when the noise of the asthmatic little car had been like sweetest music in her ears.

The doctor's daughter took off her plain jacket, rolled back her white cuffs, and bent over the engine. George regarded her respectfully, and Miss Anderson and the girls watched anxiously. If Norma could not send them on their way it meant the trip must be given up.

Norma put her slim hands down among the oily plugs, selected a tool from the kit George held out to her, and did something mysterious to the "innards."

"Start her," she commanded briefly.

Obediently George took the wheel and touched the self-starter. The engine purred contentedly.

"By gum!" cried George inelegantly, "she's done it!"

He produced a towel from the box for Norma, who managed to rub off most of the grease from her hands. She put on her jacket and climbed into her place between Betty and her sister. George proceeded to make up for lost time at a speed that left them breathless.

"Here's the girl who got us here!" said Betty to Bob, when the group of cadets met their bus at the athletic field where several cars were drawn up on the sidelines.

"Then she shall have my fur coat and my best curly chrysanthemum,"