Dorothy Dainty at Glenmore | Page 4

they descended the quaint stairway, they found
the ever-present Miss Fenler, waiting to present them.
Vera Vane, and Elfreda Carleton, each with an arm about the other's
waist, hastened forward to greet them.
"Oh, we're so glad you and Nancy have--"
"Just a moment Miss Vane, until you have been properly presented,"
Miss Fenler said, in a cold, precise manner.
"But I've always known Dorothy--"
"That makes no difference," the assistant said, and she presented them
in formal manner.
Vera raised her eyebrows, presented the tips of her fingers, and told
Dorothy in a high, squeaky voice that she was very glad to know her.
Elf did the same in an exact copy of Vera's manner.
Several of the pupils giggled, but to their credit, Dorothy and Nancy
managed not to laugh.
When a half-dozen girls had been presented, some one told Miss Fenler
that Mrs. Marvin wished to see her, and what had begun in a stilted
manner, became a genuine girl's social.
When the clock in the hall chimed six, and they turned toward the long
dining-room, the two new pupils had already made the acquaintance of
several girls, who sat beside, and opposite them at the table.
From a distant table Patricia and Arabella were turning to attract their
attention.
It had happened that Arabella had chosen to remain in her room during
the half-hour reunion.

"I don't feel like talking to a crowd of girls to-night," she had said.
"My! If you don't care to talk to girls, it must be you'd rather talk to
boys!" Patricia said, laughing.
"I would not!" Arabella remarked, with a flash in her eyes that one
rarely saw.
"Oh, do excuse me!" Patricia said, "but that's all right, for I'll stay right
here and talk to you."
Arabella was not in much of a mood for listening, either, but she
thought it best not to say so. At any other time, Arabella would have
listened for hours to whatever Patricia might care to say, but to-night
she was in a contrary mood.
CHAPTER II
THE FIRST SOCIAL
Two weeks at Glenmore, and Dorothy and Nancy were content. Letters
from Mrs. Dainty and Aunt Charlotte assured them that the dear
travelers were well, and that already Mrs. Dainty was feeling the
benefit of the change of scene.
Mrs. Dainty had engaged a large, front room at Glenmore for the two
girls to enjoy as a sitting-room and study, from which led a tastefully
furnished chamber, and already they called it their "school home."
Patricia and Arabella had a fair-sized room farther down the corridor.
Vera Vane and Elfreda Carleton were snugly settled in cozy quarters a
few doors beyond the one that bore Dorothy's and Nancy's names.
Patricia Levine had ordered a large card, elaborately lettered in red and
green, announcing that:
THIS SUITE IS OCCUPIED
BY

MISS P. LEVINE
AND
MISS A. CORREYVILLE
A small card was all that was necessary, indeed only a small card was
permitted, but Patricia did not know that. After her usual manner of
doing things, she had ordered a veritable placard of the village sign
painter, and when she had tacked it upon the door, it fairly shouted, in
red and green ink.
"There!" she exclaimed, "I guess when the other girls see that, they'll
think the two who have this room are pretty swell."
"Isn't it,--rather--loud?" ventured Arabella timidly.
Patricia's eyes blazed.
"Loud?" she cried. "Well, what do you want? A card that will
whisper?"
"Maybe it's all right," Arabella said quickly, to which Patricia
responded:
"Of course it's all right. It's more than all right! It's very el'gant!"
Arabella was no match for her room-mate, and whenever a question
arose regarding any matter of mutual interest, it was always Patricia
who settled it, and Arabella who meekly agreed that she was probably
right.
Arabella was not gentle, indeed she possessed a decidedly contrary
streak, but she always feared offending Patricia, because Patricia could
be very disagreeable when opposed.
Patricia was still admiring the gaudy lettering when a door at the far
end of the corridor opened.

She sprang back into her room, closed the door and standing close to it
waited to hear if the big card provoked admiring comment.
Nearer came the footsteps.
Could they pass without seeing it? They paused--then:
"Well, just look at that!"
"A regular sign-board!"
A few moments the two outside the door stood whispering, then one
giggled, and together they walked to the stairway and descended,
laughing all the way.
Patricia opened the door and peeped out. "It was that red-haired girl,
and the black-haired one that are always together," she reported to
Arabella.
"Now, what in the world were they laughing at?"
"Laughing at the big card, I suppose," Arabella said.
"Well, there's nothing funny about that," Patricia