Four Girls and a Compact

Four Girls and a Compact

Project Gutenberg's Four Girls and a Compact, by Annie Hamilton
Donnell #3 in our series by Annie Hamilton Donnell
Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the
copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing
this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook.
This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project
Gutenberg file. Please do not remove it. Do not change or edit the
header without written permission.
Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the
eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is
important information about your specific rights and restrictions in how
the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a
donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved.
**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts**
**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since
1971**
*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of
Volunteers!*****
Title: Four Girls and a Compact
Author: Annie Hamilton Donnell
Release Date: December, 2005 [EBook #9505] [Yes, we are more than
one year ahead of schedule] [This file was first posted on October 7,
2003]
Edition: 10

Language: English
Character set encoding: ASCII
*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FOUR
GIRLS AND A COMPACT ***

Produced by Joel Erickson, David Garcia and PG Distributed
Proofreaders

FOUR GIRLS AND A COMPACT
By Annie Hamilton Donnell
1908.

CHAPTER I.
"Wait for T.O.," commanded Loraine, and of course they waited.
Loraine's commands were always obeyed, Laura Ann said, because her
name was such a queeny one. Nobody else in the little colony--the
"B-Hive"--had a queeny name.
"Though I just missed it," sighed Laura Ann. "Think what a little step
from Loraine to Laur' Ann! I always just miss things."
T.O. was apt to be late. She never rode, and, being short, was not a
remarkable walker. To-night she was later than usual. The three other
girls got into kimonos and slippers and prepared tea. In all their minds
the Grand Plan was fomenting, and it was not easy to wait. A cheer
greeted T.O. as she came in, wet and weary and cheerful.
"You're overdue, my dear," Loraine said severely. But of course T.O.
laughed and offered a weak pun:
"The 'dew' is over me, you mean! Oh, girls, this looks too cozy for
anything in here! All the way up town I've been blessing you three for
taking me in."

Said Laura Ann: "If I were pun-mad, like some folks, I could do
something quite smart there. But there, you poor, wet dear! You sha'n't
be outdone in your specialty, no you sha'n't! Get off your things quick,
dear--we're all bursting to talk about the Grand Plan."
It was, after all, Billy that started in. Billy was very tired indeed, and
her lean, eager face was pale.
"Girls, we _must!_" she said. "I can't hold out more than a few weeks
more. I shall be a mental wreck and go 'round muttering,
_one_-two--three--four, _one_--two--three--four--flat your b's, sharp
your c's--one--two--three--four--_play!_" For Billy all day toiled at
pianos, teaching unwilling little persons to play. Billy's long name was
Wilhelmina.
They were all toilers--worker-B's. The "B" part of the name which they
had given to the little colony came from the accident of all their
surnames beginning with that letter--Brown, Bent, Baker, Byers. It was,
they all agreed, a happy accident; the "B-Hive" sounded so well. But,
as Laura Ann said, it entailed things, notably industry.
Laura Ann finished negatives part of the day to earn money to learn to
paint the other part. She was poor, but the same good grit that made her
loyal to her old grandmother's name, unshortened and unbeautified,
gave her courage to work on toward the distant goal.
Loraine taught--"just everlastingly taught," she said, until she could do
it with her eyes shut. Cube root, all historic dates, all x, y, z's, were as
printing to her, dinned into the warp and woof of her by patient
reiteration. She was very tired, too. The rest of the long June days
stretched ahead of her in weary perspective.
That these three had drifted together in the great city was sufficiently
curious, but more curious yet was the "drifting together" of T.O.--a
plain little clerk in a great department store. She, herself, humbly
acknowledged that she did not seem to "belong," but here she was,
divesting herself of her wet wraps and getting ready for tea in the tiny
flat. Handkerchiefs, initialed, "warranted,"--uninitialed,

unwarranted--were behind her and ahead, but between she forgot their
existence and took her comfort.
"Well?" she said presently. "I'm ready." They sat down to the simple
little meal without further delay and with the first mouthfuls opened
again