Grace Harlowes Plebe Year at High School | Page 7

shall teach."
Mrs. Gray put an arm around the girl's waist and drew her down beside
her.
"I'm a stupid old woman, child. You must forgive me. Old people
forget their manners sometimes. Will you come and see me very soon?
Perhaps to-morrow after church you will take luncheon with me? I
want to know you better."
She drew a card from the beaded reticule that hung at her side.
"Remember, at half-past twelve," she said, giving the girl's hand an
extra squeeze as she rose to go.

After Mrs. Gray had taken her departure a free and easy atmosphere
was restored and the girls began talking and laughing without the
restriction of an older person's presence. Mrs. Harlowe shortly after this
also left them to themselves.
"Let's do some stunts," proposed Grace. "Nora, will you give us your
imitations?"
"Certainly," replied Nora, "if Miriam will promise to sing, and Jessica
will do her Greek dance, and Georgie will play for us."
"All right!" came a chorus of voices.
"We've done it oft before, but we'll do it o'er again if the company so
wishes," said Georgie Pine, one of the brightest and gayest girls in the
class.
The others seated themselves in a semicircle, while each girl gave her
little performance, and, at the conclusion, was applauded
enthusiastically. Nora had a real talent for mimicry; she convulsed her
audience with imitations of some of the High School teachers. When it
came Miriam's turn she sat down at the piano with a queer look on her
face.
"I believe she means mischief," thought Grace to herself, as she
watched the girl curiously.
Miriam ran a brilliant scale up the piano, for music was another of her
many accomplishments. Then she paused and turned to the others.
"I won't sing," she said, "unless Miss Pierson promises to recite us
something first, Poe's 'Raven,' for instance."
Grace flushed angrily and was about to interfere when, to her surprise,
Anne herself replied:
"I shall be glad to if that is the poem you like best. I always preferred
'Annabel Lee.'"

Miriam was too amazed to answer. She could never form an idea of
what it cost Anne in self-control to acquiesce; but the young girl had
gained a new strength that day. So many people had been kind to her,
and what is more, interested in her welfare. She rose quietly and
walked to the middle of the semicircle.
Grace and her chums were in an agony of fear lest poor Anne should
break down, and so distress them all except the unkind Miriam.
However, they need not have troubled themselves. Anne fixed her eyes
on the far wall of the dining room and commenced to recite "The
Raven" in a clear, musical voice that deepened as she repeated the
stanzas. The girls forgot the shabby little figure in its ill-fitting black
silk and saw only Anne's small, white face and glowing eyes. Not Miss
Tebbs, herself, teacher of English and elocution at the High School,
could have improved upon the performance.
"It was perfectly done," said Grace afterwards, telling the story to her
mother. "It was almost uncanny and quite creepy toward the last."
When the performance was over the girls crowded around little Anne
with eager congratulations; but, strange to say, everyone forgot that
Miriam had given her promise to sing.
What the crestfallen Miriam kept wondering was: "Wherever did she
learn to do it?"
CHAPTER III
MRS. GRAY ENGAGES A SECRETARY
Grace and her two friends, Jessica and Nora, were also invited to Mrs.
Gray's luncheon the next day, after church. Grace had often taken
meals in the beautiful house on Chapel Hill, but the other girls had
never been privileged to do more than sit in the large, shady parlors
while their mothers paid an afternoon call.
It was with some excitement, therefore, that the three girls met in front
of the Catholic Church, of which Nora was a member, and strolled up

the broad street together. As they passed the little Episcopal Chapel,
which had given the hill its name, Anne Pierson joined them. She
looked grave and excited, and there was a feverish glow in her eyes.
"Anne, my child," exclaimed Grace, who always seemed much older
than the others, "how late do you study at night? I believe you are
working too hard. You look tired out."
"I'm not tired," replied Anne. "I don't mind studying. Only so much has
happened in the last few days! And now we're going to luncheon with
Mrs. Gray. I've seen her house. It's very beautiful from the outside,
more beautiful than the Nesbits', I think, because it is older and there is
such a pretty garden at the side."
"Anne," said Jessica, "we're counting on you to win the prize. There is