Grace Harlowes Plebe Year at High School | Page 6

intently at Miriam. "So you are the gold medal girl, Miriam? Dear me, what a young lady you are growing to be! But you must not study too hard. Don't overdo it."
Mrs. Gray had gone through this same conversation every year since any of the girls could remember, and never failed to caution the head girl not to overstudy.
"There's no fear of that, Mrs. Gray," replied Miriam boastfully. "My lessons give me very little trouble."
"Mrs. Gray," broke in Nora O'Malley mischievously, "Miriam Nesbit has a close second in the class. The first girl who has ever been known to come up to her."
Miriam flushed, half-angry and half-pleased at the adroit compliment.
"And who may that be, my dear?" queried Mrs. Gray, searching about the room with her nearsighted blue eyes.
"It's Anne Pierson" replied Nora.
"Pierson, Pierson?" repeated the little old lady. "Why have I not met her? I do not seem to remember the name in Oakdale. But where is this wonderful young woman who is outstripping our brilliant Miriam? I feel a great curiosity to see her."
"Anne Pierson, Anne Pierson!" called several voices, while Grace began to search through the rooms and hall.
At the first mention of her name Anne had darted from her seat behind the lemonade bowl, and rushed to the nearest shelter, which was the conservatory.
Grace found her, at last, in the conservatory crouched behind a palm.
"Come here, you foolish child!" exclaimed Grace. "You are wanted at once. Why did you run and hide? Mrs. Gray--the great Mrs. Gray--wishes to meet you. Think of that!"
Anne clasped the girl's strong hand with her two small ones.
"Oh, Grace," she whispered, "won't you excuse me? I--I----"
"You what? Silly, come right along!"
Grace fairly dragged the trembling little figure into the drawing room, where a silence had fallen over the group of young girls who watched the scene.
"Tut, tut, my dear!" exclaimed Mrs. Gray gently. "You mustn't be afraid of me. I'm the most harmless old woman in the world."
Then she tried to get a glimpse of Anne's downcast, crimson face.
"I wanted particularly to meet you, child," went on Mrs. Gray, "because I hear you are a formidable rival of the best pupil in the freshman class. That is a great boast for your friends to make for you, my dear. Miriam Nesbit is a famously smart girl, I'm told. But I wanted to meet you, too, because you bear the name I love best in the world."
Here the old lady's voice became very soft, and the girls suddenly remembered that the young daughter had been called Anne. Was there not a memorial window, in the chapel of the High School, of an angel carrying a lily and underneath an inscription familiar to them all: "In Memory of Anne Gray, died in her freshman year, aged sixteen"?
The girls moved off quietly, conversing in low voices, leaving Anne alone with her new friend.
"You are a very little girl to be so clever," said Mrs. Gray, patting one of Anne's small wrists as she looked into the dark eyes. "Where do you live, dear?"
"On River Street," replied Anne undergoing the scrutiny calmly, now she found herself alone.
"River Street?" repeated Mrs. Gray, trying to recall whom she had ever known living in that strange quarter of the town. "Have you been long in Oakdale?" she went on.
"A few years, ma'am," replied Anne.
"And what is your father's business, my child?" continued the old lady remorselessly.
Anne blushed and hung her head, and for a moment there was no reply to the question. Presently she drew a sharp breath as if it hurt her to make the confession.
"My father does not live here," was what she said. "My mother is an invalid. My sister supports us with sewing. As soon as I finish in the High School, I 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