The Girls of Central High Aiding the Red Cross | Page 7

the Red Cross girl. She hesitated on the corner of the
side street. "I fear I must leave you here. I am going home."
"Oh," cried Jess, who was enormously curious, "we can go your way
just as well as not, Miss Steele! We live at the other end of Whiffle
Street--up on the hill, you know."
"All but me," put in Bobby. "But I can run right through Laura's yard to
my house."
She indicated Laura as she spoke. The Red Cross girl looked at Mother
Wit with some expectancy. Jess came to the rescue.
"Let's get acquainted," she said. "Why not? We'll never meet again
under more thrilling circumstances," and she laughed. "This is Miss
Laura Belding, Miss Steele. On your other hand is Miss Hargrew--Miss
Clara Hargrew. I am Josephine Morse. I used to live across the street
from the old Eaton place where you live now."
"You are a stranger in town, are you not?" Laura asked, taking the new
girl's hand.
"Yes, Miss Belding. We have only been here four weeks. But I have
worked in the Red Cross before--and one must do something, you
know."
"Do something!" burst forth Bobby. "If you went to Central High and
had Gee Gee for one of your teachers, you'd have plenty to do."
"We are all three Central High girls," said Laura gently. "Have you
finished school, Miss Steele?"

"I have not been able to attend school regularly for two years,"
admitted the new girl. "I am afraid," and she smiled apologetically,
"that you are all much further advanced in your education than I am.
You see, my mother is an invalid and I must give her a great deal of my
time. It does not interfere, however, with my doing a little for the Red
Cross."
"I am sorry your mother is ill," said Laura.
"We were advised to come up here for her sake," said Janet Steele
hastily. "We have been living in a coast town. The doctors thought an
inland climate--a drier climate--would be beneficial."
"I hope it will prove so," said Laura.
"It seems a shame you can't get out with the other girls," Jess added.
"And come to school and let Gee Gee get after you," joined in Bobby
grimly.
"Is she such a very strict disciplinarian?" asked Miss Steele, smiling
down at the irrepressible one as they walked through the side street
toward Whiffle.
"She's the limit," declared Bobby.
"Oh," said Laura mildly, "I think Miss Carrington is nowhere near so
strict as she used to be. Margit Salgo really has made her quite human,
you know."
"Say!" grumbled Bobby, "she can hand out demerits just as easy as
ever. And she had her sense of humor extracted years ago."
"Has that fault cropped up lately, my dear?" asked Laura, laughing. "It
must be so. What happened, Bobby?"
The younger girl, who was a sophomore, whereas Laura and Jess were
juniors, came directly under Miss Carrington's attention in several
classes. Bobby was forever getting into trouble with the strict teacher.

"Why, look, now," said Bobby, warmly, "just what happened yesterday!
English class. You know, that's nuts for Gee Gee. I was bothered
enough, I can tell you, trying to correct a paper she had handed back to
me, and she kept right on talking and asking questions, and the
recitation period was almost ended. I didn't want to hang around there
to correct that paper--"
"You know very well you should have taken it home to correct," Laura
put in.
"Oh, don't tell me that! I take so much extra work home as it is, that
Father Tom Hargrew asks me if I don't do anything at all in school.
And, anyway, I didn't think Gee Gee saw me. But, of course, she did."
"And then what?" Jess asked.
"Why, she shot a question at me, and I didn't get it at first. 'Miss
Hargrew! Pay attention!' she went on. Of course, that brought me up
standing. 'What is a pseudonym?' she wanted to know. How silly! You
know the trouble we've been having with that car Father Tom bought. 'I
don't know what it is, Miss Carrington,' I told her. 'But if it is
something that belongs to an automobile, father will have to buy a new
one pretty soon, I'm sure.'"
"And she docked you for that!" exclaimed Jess, as though wildly
amazed. "How cruel!"
"Really, I am afraid we are sometimes cruel to our dear teachers,"
laughed Laura. "But if they are too serious they are such a temptation to
us witty ones."
"Now, don't be sarcastic, Mother Wit," said Jess, shaking her chum a
little by the elbow. "You know very well you enjoy nagging the
teachers a bit yourself, now and then. And Professor Dimp!"
"Oh! Oh! Oh!"