The Nicest Girl in the School: A Story of School Life Read online

  CHAPTER VII

  Patty's Pledge

  November days found Patty thoroughly settled down at The Priory, andquite accustomed to all the rules and regulations which obtained there.On the whole she was happy, but there were still a few difficulties withwhich she had to contend. Life in a large school, among so manycompanions of various dispositions, was a totally different affair fromwhat it had been in her quiet home at Kirkstone. Though Miss Lincoln didher uttermost to uphold an extremely high standard of conduct among thegirls, Patty found there were many who were capable of littlemeannesses, slight lapses from the strictly straight path, and actswhich were not at all in accordance with her ideals of honour. Itsometimes needed a good deal of moral courage to keep to what she knewwas right. It was not pleasant to be laughed at and called"straitlaced", because she would not evade rules or join in certaindoubtful undertakings. No one liked fun more than Patty, when it wasopen and above-board, but she could not bear to be mixed up in anythingwhich seemed sly or underhand. In her bedroom particularly she foundcause of trouble. Her three companions, Ella Johnson, May Firth, andDoris Kennedy would get up after Miss Rowe had made her evening rounds,relight the gas, and read storybooks in bed, a proceeding which was, ofcourse, absolutely forbidden. They were quite angry with Patty when sheventured to remonstrate.

  "We're not going to have you interfering with us, Patty Hirst. If welike to light the gas again we shall do so," said May.

  "But if Miss Rowe catches you, you'll get into the most terriblescrape," said Patty.

  "She won't catch us; we're too careful. I can put the gas out in asecond if anyone's coming."

  "You might find you had put it out a second too late, and what would youdo then?"

  "It will be quite time enough to decide when it happens," said Doris."Don't bother! You can go to sleep yourself, if you want to, but wethree mean to enjoy ourselves."

  Patty, however, found it impossible to go to sleep. She lay awake,listening anxiously, afraid of hearing Miss Rowe's step in the passage,and wondering what the consequences would be if it were discovered thatthe occupants of No. 7 were astir after 9.30 p.m.

  "Somebody might be walking through the garden and see a light in thewindow," she suggested to the others. "Suppose it were Miss Lincolnherself! How dreadfully angry she'd be!"

  "Miss Lincoln's always safely in her study at this time," said May. "Noone's in the least likely to interrupt us, or to know anything about it,unless you're mean enough to tell."

  "You know quite well I'm no tell-tale," said Patty, indignantly. "You'venothing to fear from me. I only wish you wouldn't do it. Why can't youread the books downstairs? You've plenty of time after prep."

  "Because Miss Rowe'd take them away. We're only allowed to have booksfrom the school library, and these are some that Doris brought with herfrom home. They're most exciting. I simply must finish mine."

  "Oh, May, that's worse than ever!" exclaimed Patty, "if they're booksyou know you oughtn't to read."

  "Please be quiet, and mind your own business, Patty Hirst!" cried May,angrily. "We're not going to ask your leave for everything we do."

  May, Ella, and Doris knew perfectly well that they were in the wrong,but they tried to justify their conduct to each other by calling Patty"priggish". They treated her in as cool a manner as possible, andgenerally had some secrets to whisper about in a corner of the room,making her feel how little they cared for her company, and how much theywould have preferred Beatrice Wynne in her place. Patty, who hatedquarrels, and would rather have been on friendly terms with everybody,disliked these unpleasant bickerings with her room mates; but as shewould not yield her point, and they would not relinquish their practice,she had perforce to remain on rather distant terms with them. In school,too, she found that everything was not quite what might have beendesired. Several of the girls helped each other openly with their Frenchcomposition. They would meet together before class and comparesentences, hastily correcting errors, and copying each other's work tosuch an extent that one essay was simply a duplicate of the other,faults and all. Mademoiselle was not a very observant person, and inconsequence never discovered what was taking place, though thesimilarity in the mistakes might easily have aroused her suspicions. Thehistory exercises also gave wide scope to those who were not absolutelyscrupulous. Miss Harper left much to the girls' sense of honour,trusting them completely, and never subjecting them to the strictsurveillance which was practised by Miss Rowe. As a rule her plan metwith excellent results, though unfortunately her confidence wassometimes abused. At the end of each chapter in the history book were anumber of questions, which were given as a weekly exercise. The classwas supposed to prepare the chapter first, then, opening the book at thepage of questions, to write the answers entirely from memory. A few didso, but I fear a large proportion of the girls yielded to the temptationthus placed in their way, and would take surreptitious peeps to supplymissing dates or names. It seemed hard that the conscientious onesshould often be obliged to lose marks, while those whose standard ofright was lower won words of approval from Miss Harper for their correctexercises. Patty's particular friends--Enid, Winnie, and Jean--wereamong those to whom honour meant more than marks; but Avis, who was amuch weaker character, sometimes allowed herself to slip, condoning herconduct by telling herself that everybody else did the same. Avis wasseated close to Patty one morning during the half-hour allowed for thewriting of the history exercise. She was not well prepared, and she wasjust refreshing her memory from the forbidden chapter, when suddenlyshe caught Patty's frank blue eyes fixed upon her with such a surprisedand reproachful gaze, that she flushed scarlet with shame, and turnedthe pages of her book hastily back to the questions.

  "I really never thought about it," she explained to Patty afterwards;"at least I suppose I did think, but I knew all the others were lookingup what they had forgotten, so I supposed it didn't matter."

  "Enid never looks," said Patty, gravely.

  "Well, I won't do it again; I won't indeed."

  "I was wondering," said Patty, "if we couldn't get up a little society,and ask the members to take a pledge to be absolutely honest about ourlessons. Would you join?"

  "Of course I would," said Avis, heartily. "I'd be very glad to. So wouldmany of the girls, I'm sure. We all hate being unfair, only it seems toobad when two or three take an advantage and get the best marks."

  Patty set to work without further delay, and managed to enrol thirteennames on her list of honour. Enid, Winnie, and Jean were naturallywilling recruits, as were also Cissie Gardiner, Maggie Woodhall, andfive of the lower division, including Ethel Maitland. Beatrice Wynne,after a little hesitation, added her signature, but May Firth, DorisKennedy, and Ella Johnson refused point-blank.

  "It's just another of your absurd fads, Patty Hirst," said Ella. "You'requite a new girl, it's only your first term here, and I think it's veryconceited of you to be always trying to make out you're so much betterthan anyone else."

  "Oh, Ella, you know I don't!" said poor Patty.

  "Yes, you do," snapped Ella.

  "You're not a monitress, Patty Hirst," said May Firth, "so I can't seewhy you should concern yourself with our affairs."

  "Do your own exercises, and leave us to do ours," said Doris Kennedy."We don't want to belong to your silly society."

  After meeting with such a rebuff, Patty felt very diffident aboutmentioning the matter to the remaining members of the class. She had nowish to be considered self-righteous and interfering, but, all the same,she thought she was bound to try and use her influence to set straightwhat was certainly a doubtful practice, and she meant to persist even atthe risk of being called hard names. She found Muriel and her threefriends alone in the recreation room one afternoon, and screwed up hercourage sufficiently to broach the subject to them.

  "I wasn't aware that anybody cheated," said Muriel coldly, pausing for amoment in the letter she was writing. "If they do, by all means getthem to take your pledge. It doesn't concern me."

  "Nor me
either," said Vera. "I go my own way, and don't trouble aboutother people."

  "We thought perhaps you'd join, as so many of the girls have done so,"said Patty, timidly.

  "It's quite unnecessary," said Vera, "and for Maud and Kitty too. You'dbetter take it to the Fifth Class."

  Kitty Harrison said nothing, but she came to Patty afterwards and askedthat her name might be placed on the list.

  "I think I can persuade Maud too," she said; "only you must promisefaithfully not to let Vera or Muriel know anything about it. I'm gladyou've got it up, Patty, because we all did really look back at thechapter in the history exercises, even Vera, though she won't confessit. Nobody will dare to cheat now that so much notice has been taken ofit, and we'd all rather not, if everyone else will keep square. I alwaysfelt dreadfully mean, only I didn't like losing marks."

  It was a great triumph for Patty to have won both Kitty and Maud to herside, and she had the added satisfaction of afterwards securing the twomembers of the lower division who had at first refused. Thanks to herexertions, the standard of the class seemed undoubtedly raised, and theFifth Form girls, who shared the recreation room, and heard most of whatwas going on, took up the idea, and formed a society of their own. Itwas as if Patty had cast a stone into a smooth pond, and the rippleswere spreading in an ever-widening circle. Without in the leastrealizing it, her school-fellows were influenced by her pleasant, sunny,unselfish ways. She had set a fashion of doing little kind, considerate,helpful things, which many of the rest began unconsciously to follow.There are always a large number of girls in a school who drift alongwithout any special aim, yet are ready enough to respond to anyone whodraws out the best that is in them. If one companion succeeds inavoiding little evils and inconsistencies, keeping her temper, andshowing forbearance and self-restraint in all the small daily acts, hercharacter will begin to invade other lives, and uplift them in spite ofthemselves. Patty was not aware that she had made any difference at ThePriory, and certainly never for a moment intended to set herself up asan example; but without knowing it she had given a helping hand toseveral who, but for her, might never have made any endeavour to mountto a higher level. Avis in particular was far more conscientious thanbefore, and Enid, who had hitherto been content if her half-learntlessons did not win a scolding from Miss Harper, began to put more zealinto her work. She was a bright girl, and could easily win class laurelsif she wished, though she disliked any continuous efforts. Her essayswere full of originality, and she was quick at understanding anythingwhich required reasoning, but she had little patience for rememberingdates and facts, and was not capable of Patty's steady plodding. Thoughboth Maud Greening and Kitty Harrison had become more friendly, VeraClifford and Muriel still held aloof from Patty, and it was owing tothem that an unpleasant incident occurred one day which caused thelatter much distress. Patty's talent for drawing was well known in theschool; she was clever at portraits, and with a few rapid lines couldmake excellent likenesses. The girls were fond of asking her to dosketches for them on scraps of paper, which they would afterwards keepinside their lesson books as great treasures. Among others, Patty haddrawn a capital picture of Miss Rowe, showing her classical features andher coils of smooth, fair hair. It was regarded as her masterpiece, andCissie Gardiner, its lucky owner, was quite envied by the rest of theclass. Cissie placed it inside her _Merchant of Venice_, and for severaldays rejoiced in its possession. One morning, however, the Upper Fourthwas reading Shakespeare with Miss Rowe. This lesson was always held inthe lecture-room instead of in the classroom, where Miss Harper wasteaching the lower division, and the girls sat on chairs arranged in asemicircle round their mistress. Cissie could not resist taking a peepat her portrait, and handed it to her neighbour to admire, who passed iton to the next girl, so that in course of time it found its way down theclass to Vera Clifford. Now Miss Rowe was rather handsome, but shehappened to have a scar down the side of her forehead, which slightlyspoilt her good looks. Patty had naturally left this out in her sketch,but Vera, who had not the same nice feeling, took a pencil and, nudgingMuriel, who sat next to her, put in the mark, which showed only tooplainly across the brow.

  "What are you doing? Pass it back at once!" whispered Cissie anxiously.

  Her ill-judged concern, however, had the unfortunate effect of callingMiss Rowe's attention to the piece of paper.

  "What have you there, Vera?" she asked.

  Vera tried to hand the sketch back quickly to Maud Greening, and Maudmade a valiant effort to slip it inside her Shakespeare; but as MaggieWoodhall happened at that instant to jog her elbow, she dropped thebook, and the paper fluttered on to the floor, almost at the teacher'sfeet. Miss Rowe picked it up and looked at it critically.

  "To whom does this belong?" she enquired sharply.

  "It's mine, Miss Rowe, please," said Cissie.

  "Did you draw it?"

  "No, Miss Rowe."

  "Then who did?"

  "Patty Hirst," said Cissie, who had not seen Vera's alteration, andthought the portrait so flattering and talented that she saw no reasonfor withholding the artist's name, and, indeed, considered Patty mightwell be proud of such an achievement.

  "Then I think Patty Hirst might employ her time more profitably," saidMiss Rowe, and, turning very pink, she tore the picture across, andthrew it into the waste-paper basket.

  Cissie rescued the fragments afterwards, and pieced them together, andwhen she discovered the addition which had been made, her wrath andindignation knew no bounds. As for Patty, she was nearly heart-broken atthe affair. She genuinely liked Miss Rowe, and could not bear her tothink that she would have been so cruel and indelicate as to callattention to her one blemish. Even Vera was penitent, for though she hadhad the bad taste to alter the drawing, she certainly had not intendedit to fall into the hands of the mistress herself. The hard part of itwas that no one liked to explain, because to refer to it at all wouldonly have seemed to make matters worse; so the girls consoled Patty asbest they could, but it was a long time before she could get over it.Perhaps on the whole the occurrence made Vera a little less nasty toPatty. She was a proud, but not altogether an ungenerous girl, and shewas genuinely sorry to have thus thrown blame on undeserving shoulders.But for Muriel's influence she would have been almost ready to followthe example of Kitty and Maud, and if not to make friends, at least totreat with tolerance a companion who was so particularly inoffensive,and so willing to meet an apology halfway.

  The war which Patty waged in her bedroom still went on as before. Everynight one of her companions would relight the gas, in spite of allentreaties. Sometimes Patty would get up and turn it out, greatly to thewrath of the others, who would retaliate next day by hiding her brushand comb, or dropping her cake of soap into her water jug. It was a mostunpleasant state of affairs, and seemed likely to continue indefinitely,when an incident fortunately happened which led to a truce.

  One November afternoon, when the girls were returning from hockey,Patty, in strolling through the shrubbery, noticed that the gardener,who had probably been unstopping one of the gutters, had left his ladderleaning against a wall, thus giving access to the flat roof of thelecture hall. Patty at home had sometimes been called a tomboy, and shecould not resist climbing up to see what the world looked like from thetop. She had reached the leads, and was on the point of stepping over alarge spout, when she heard the sound of laughter on the roof, andstopped to listen. Someone was evidently already there, and, recognizingthe voices of Doris, May, and Ella, she decided not to follow them. Anidea had suddenly occurred to her, and acting upon it at once shedescended to the ground, then, very gently removing the ladder, she laidit at the foot of the wall. The gardener's wheelbarrow, full of deadleaves, stood conveniently near, under the shelter of a largerhododendron, so she sat down on it, and waited for what she knew wasbound to happen. I believe there was a little mischief in her eyes, forPatty liked a joke as well as anybody, and she thought the occasionoffered considerable opportunities for fun. She had not to wait long. Ina few mi
nutes her three room mates, who had explored the roof as far asthey dared to venture, returned to the spot where they had left theladder, and were much astonished to find it gone.

  "What a nuisance!" said May. "Ward must have taken it without ourhearing him. I wonder where he is?"

  "We shall have to call," said Ella; "perhaps he hasn't gone very far."

  None of the three noticed Patty, who was hidden by the rhododendron,though by peeping through the leaves she was able to see them perfectlywell.

  "Coo--e--e!" cried Doris, as loudly as she could.

  "Cuckoo!" shouted May, hoping some passing companion might be withinearshot.

  "What are we to do?" said Ella, when their calls had been repeatedseveral times without rousing the faintest reply.

  It was rather a lonely part of the garden; most of the girls had runfrom the hockey field straight into the house, and the gardener was atthat moment partaking of tea in the kitchen. Patty, who had counted onall these points, remained quietly under cover, and suppressed herlaughter as best she could.

  "I don't know; we can't possibly jump it," said May, peeping over theedge to judge the distance between herself and the ground, and drawingback with a shudder.

  "We shall have to wait till Ward comes back," said Doris.

  "Suppose he's put the ladder away, and doesn't intend to come back?"suggested Ella.

  "Then we'll have to stay here all night," said May.

  "Oh, rubbish!" cried Doris. "Let us give one more good call; somebody'ssure to come."

  The combined efforts of three pairs of lungs raised a lusty shout, butbeyond a slight echo there was no response.

  "It's getting so dark. It must be almost tea-time, I'm sure," groanedElla.

  "They'll miss us at tea, I expect," said Doris.

  "Yes, but they won't know where to look for us. They'll hunt in everyplace except the right one. No one would ever dream we were on theroof," said May dismally.

  "Call again," said Ella, who was waxing tearful.

  "Cuckoo!" tried May once more, with a tinge of despair in her voice.

  This time Patty judged it discreet to come to the rescue, and emergingquietly from the shade of the rhododendron on the far side, she strolledup in a casual manner.

  "Why, what are you three doing there?" she exclaimed, with well-feignedsurprise.

  "Oh, Patty! is that you?" cried Doris, with great relief. "Ward hastaken away the ladder and we can't come down. I wish you'd go and fetchhim."

  "He hasn't taken the ladder away; it's lying on the ground under thewall," replied Patty.

  "Then put it up for us, that's a sweet girl," said Ella, in a far morecivil tone than she generally used.

  "I don't know, on the whole, that I will," answered Patty.

  Her three companions gasped.

  "Why not?" asked Doris.

  "Don't tease, Patty! It's getting dark and cold," said May.

  "Do be quick, Patty!" said Ella.

  "It would be colder still if you spent the night there," said Patty."Think how nice it would be for me, though, to have the bedroom all tomyself!"

  "Patty, you can't really mean to leave us here!"

  "If I put the ladder up, I shall expect something in return," declaredPatty.

  "All right. Go on. What do you want?"

  "You'll all three have to promise never to light the gas again afterMiss Rowe's turned it out, and not to read books that aren't allowed."

  "Don't be stupid, Patty; we've argued that point so often."

  "YOU'LL ALL THREE HAVE TO PROMISE NEVER TO LIGHT THE GASAGAIN AFTER MISS ROWE'S TURNED IT OUT"]

  "Very well," said Patty, briefly, pretending to walk away.

  A despairing wail from the girls, however, brought her back.

  "Don't go! Won't you take anything else?" entreated Doris.

  "Not a single thing," said Patty, firmly.

  "How mean you are!"

  "There's the tea bell," said Patty. "You'd better decide quickly,because I can't wait."

  "Suppose we promise only to read books out of the library," began Ella,"and light the gas sometimes?"

  "Good-night!" replied Patty, turning this time as if she really meant togo.

  "We'll promise! We'll promise!" cried the three shivering figures on theroof.

  "Everything?"

  "Yes, if you like."

  "On your honour?"

  "On our honour."

  "Never again?"

  "Never."

  "It's a bargain, then. Now you may all come down."

  Patty reared the ladder against the wall, and held it steady while hercompanions descended. She felt in good spirits, for she had enjoyed thefun of keeping them imprisoned, and had been able by guile to extort apromise which her strongest protests had hitherto failed to gain fromthem.

  "They don't know I hid the ladder," she said to herself as they allhurried in to tea, "and I don't mean to tell them. It's a grand victoryfor me. I shall hold them strictly to their word, and now at last weshall have a little peace in No. 7, and I shan't have to lie awake everynight listening in fear and trembling for Miss Rowe."