Betty Lee, Sophomore Part 8

"Going to wait for Lucia Coletti?" asked Mathilde.

"No; she knows how to get to the home room now," answered Betty.

"Anything I can do for you?" Betty smiled pleasantly, though she intended to be a little reserved with Mathilde. From all she had heard, she did not have the greatest confidence in Mathilde's sincerity. But Betty was always glad to be on a friendly footing with other girls. She did "hate" disagreeable undercurrents, though one could not always avoid them.

"You are a bit new yourself, aren't you?" Betty continued.

"Oh, yes, but not like Lucia, and my work was all fixed up in plenty of time. I do feel strange in a public school and I can't say that I like it now; but if Lucia can stand it, I think I can. You don't have to know everybody, of course. Some of the boys and girls are too common--for words!"

That speech grated on Betty. "Perhaps so," she answered, "but a lot of them are as fine as can be. Besides, we have to live in the world with everybody, don't we? And I haven't seen anybody here that wasn't nice--well, hardly. But the boys and girls that won't work or keep the rules get sent out."

"Oh, I suppose they all behave well enough," carelessly replied Mathilde. "They have to. But look at their clothes, and the way they talk!"

"I never dress up much for school myself," said Betty, who had a sound suspicion that the reason Mathilde was attaching herself to her this morning was her relation to Lucia Coletti. "And when it comes to language, do you know, some of the worst I've heard came from girls out of wealthy homes. So far as I'm concerned, give me the good old public schools, though I'd love to go to boarding school some time, just for the fun of it. Why, there's Lucia now!"

Betty and Mathilde stopped in the middle of the big hall as Lucia Coletti came out of the princ.i.p.al's office. Her face lit up as she saw Betty and she hurried toward the girls.

"This is--what you call luck--Betty. Good morning--and I think I met you, yesterday, Miss ----?"

"It is Mathilde Finn, Lucia," said Betty, as Lucia looked doubtfully at Mathilde. "She has been at a private school, too, and is coming back to us now--a soph.o.m.ore like the rest of us."

Betty spoke cordially, as Betty would, and together the three made their way to their home room. But Mathilde's manner to Lucia amused her and when lunch time came and Dotty Bradshaw fell in with her, just behind Lucia, whom Mathilde had in tow, she could not help smiling at Dotty's comments.

"Ha!" said Dotty in a dramatic whisper. "Finny is rushing the countess, I see. Look out, Betty. She'll cut you out with royalty."

"Why should I mind, Dotty?" laughed Betty. "I like Lucia and I think that she's going to take hold of things as you'd scarcely expect a girl that's been used to everything to do. She's got a lot of those old Romans in her, I imagine, to say nothing of what she gets of good American pep, if not so old! Oh, Dotty, I've got such _loads_ to do I haven't time to think about whether I get cut out with _anybody_!"

"Lessons getting on your nerves?"

"Somewhatly!"

"That's always the way at first. Cheer up. You're not interested, then, in hearing about the new sorority?"

"Well, I might have a little _natural curiosity_."

"I'll say! I'll tell you everything I know at the first chance."

This was while the crowd was mounting the stairs to the lunch room. At the top of the stairs Betty saw Mathilde usher Lucia inside of the lunch room, though Lucia turned and looked inquiringly at Betty.

Betty smiled and waved her hand, nodding approvingly as if to say "It's all right with me," and just then Kathryn appeared in the line behind Betty, having hurried to catch up. Dotty was by several girls beyond her in the line that was forming for the cafeteria procession; and Kathryn, having Betty's ear in spite of the rattle of dishes and the buzz, or more appropriately "roar" of conversation, pitched above other sounds, informed her that she had "a lot to tell her."

"Tell it now," urged Betty.

"Fat chance, as Chauncey says. I'll see you somewhere. Skip along, honey. I hope they've got plenty of good things left. I always prefer being called to first lunch."

"How strange!" laughed Betty. "I certainly hate it when we are last to be called and all the best desserts and salads are gone. But can't you give me an _idea_?"

Kathryn shook her head in the negative, concerned now with looking ahead to choose what she would have for lunch.

Betty with a full tray looked around for Lucia and saw that she and Mathilde were together at a table which was rapidly filling up. Carolyn at another table waved at Betty and Kathryn, who hurried there to join her. But the hungry girls were most interested in the business at hand and Carolyn, after the first pangs of hunger was relieved, was started on athletics, lamenting the loss of the senior football men and relating what material she had heard was available for the year's team.

Betty saw for the first time Ted Dorrance, who was not acting at all as a senior whose heart was broken should act. With a group of senior boys he was laughing and talking at a table not far away. Betty wondered how it happened that they had had lunch at the same time, and while her eyes were turned in that direction, Ted saw her and gave her a gay salute.

Poor boy, perhaps he was just putting on all that fun and was really feeling terrible about Louise. No--perhaps they had made up!

Lessons, lessons, lessons! How hard these first a.s.signments seemed! Some of their teachers "had a heart," as Dotty said, and others hadn't the sign of one. Again they had to carry all their books around until lockers were a.s.signed. Mathilde complained constantly, Betty thought; but Lucia, with a neat brief-case of leather, kept all her paraphernalia together and carried them around without a word. "Lucia Coletti is a good sport," said Dotty Bradshaw.

Finally, toward the end of the week, Kathryn had a good opportunity to talk to Betty. It was on the street-car, but they had a back seat together and could talk in ordinary tones without being overheard. Both had errands down town, as it happened, and were to go down right after school to meet their mothers.

"Here you've kept me in suspense all week, Kathryn," Betty accused her friend.

"I suppose you've laid awake nights over it, Betty."

"Oh, yes, of course. My dear, I _have_ laid awake a while over a lesson or two!"

"I've had reason enough to, but not I. When my head strikes the pillow not even anything Mathilde or anybody could say, to say nothing of mere lessons, could keep me awake!"

"By the way, is it clothes you're going to see about this afternoon, Kathryn?"

"Yes. I'm going to get a hat and a dress, and _look_ at coats."

"Here, too, Kathryn, but I'll wait to buy a coat till I see what you get, I think."

Upon this there followed a discussion of styles and materials quite interesting to Betty, who did want to look like the rest but had had little experience so far in city shopping. Kathryn advised her a little about the best places to shop, where "things were expensive" and where one could get good values for a reasonable sum. They concluded to get the mothers together at some store and arranged the meeting place before any school matter was touched upon again.

Then Kathryn began. "I could have told you that everything is all right about Peggy, but some way I wanted to have a good chance all by ourselves before I did. You know how we went out to Carolyn's that time.

We had a good deal of fun over that lunch, and Peggy was just as much fun as she always is and I never acted any different from the way I always do. I just thought, if Peggy didn't like me and talked about me, I couldn't help it anyhow and there was no use in acting 'sore' about it. That is what my brother always says, Betty."

"You needn't apologize, Gypsy. I have a brother, too."

Kathryn laughed. "It's very convenient when you want to use slang to quote from your brother, isn't it?"

"Very."

"Well, it seems that Peggy had overheard you call me Gypsy, though how I don't know."

"Oh, I'm sorry, Kathryn. I meant that for our little secret!"

"I know it, but really I don't care. I rather like it now. You remember that we told Carolyn about it, at your house."

"Yes."

"Carolyn told me afterwards that she had it in mind when she asked us for lunch; and didn't Peggy call me 'Gypsy' as she pa.s.sed me the sandwiches?"

"No! Why, what did you think when she did that?"

"I was startled, of course. She said, 'Gypsy, _have_ another sandwich!'

and I looked up at her in amazement, though not a bit offended, you know, and she laughed. 'Who started that name for you?' she asked.

'You're looking so surprised that maybe you don't like it,' she went on.

'I just heard Betty Lee call you that one time and I thought it cute. I told Mathilde Finn just the other day that you looked like a gypsy queen or something awfully romantic.'