Polly's Senior Year at Boarding School Part 38

On account of the small number of Seniors, all of the lesser characters had been omitted, and the play had been cut down to three acts.

The first--the Venetian street scene, where Antonio bargains with Shylock. The second--the choosing of the caskets, and the third--the courtroom.

Angela, who was industriously shaking powder into her new satin slipper because it hurt, began reciting her lines:

"'Your Father was ever virtuous; and holy men at their death have good inspirations--'"

"Do keep still, Ange," Betty begged; "you'll get me all mixed up. 'Oh, upright judge--a Daniel--come prepare--'" she murmured to herself.

Lois in the other corner of the room was chanting: "'The quality of mercy is not strained--it droppeth like the gentle dew from Heaven upon the place beneath. It is _thrice_ blest--' There, I know I'll get that wrong," she broke off--"it's 'twice blest,' and I always say 'thrice.'"

"You're far too generous with your blessings," Polly laughed. "I feel perfectly sure that I will giggle right out when you say: 'You see me Lord Ba.s.sanio as I am--' you know."

"Don't you dare look at me," Lois warned, "or I'll laugh, too. Mercy, listen to those people! I'm going to peep." She opened the door a crack and looked out into the a.s.sembly Hall. She saw Maud and f.a.n.n.y, who were acting as two of the ushers, seating the new arrivals.

"The hall's jammed," she told the girls. "How many guests have you to-night, Dot?" she asked.

"Six! My mother, two girl cousins of mine and three boys."

"I expect five," Evelin said. "I hope they're all here. Did you notice two lanky men, a girl that looks like me, and my mother and father?"

"No, I didn't," Lois said; "that is, I can't recognize them from your description."

"Wasn't it a shame your mother couldn't come, Betty?" Polly said. "But, of course, d.i.c.k is here," she teased.

"No, he's not," Lois laughed. "I'd have seen his red head in the crowd if he had been."

"He's coming with John Frisby and Ange's sister and brother-in-law,"

Betty said, without paying any attention to Lois' teasing.

"There'll be at least twenty couples for the dance," Polly said. "That means the room won't look half empty, the way it did last year."

"I hope there's enough sherbet," Evelin said; "boys always eat twice as much as you expect them to."

"Well, there are cakes enough to feed a whole army," Dorothy Lansing added. "I know, for I ordered them."

"The orchestra is here. Oh, bother that buckle! it's sure to come off,"

Helen exclaimed.

"Has the sherbet come, does anybody know?" Angela asked.

"They promised it by six o'clock," Dot Mead replied; "it's surely here by now."

"It's time for the curtain," Miss Crosby called, as she came down from the stage, where she had been putting the last finishing touches to the Venetian street. "Are you ready?"

Polly and Angela and Helen jumped up.

"Don't forget your cue, Betty," Angela warned, "and don't you dare make me laugh."

Miss Crosby gave the signal for the lights to be turned off and a low murmur of antic.i.p.ation ran through the a.s.sembly Hall as the curtain rose.

Betty's clever interpretation of Shylock won the applause for the first act.

"Jemima! I'm glad that's over," she said as the curtain rang down. "The grease paint is all running down my cheeks. It's awfully hot up there."

They heard the audience still applauding.

"Go take a curtain call, Betty," Miss Crosby called. "All of you, hurry up! Lois, are you and Angela ready for the next act?"

It is hard to say who held the stage during the casket scene. Angela was sweet as Nerissa, and Polly made such a charming lover that she was especially applauded. Lois delighted every one as Portia, but, of course, her real triumph came in the next act.

It is one of the hardest things in the world to recite lines with which your audience is familiar and put sufficient new meaning in them to hold their attention. It is so easy to fall into a sing-song chant, particularly with a long speech. But Lois did it. She gave each word its proper stress and the soft mellow quality of her voice gained her extra praise.

It was a tired, but happily contented cast that took the encore after the final curtain, and the audience were enthusiastic in their applause.

"And now, for the dance," Polly exclaimed, as they hurried back to the dressing room to change their costumes. "I wish we could go as we are--"

"Why, Polly, you shock me," Betty laughed. "I can't imagine eating sherbet with this beard."

"They are pushing back the chairs; hear them?" Lois said. "Do hurry, Poll."

They finished dressing, and joined their party waiting for them in one corner of the room. Jim Thorp and Bob were extravagant in their congratulations.

"I expect that Lo will be starring in less than a year. How many people have called you a born actress, little sister?" he asked.

"Oh, at least a million!" Lois replied; for she was not to be teased.

"How do you like being a man, Polly?" Jim inquired. "You were so dashing and debonair, that I bet every fellow in the room felt big and clumsy in comparison."

"That pretty girl who played Nerissa was fine. I'd like to meet her,"

Bob said, "and you must introduce Jim to Betty; I want him to see her without the beard."

"All right; come on, and let's find them; they'll be together," Polly suggested as the music started.

"Oh, let's have one dance first!" Bob said.

After the dance ended, all the girls tried to introduce their friends to one another. It was a little confusing, for all the boys wanted to dance with every girl. Polly was so busy, meeting and dancing with different partners, that she didn't see Bob again until much later in the evening.

He was standing in one corner of the room and he looked very warm.

"Let's go out," he suggested. "It's so awfully hot in here; it's not against the rules, or anything, is it?" he added, as Polly hesitated.

She laughed. "No, of course not; but I was trying to remember who I had the next dance with," she said.

"With me," Bob a.s.sured her promptly. "Come on; I have your scarf in my pocket." They slipped out of one of the long windows at the end of the hall and walked toward the pond.

"Bob, do you realize that this is my last night at Seddon Hall?" Polly said, seriously. Bob nodded. "Yes, to-morrow you get your nice, beribboned diploma, or, I suppose it's beribboned; is it?"

"Yes!" Polly answered absently.