The School Queens Part 34

Cicely was seated near Aneta, with Kathleen O'Donnell at her other side. Just for a minute Aneta's eyes traveled across the table and fixed themselves on Maggie's face. Maggie found herself coloring, and a resentful feeling awoke in her heart. She could not dare to oppose Aneta; and yet--and yet--she was determined at any cost to keep the love of Merry Cardew for herself.

Meanwhile Merry, who was equally delighted to find herself by Maggie's side, began to talk to her in a low tone.

"You don't look very well, Mags," she said--"not nearly as robust as when I saw you last; and you never wrote to me after that first letter."

"I have a great deal I want to tell you," said Maggie in a low tone.

"Lucy is quite right; there are no lessons of any sort this evening.

Mrs. Ward always gives us the first evening to settle and to get perfectly at home in, so we shall be able to chatter to our heart's content. This is going to be a glorious night, and we can walk about in the garden."

"But won't there be a lot of other people in the garden?" asked Merry.

"Why, of course," said Maggie in a surprised tone. "I suppose we'll all be there."

"We can't talk any secrets, if that is what you mean," said Merry, "for the garden is so very small."

Maggie laughed. "That's because you are accustomed to Meredith Manor,"

she said. "Anyhow," she continued, dropping her voice, "I must talk to you. I have a great, great deal to say, and you'll have to listen."

"Of course I will listen, dear," said Merry.

Rosamond Dacre now joined in, and the conversation became general.

Henrietta and Mary Gibson had a very agreeable way of describing things. Maggie felt herself reinstated in the life she loved; Merry, the girl she cared for best, was by her side, and she would not have had a single thorn in the flesh but for the presence of Aneta.

It has been said that in this school there were two girls who held considerable sway over their companions. One of them was Aneta Lysle, the other Maggie Howland. Aneta had, of course, far and away the greater number of girls under her spell, if such a word could describe her high and n.o.ble influence over them. But Maggie had her own friends, among whom were Rosamond Dacre, Kathleen O'Donnell, Matty and Clara Roache, and Janet Burns. All these girls were fairly nice, but not so high-bred and not so n.o.ble in tone as the girls who devoted themselves to Aneta. Kathleen was, indeed, altogether charming; she was the romp of the school and the darting of every one. But Rosamond Dacre was decidedly morose and sulky. She was clever, and on this account her mistresses liked her; but she was a truly difficult girl to deal with, being more or less shut up within herself, and disinclined to true friendship with any one. She liked Kathleen O'Donnell, however, and Kathleen adored Maggie. Rosamond was, therefore, considered to be on Maggie's side of the school. Matty and Clara Roache were quite ordinary, everyday sort of girls, neither very good-looking nor the reverse, neither specially clever nor specially stupid. Their greatest friend was Janet Burns, a handsome little girl with a very lofty brow, calm, clear gray eyes, and a pa.s.sionate adoration for Maggie Howland. Matty and Clara would follow Janet to the world's end, and, as Janet adhered to Maggie, they were also on Maggie's side.

Maggie naturally expected to add to the numbers of her special adherents her own two friends, the Tristrams. She felt she could easily have won Merry also to join, the ranks of adorers; but then it suddenly occurred to her that her friendship for Merry should be even more subtle than the ordinary friendship that an ordinary girl who is queen at school gives to her fellows. She did not dare to defy Aneta.

Merry must outwardly belong to Aneta, but if her heart was Maggie's what else mattered?

When tea was over several of the girls drifted into the garden, where they walked in twos, discussing their holidays, their old friends, and the time which was just coming. There was not a trace of unhappiness in any face. The whole atmosphere of the place seemed to breathe peace and goodwill.

Aneta and Cicely, with some of Aneta's own friends, two girls of the name of Armitage--Anne and Jessie--and a very graceful girl called Sylvia St. John, walked up and down talking quietly together for some little time.

Then Cicely looked eagerly round her. "I can't see Merry anywhere,"

she remarked.

"She is all right, dear, I am sure," said Aneta. But Aneta in her inmost heart did not think so. She was, however, far too prudent to say a word to make her cousin Cicely uneasy.

Meanwhile Maggie and Merry had found a cosy corner for themselves in one of the conservatories. They sat side by side in two little garden-chairs.

"Well, you've come!" said Maggie. "I have carried out my design. My heart's desire is satisfied."

"Oh, how sweet you are, Maggie!" said Merry. "I have missed you so much!" she added. "I have so often wished for you!"

"Do you really love me?" asked Maggie, looking at Merry in her queer, abrupt manner.

"You know I do," said Merry.

"Well," said Maggie, "there are a great many girls in the school who love me very dearly."

"It is easy to perceive that," said Merry. "Why, Maggie, at tea-time that handsome little Irish girl--Kathleen you call her--couldn't take her eyes off you."

"Oh, Kitty," said Maggie. "Yes, she is on my side."

"What do you mean by your side?"

"Well, of course I have told you--haven't I?--that there are two of us in this school who are more looked up to than the others. It seems very conceited for me to say that I happen to be one. Of course I am not a patch on Aneta; I know that perfectly well."

"Aneta is a darling," said Merry; "and she is my own cousin; but"--she dropped her voice--"Maggie, somehow, I can't help loving you best."

"Oh," said Maggie with a start, "is that true?"

"It is! it is!"

Maggie was silent for a minute. At the end of that time she said very gently, "You won't be hurt at something I want to tell you?"

"Hurt! No," said Merry; "why should I be?"

"Well, it is just this: Aneta is frightfully jealous of me."

"Oh! I don't believe it," said Merry indignantly. "It isn't in her nature to be jealous. It's very low-minded to be jealous."

"There is no school," said Maggie, "where jealousy does not abound.

There is no life into which jealousy does not enter. The world itself is made up of jealous people. Aneta is jealous of me, and I--I am jealous of her."

"Oh, Maggie dear, you must not, and you ought not to be jealous of Aneta! She thinks so kindly, so sweetly of every one."

"She loves you," said Maggie. "You just go and tell her how much you care for me, that you love me better than you love her, and see how she will take it."

"But I wouldn't tell her that," said little Merry, "for it would hurt her."

"There!" said Maggie with a laugh; "and yet you pretend that you don't think her jealous."

"She will never be jealous of me, for I'll never give her cause--dear Aneta!" said Merry.

Maggie was again silent and thoughtful for a few minutes. "Listen to me, Merry," she said. "In this school the girls follow the queens. If I wanted to make Aneta Lysle really mad with jealousy I'd get you over to me; but--don't speak for a minute--I won't get you over to me. You shall stay at school and be on Aneta's side."

"I suppose--I suppose I ought," said Merry in a faint voice.

"You must--you must be on Aneta's side of the school, and so must Cicely; but you can, all the same, love me best."

"Can I?" said Merry, brightening up. "Then, if I can, I sha'n't mind a bit."

Maggie patted her hand very gently. "You can, Merry; and you can help me. You will always take my part, won't you?"

"Indeed--indeed I will! But it won't be necessary."

"It may be," said Maggie very earnestly. "Promise that, if the time comes, you will take my part."