“I am going to keep to myself—‘flock together,’ as it were,” and again Beth laughed, and this time quite cheerfully. “No, no, Molly! It’s of no use to try to get me into your class in society. I should merely be a ‘hanger-on’—and I should positively hate myself for such sycophancy.
“Let me be myself. I am poor; no getting around it. Girls from whom I hope to earn money won’t treat me as their equal. At least, not these girls at Rivercliff, for the true feeling of ‘equality in knowledge’ has never become a tenet of this institution, as it has in so many colleges.”
“Goodness!” cried Molly. “You mean we are a school of snobs?”
“Very near it! very near it!” returned Beth, allowing herself some small display of malice for the moment. “But, yet, you are not to be blamed.”
“I am sure, Beth Baldwin, you cannot accuse me——” began Molly, when Beth swooped down upon her, seized her in her arms, and cried:
“Don’t be hurt, dear! You are the lovingest girl that ever lived. But you are not ‘the whole push,’ as Marcus would say. You mean well, and you could influence some of the other girls, I know; but I would merely cause a schism in the school if I went your way.”
“What do you mean?”
“A few of your nice girls would always be taking up cudgels for me. That would cause friction and do me more harm than good. I must quietly withdraw from too much publicity. Let me go my own placid way. I positively will not accept any invitations to private parties of any kind,” and Beth laughed. “Never again!”
“Oh, Beth! That’s just what we intended to do. Every girl that likes you agreed to invite you, one after another, to little parties, and so show those stuck-up things that you were more and more popular.”
“I thought so!” exclaimed Beth, and she smiled through her tears now. “It is very lovely of you—and of your friends. But I am going to excuse myself from all such affairs. Yes, I mean it. This is my room. Those girls who like me can always find me here at a proper time. But I shall make it a rule to attend no other private social ‘orgies.’”