"Dear me, do you have a gong to breathe by?" Blue Bonnet asked laughingly. "Seems to me one rings every five minutes."
"Not quite; but that little electric hammer runs the school—with Miss North behind it."
Miss North's school was supposed to be non-sectarian, so far as religious government went; but in expression it was very much Episcopalian.
Blue Bonnet listened to the prayers read in a pleasant monotone by one of the teachers, taking part in the responses.
Prayers over, Annabel led the way up-stairs.
"We have a half hour to put our rooms in order," she said, leaving Blue Bonnet at her own door. "I'll call for you in a little while. I'm just down the hall—number fifteen—if you get through first, stop for me."
"I haven't unpacked yet. I think, if I have a minute, I had better take my gowns out of the trunk," Blue Bonnet answered.
"You won't have much time now. Wait until this afternoon. We have from four to five o'clock free. I'll help you then."
The rest of the morning was spent in the classroom. By noon Blue Bonnet had met a number of the girls—including two of Annabel's most intimate friends: Sue Hemphill, from somewhere in the Middle West, and Ruth Biddle, a Pennsylvania girl. Ruth was Annabel's room-mate; a plain-looking girl, but decidedly aristocratic—blue blood written in every line of her delicate features and rather aloof bearing.
Sue Hemphill was the nicer, Blue Bonnet thought after a few moments' conversation. She was much friendlier, and much prettier; with soft grey eyes that twinkled mischievously, and a saucy little nose that inclined upward, giving her face a piquant, merry expression, quite irresistible.