“Well!” Kitty demanded, waiting for her at the parsonage gate with Sarah; “I hope you’re glad to get back.”
“Even if I were not, I hope I am too polite to say so,” Blue Bonnet laughed, falling into step. Going to and coming from school was fun; it was the staying there that was apt to prove irksome.
She did not go directly home from school that afternoon; instead, she turned off in the direction of the Library, standing well back from the street in its own square of green. It had been easy to put Sarah and Amanda off; the rest of the club were busy “making up” these afternoons. It seemed to Blue Bonnet, that, on the whole, it was Miss Fellows who was paying the penalty for the fourteen’s act of insubordination.
Once at the Library, Blue Bonnet hurried to the little room at one side, devoted to the books concerning local history. There was no one else there, though the reading-room was filling fast with pupils on Sargent thoughts intent. Standing before the rows of musty-looking old volumes, Blue Bonnet gave an impatient thought to the originator of so much trouble. It was positively wicked to waste such a glorious Spring afternoon indoors. Perhaps, if she hurried there would still be time for a ride.
Blue Bonnet found that it was not going to be as easy to keep her secret as she had thought, neither at home nor at school. Some of the fourteen had already been granted the longed-for permission, and on the big board up at the front of the assembly-room, the list of papers turned in—including titles and names of competitors—was lengthening daily.
“I think,” Blue Bonnet confided one afternoon to Chula, as they started briskly off down the drive, “that I’ll begin to write mine on Saturday morning; I’ve got all the dates and details about ready.”
At the sound of quick steps behind her, she looked around. “Two is company, you know,” Boyd said, riding up beside her; “I hope you are in a mood for company—present company, at that.”
“Then you don’t call a horse and dog company?”
“Do you?”
“Certainly, and very good company.” Blue Bonnet leaned forward to pat Victor; they had become good friends since that ride together last October. “You’ve been riding Victor too hard—again,” she added, with sudden severity.