“Bet, oh, Bet, catch me quick!” cried Polly, falling into her arms in a mock faint. “Such news! Tell her, some one, quick!”
“Wah!” exclaimed Betty when she had heard. “You’ll have to play on the big team, Polly. Isn’t that bully!”
As they all stood talking it over, in subdued whispers, Louise Preston appeared at the other end of the corridor.
“Oh, Polly,” she called, “can you spare me a few minutes? Let’s go in this classroom; then we won’t be disturbed.”
She put her arm around Polly’s shoulder as she had done the first day. Once inside the classroom, she began:
“We’ve had some pretty bad news this morning. Gladys Couch received a telegram that her brother is going to be married on Saturday. Well, of course, Glid will have to go home. She can’t very well ask them to postpone the wedding,” she added, smiling, “and that leaves us without a jumping center. Polly, you know we simply must win this game. You’ll have to play and you’ll have to play as you never played before. Better get some practicing in and, remember, I’m depending on you.”
She was gone before Polly could realize what had happened. She spent the rest of the day in the gym with Lois and Betty as Louise had suggested.
Misfortunes never come singly. The next day Flora Illington, the other substitute center, had a phone message that her father was very ill and she had to leave at once. Flora was just one of the girls at Seddon Hall; apart from her position on the team, she had no particular place in the school.
However, it was with genuine sympathy and feeling that the girls saw her leave and the week after heard of her father’s death.
Flora never returned to school and after the letters of condolence were written and answered, she was forgotten.