Mrs. Hull went on spinning for a minute or two, and then she rose with dignity and grace. She approached the robbers, and just as she reached the door she picked up the thin apron she was wearing and as one would scare the chickens off the grass, she said, “shoo!” The robbers disappeared.
Everybody laughed, for they knew the old story, and Miss Hull clapped delightedly.
The next was the famous Countess de Camier. Daphne in all her radiant loveliness was so like the miniature of the Countess, kept carefully in a locked case in the library, that Miss Hull was stunned. Like her charming model, Daphne wore a quaint shepherdess dress, that spread about her dainty slippered feet in soft billows. Her hat was a white leghorn with just a flat bow of blue velvet on top, but a mass of tiny forget-me-nots snuggled beneath the brim, against her wonderful hair, at the back.
She sat on a small, straight-back chair, leaning a little forward, her lips parted in a haunting little smile, and her eyes bright.
“Oh!” gasped everybody, the girls, the faculty, and Miss Hull, and then held their breaths, fearful lest the curtain drop and shut out the lovely picture.
At last it dropped slowly only to rise again and again.
“What a beautiful Juliet she would make!” Miss Hull said, and Miss Slocum nodded.
The last picture was hardly worth showing. Helen Jenkins, dressed in man’s clothes, sat at the spinnet and tried to look as though she were composing a masterpiece, but everybody was too full of Daphne to look at her.
The curtain dropped, the lights came on, and the girls came from behind the scenes in their costumes to join in the dance that followed. Phyllis and Daphne made a beautiful picture as they walked arm in arm through the room, for Phyllis, with her hair over her shoulders and the soft ivory folds of her robe falling about her graceful body was very beautiful. They were almost rivalled in loveliness by Sally and Janet, for they made dashing boys and they swaggered about in fine style.
Miss Hull’s usually remote disposition was touched by the nature of the surprise. She loved the history of her house, and she was delighted to see the genuine feeling the girls put into their impersonations, and she did not stint her praise as she said good night to each girl in turn.