It was a sleepy but very happy school that sought their beds as the grandfather clocks throughout the house struck eleven.
“I told you it wouldn’t be hard to stay here for the hols, and it hasn’t been, has it?”
“Certainly not.”
“How about the trip to New York, Prus?”
“Oh, bother New York!” Prue replied, and the evening ended as the day had begun, with laughter.
[CHAPTER XVIII—The Elections]
The low-ceilinged white-washed gym at Hilltop had originally been the store-room and the dairy. The rooms were thrown into one, and made an excellent gymnasium. A balcony ran around the sides for spectators, and the walls were lined with racks for dumb bells and other apparatus. Basket ball posts stood at either end, and hooked up to the ceiling were trapezes and bars.
Hilltop preferred to take its exercise out-of-doors, but the gym was a very good substitute in bad weather.
It was nearing the Christmas holidays, the most exciting time of the year. Teams were chosen and new members were elected to the various clubs.
Because of the unusually cold and rainy weather, the archery target had been brought in and put up in the gym. A soft, small mesh curtain hung behind it to catch stray arrows. The bows were piled up along the wall, and the arrows kept a neat pile beside them.