"Put out?" asked Helen, awakening at last to a sign of interest.
"Yes, you know you have not been to drill for days, and we have to have the show before the sophs get ahead of us. They always have their show right in the glories of Hallowe'en, and the witches get all played out----"
"And tangled up in their broom sticks, until the very best hair dressers among us cannot untangle the wigs," finished Jane. "You are perfectly right, Clarisse. You youngsters have been working hard at your show for weeks, and you cannot allow the sophs to get the barn first. What's the real difficulty?"
Clarisse squatted down on the big floor cushion, her skirt just touching her knees by the scantest rim. She doubled her feet backward in regular style of the Jap-Turk-Indian, etc. Pencil threatening her red lips with poisonous smudges and "eyes right" as her squad would have described it, the pretty one attempted to impart to Jane information certainly not intended for Helen's ears. Seeing her confusion Jane mercifully attempted to relieve it.
"Suppose you rest this afternoon, Helen," she said. "I shall take your excuse in, if you wish."
"Oh, thank you, but I am sure I feel all right now," replied Helen, taking the cue signalling her departure. "I always feel refreshed when I have talked with my very good friend."
"That's nice of you, dear," Jane accepted, opening the door. "Run in again after two thirty. I shall be at leisure and glad to see you again. By that time you will know exactly how you feel about taking a furlough."
The military term was one with which the Polish girl was entirely familiar, and she guessed rightly that Jane had used it to convey the idea of a possible "furlough" from class work. Helen was still very shaky, still far from being convinced that her persecutors would be silenced with their insidious gossip, and until all this could be satisfactorily straightened out, Helen might find it necessary to remain away from the general assemblages.
Smiling, she withdrew. Then Clarissa untwined her ankles and assumed the aggressive.
"Oh, Jane--Miss Allen!"