"Call it what you will, only let me belong! Remember now,—you've promised!" And with a final squeeze to the imprisoned arm, and a brilliant smile for Theodore, Miss Myrtle and her companions happily retraced their steps to the sacred confines of the Seminary.
"Hold me up till my shattered nerves are restored," murmured Theodore. "They almost ate me up!"
"Miss Myrtle has an axe to grind, but she shall not grind it on my grindstone," said Miss Billy resolutely. "She has a misty idea that I've become fashionable and quite the thing, and that she's not in it. She called our Improvement work 'slumming,' and wants to join our club. Imagine her condescending to Mr. Hennesy, or Marie Jean, or Mr. Schultzsky, or in short, any of them! And yet, Theodore, I'm such a miserably weak character, I couldn't help being glad I had on my real lace collar when she was talking to me."
"Well," said Theodore, "the tables have at last turned,—and strangely enough, through our friends in Cherry Street. You wakened, as it were, to find yourself famous, Miss Billy."
"Nonsense!" said Miss Billy. "I gave her distinctly to understand that every member of the Improvement Club was a friend of mine,—but of course she is too shallow to understand it. Still, our relations with many of the girls will be less strained now, because of her friendliness, and that is something to be thankful for."
The Blanchard trap stood at the door of the High School that afternoon, when school was dismissed. Miss Myrtle herself, in a natty green coat with a scarlet collar, and a red Tam o' Shanter, sat high on the box with the reins in her hands.
"I have come for you both, to drive," she smiled. "This is our new trap. Don't you admire the red paint and the shining wheels? I know, now we have it, I shall bore you with attentions, but I don't expect to take 'no' for an answer."
"Ted," murmured Miss Billy, "I shall have to feed you to the lions. Providentially, here is Margaret with her cart to take me."
"I refuse to be fed," said Theodore firmly. "I've got to go up town and order some things for mother. Get into the trap yourself,—and I'll go with Margaret."
So Miss Billy was obliged to climb into the seat beside Miss Myrtle, while Theodore, winding his long legs into the cart, took the reins from Margaret's hand and with a sharp click to Patsy was off without a backward glance.