‘She said I’d got to do the head girl’s hair because I was the youngest, and I was to make haste, or I shouldn’t be in time. I did make as much haste as I could, truthfully,’ she added, looking up timidly at her frowning questioner; ‘but there were such a lot of hooks on my new frock, and I’m not used to hooks. I’ve always had buttons before, you see.’
One or two of the neighbouring doors had opened by this time, and quite a small audience was assembling to hear Barbara’s attempt at explanation. A giggle that swelled into a laugh brought dismay once more into her heart; and a suspicion that she had been hoaxed slowly dawned upon her.
‘Isn’t it true?’ she cried, turning upon them desperately. ‘Haven’t I got to do the head girl’s hair?’
‘You’d better do your own first, I should say,’ observed one of the onlookers, carelessly; and the others laughed again.
The head girl silenced them peremptorily. ‘Don’t, Ruth!’ she said. ‘It’s only a babe, after all. You others had better go downstairs; the supper-bell will ring directly.’
The gallery slowly emptied itself, except for the little group of three that still stood outside the head girl’s door. The offending Ruth turned to Barbara; she had a good-natured face, and was looking penitent.
‘Come here, child, and let me fasten your frock properly,’ she said; ‘you’ve done it up all wrong.’
Barbara turned her back to her willingly. ‘It’s awfully bricky of you,’ she said warmly; ‘I’ve never done up my own frock before, and this one was so complicated, somehow.’
‘You must come to me when you want your frocks fastened,’ answered her new friend. ‘I sleep next door to you, and I always help Angela, whose room is on the farther side of mine. You’ve only got to tap at the door between, when you are ready. But you mustn’t speak in the morning before breakfast, or in the evening after prayers, because that is against the rules.’
She fetched a brush and tried to reduce the tangled hair under her hands to a certain degree of order. Margaret Hulme had disposed of all her hairpins by this time, and was closely watching a door on the other side of the gallery. When it at last opened she straightened herself and prepared for action.