“That was the first year Mrs. Schmidt was here, and, thank goodness, she isn’t here any longer, and she hadn’t learned as much as she learned afterwards. My goodness, wasn’t she stingy? She thought one egg ought to be enough for six girls, I believe. It took Miss Preston about a year to get her to understand that we were not to be kept on half rations. Well, that night we were expecting something extra fine. We got it!” and Lou stopped to laugh at the recollection. “We rushed into the house, hungrier than wolves, and ready to empty the pantry, and what do you think we found? A lot of after-dinner coffee cups of very weak cocoa, with nary saucer to set them in, and two small crackers apiece. ‘I was thinking you would come in hungry, young ladies, so I make you some chocolate. You don’t mind that I have not some saucers, it make so many dishes for washing,’ she said, smiling that pudgy smile of hers. Ugh! I can’t bear to think of it even to this day, and she was ten million times better before she left last spring. That was the reason Miss Preston took matters into her own hands the next time, I guess.”
Just then a tap came at the door, and Miss Preston put her head in to ask:
“Can you girls do extra hard work between this and eight o’clock?”
Had she entertained any doubts of their ability to individually do the work of three, the shout which answered her in the affirmative would have banished them forever, for the girls were not slow to guess that some surprise was afoot.
“Very well, I’ll trust you all to prepare tomorrow’s lessons without exchanging an unnecessary word, and at eight o’clock I’ll ring my bell, and then you must all put on extra warm wraps and go out on the piazza to—look at the moon. I shall not expect you to come in till ten-thirty.”
As the last word was uttered Miss Preston met her doom, for five girls pounced upon her, bore her to the couch and hugged her till she cried for mercy.
“Come with us, oh! come with us,” they cried. “It will be twice as nice if you’ll come!”
“Come where? Do you suppose I’ve lived all these years and never seen the moon?” and laughing merrily she slipped away from them, only pausing to add: “It is ten minutes of seven now.”
The hint was enough, and not a girl “got left” that night.
At eight o’clock a silvery ting-a-ling was heard, and never was bell more promptly responded to. Had it been a fire alarm the rooms could not have been more quickly emptied.