“And can they be blamed?” demanded the teacher, quite exasperated herself now. “If you had any loyalty to Central High you would not have acted as you did.”
“I don’t care!” flashed out Hester.
At that Mrs. Case arose to go. “You are hopeless,” she said, decisively. “I had it in mind to offer you a chance to win back your position on the team. But such consideration would be thrown away on you.”
“I don’t want to play with the horrid, stuck-up things!” cried Hester, quite beside herself now with rage and mortification. “I hate them all. I don’t want any of them to be my friends. And as for your old athletics—I’m going to tell father that they’re no good and that I want to withdraw from the League.”
“You may be saved the necessity for that if you haven’t a care, Hester,” warned Mrs. Case, taking her departure.
It was because of this visit from the physical instructor, perhaps, that Hester fairly bullied her father at luncheon time into allowing her mother and herself to try out an automobile that an agent had wanted to sell the wholesale butcher for some time. If automobiles had been uncommon on the Hill Henry Grimes would have had one long before for his family, for he loved display, just as Hester did. But nearly every family at their end of Whiffle Street had a car.
However, Mrs. Grimes woke up enough to show interest in the matter, too, for she really liked riding in a car that ran smoothly and rapidly over the macadamized roads about Centerport; so she added her complaint to Hester’s and finally the butcher telephoned for the car to be sent up. But he would not give any time to it himself. Therefore it was that Hester and her mother appeared on the Hill road just above the Four Corners in season to extricate Laura Belding and Eve Sitz from their very uncomfortable session with Hebe Pocock and his crowd.
“We ought to have gone along and left those girls to get out of it as best they could,” snapped Hester, when the car rolled on and Laura and Eve, with the mare and colt, were out of sight.
“Why, I declare for’t!” ejaculated Mrs. Grimes. “You certainly do hate that Belding girl—and I don’t see a living thing the matter with her. She’s smart an’ bright—remember how she found my auto veil that you lost last spring?”
Hester had very good reason for remembering that occasion. She had always been afraid that Laura would circulate the story connected with that veil; and because Laura had kept silence Hester hated her all the more.