“Huh! Nothin’ but girls.”
CHAPTER TEN
THE DOWNFALL OF GLADYS MERLE
On Monday morning, Gladys Merle and Anita Ryan, the two who were especially interested, began to watch for an answer, but of course none came that day. On Tuesday morning, the rain fell heavily. Gladys Merle looked out of a class-room window watching for the rural postman, but no one appeared.
“Isn’t it just our luck?” Gladys exclaimed at the mid-morning recreation, as the two girls stood gazing dolefully out at the storm.
“The hill road will be so muddy in a few hours that it will be impossible for the postman’s horse and cart to get up here,” Anita declared, when Gladys, clutching her arm, whispered excitedly, “Look, there he is now!”
A man, well protected by a rubber slicker, soon entered the school and deposited a mail-bag at Madame Deriby’s door.
“How I do wish Miss Sharpleigh would come now and sort out the letters,” Gladys Merle had just said, when a gong sounded, which called them back to their classes. Never before had an hour seemed so long, and when at last they were free, they went directly to Madame Deriby’s office, but the mail-bag was still unopened.
“Oh, Miss Sharpleigh,” Anita said in her sweetest manner, “would it be too much trouble for you to see if there is a letter for me? I am expecting one from my Aunt Laura.”
Miss Sharpleigh, chancing to be in a pleasant humor, unfastened the mail-bag and glanced over the letters. Selecting one, she opened it, as was the custom, but, instead of reading it, as she usually did, she merely glanced at the end to see if it were really from a relative. “Your loving Aunt Laura” was all that she read, and then, believing that the contents of the letter must be all right, she handed it to Anita, who, with a look of triumph at Gladys, hurried from the office.