Geraldine tossed her head as she thought: “Well, I certainly agree that her mother did not belong to my class in England. I cannot imagine any one who would marry a Perkins associating with the Barringtons. She belonged to tradespeople or the serving class, no doubt. Perkins is the name of my chum’s butler.”
A door down the corridor opened and voices were heard approaching.
Geraldine quickly closed the book and slipped it back into its place on the desk.
She had just unlocked the door and seated herself when a flock of girls trooped into the room. They pretended not to see her though of course they did. She had whirled her chair about and her back was toward them.
“Oh, Starr, what a pretty room you have,” Peggy Pierce exclaimed as she sat on the window-seat and heaped the sofa pillows back of her. Geraldine flushed. Those were her very own pillows and she did not care to have them crushed, but she wisely decided to say nothing.
“Sit down, every one,” Peggy called, “and let’s tell Starr all about the rules of the school. It never would do to have her breaking them.”
The girls sat on the floor, tailor-fashion, and from their twinkling eyes it could be plainly seen that a spirit of mischief possessed them.
“What would happen to me if I did break a rule?” Starr inquired.
Peggy lowered her voice to a stage whisper as she said, “Something dreadful, I can assure you. You would be sent to the cupola room, and there isn’t any one of us brave enough to stay there all night.”
Geraldine was of course listening, although she pretended to be reading. She knew that they were talking about the very room which Madame Deriby had said that she might occupy that night.