Brenda was not inclined to be melancholy, and the half-hour of retrospect had been good for her.
VII
IN DIFFICULTIES
On the same floor with the gymnasium at the end of the hall was a room whose door was usually locked. In passing up and down it was not strange that occasionally the girls would rattle the handle in their anxiety to catch a glimpse of the inside of the room. But the door was always fastened, and this fact allowed them to speculate widely as to what the room contained.
"It is full of clothes and jewels that belonged to Miss South's grandmother," announced Concetta. "She was a very strange old lady, and as rich as rich could be, and when Miss South wants any money, she just sells some of the things from this room."
"Oh, then the things must be beautiful; I wish we could see them!"
"Well, we'll watch and watch, and perhaps some day we shall find it open."
Once or twice, however, on their way to the gymnasium the girls had noticed this door ajar, and great had been their curiosity about it; for Concetta, who was never backward in wrongdoing, had announced that she meant to go in at the close of the gymnastic lesson, and look into some of the trunks that were piled against the wall.
"No, no," replied Gretchen, to whom she confided her intention, "that wouldn't be right."