Such a temperament should be handled with extreme care, he acknowledged. He said to himself that he supposed that until such an one is sufficiently mature to be reasonable, one should avoid direct issues. Doubtless, he would have done better to speak to Betty quietly or to ask her and Rose to come to his home for an informal talk. He had felt at the moment that he ought to avoid that sort of thing—that it was incumbent upon him to treat his friends among the pupils exactly as he treated the strangers. But perhaps he had overacted. Perhaps he had been hard to speak out suddenly to Betty before the whole school. Perhaps he had been cruel in calling the girls out to the bench like criminals—Betty in particular, who, though she wasn’t Bouncing Bet, was conspicuously tall and who had suffered so much as a child from being an object of curiosity. After all, he ought not to have expected her to be reasonable at thirteen and being of so limited experience. And if he had, indeed, seemed to her deliberately and perhaps revengefully cruel, certainly he ought to make large allowance for her. None the less, due allowance being made, the girl certainly had been high-handed. She had chosen and followed her own way so boldly and self-confidently that she had been a veritable Children’s Crusade in herself!
Well, here was the scene of the crusade. Here was Paulding and yonder the high school. And shortly after the train stopped at South Paulding and there was his sister’s carriage in waiting. There was no other greeting than that of the coachman and the station agent, but he was home again. And the morrow would bring Tommy.
CHAPTER XXXVIII
MRS. PHILLIPS had guests that evening. Her brother excused himself directly after dinner and retired to his own apartments. He had scarcely opened his book when Herbie came up to say that Miss Betty was at the door to ask when he was coming home.
Meadowcroft looked at the man incredulously. He didn’t of course mean what he said. And Herbie hastened to explain.
“Of course I told her you was home, sir. She said she’d come again, but I was sure you would want to see her and she’s waiting.”
“Ask her to come right up, Herbie,” Meadowcroft bade him. And he hobbled across the length of the great room and stood at the door to greet her, resting on one crutch. But though he reached out his hand eagerly, he didn’t, somehow, expect anything other than the frigid politeness that had been her attitude during the last weeks of their intercourse. He was amazed almost beyond words at her sudden and complete change of front.
“O, Mr. Meadowcroft, I shouldn’t think you’d want to shake hands with me!” she cried. “I shouldn’t think you’d be willing even to see me.”
“It’s certainly a mighty pleasant sight to see you, Betty,” he assured her warmly as he grasped her hand. “Come and sit down and let me tell you what I have been doing in Philadelphia.”
Betty wouldn’t even have allowed herself the luxury of a chair, except for the fact that she wouldn’t keep Mr. Meadowcroft standing. It wasn’t possible to select an uncomfortable one; but she sat uncomfortably erect on the extreme edge of the straightest one near the wheeled chair.