“But you are sorry and that means everything,” answered Billie, who was sitting on the side of the bed, feeding her hot beef tea.
“When are the others coming?” asked the invalid.
“They have come. I was just going to tell you after you had finished the tea. Shall I call them?”
Belle nodded, and presently Miss Gray and Mary Price came into the room.
The Principal took the sick girl’s hand kindly.
“Speak out from the heart, Belle,” she said, “and don’t be afraid. You will be much happier when you get it off your mind.”
“I promise to, Miss Gray,” replied Belle meekly, gazing miserably at Mary, who looked pale and ill.
Miss Gray sat in a judicial looking armchair; Mary, with closed eyes, lay on a lounge near the fire, and Billie seated herself on the foot of the bed.
“I suppose,” began Belle, “it would be almost impossible for you to believe that a well brought up girl of decent family could be as wicked as I have been. When I finally realized what I had done I thought I would rather run away to South America with those terrible people than stay here and bear the shame of it all. But I thank heavens for the storm. The ship was not sailing for any good purpose. I feel sure of that.
“To begin at the beginning, perhaps you didn’t know how angry I was when you joined the Blue Birds, Billie? I hope I shall never be angry again. I was ill from it and I lay on my bed all afternoon planning a revenge on all the Blue Birds, but you, especially. I think I must have been insane with rage and mortification. I wanted to humiliate you, because I thought you had humiliated me before the whole school. I thought of dozens of ways of doing it, but the only plan that seemed good enough was to prove——”