“Eureka! I have found it!” was Sibyl’s exclamation. She slipped the packet into her pocket, put the heather back into its place, tried to give the disturbed earth the appearance of not having been disturbed at all, and went back to the house. She was so excited she could scarcely contain herself.
The days were getting shorter. Tea was at half-past four, and a kind of light supper at seven o’clock. The girls of the lower school had this meal a little earlier. Sibyl was just in time for tea, which was always served in the great refectory; and here the various members of the upper school were all assembled—except the Specialities, who had tea in their own private room.
“Well, Sibyl, you are late!” said Sarah Butt. “I wanted to take a long walk with you. Where have you been?”
“I have been for a walk with Fanny Crawford,” replied Sibyl with an important air.
Betty, who was helping herself to a cup of tea, glanced up at that moment and fixed her eyes on Sibyl. Sibyl colored furiously and looked away. Betty took no further notice of her, but began to chat with a girl near her. Soon a crowd of girls collected round Betty, and laughed heartily at her remarks.
On any other occasion Sibyl would have joined this group, and been the first to giggle over Betty’s witticisms. But the little parcel in her pocket seemed to weigh like lead. It was a weight on her spirits too. She was most anxious to deliver it over to Fanny Crawford, and to keep Fanny to her word, in order that she might be proposed as a Speciality at the next meeting. She knew this would not be until Thursday. Oh, it was all too long to wait! But she could put on airs already, for would she not very soon cease to be drinking this weak tea in the refectory? Would she not be having her own dainty meal in the Specialities’ private room?
“How red you are, Sibyl!” was Sarah Butt’s remark. “I suppose the cold wind has caught your cheeks.”
“I wish you wouldn’t remark on my appearance,” said Sibyl.
“Dear, dear! Hoity-toity! How grand we are getting all of a sudden!”
“You needn’t snub me in the way you do, Sarah. You’ll be treating me very differently before long.”