Girls New and Old

by L. T. Meade

"Yes," replied Matilda again. She left the room, shutting the door behind her.

"What an awkward, hideous little oddity!" she said to herself. "If people grow like that from the study of Greek, preserve me from wearing myself out with it. What a flirt Kate O'Connor is! pretending she wants to be helped with her stupid, musty old Homer! she just dropped the book on purpose. Well, I wish her joy of her prize in that old scarecrow. Yes, I may as well go out. I could not read 'The Golden Butterfly' in the same room with that parchment creature. To see Kate pretending to be so eager, and that old man falling into the trap so easily, is too much for my nerves. Perhaps he would not if he knew that she was only a peasant girl; perhaps he will know it some day. Now then, to find Maurice, and put a stop to this flirtation."

Matilda hastily donned a handsome sealskin jacket, and, wrapped from head to foot in the warmest furs, sallied forth into the cold January atmosphere. She walked as far as the shore, but, look to right and look to left as she would, she could not see a sign of any of her companions. The short gleam of sunshine had long ago disappeared; fresh banks of heavy clouds had come up from the north, and were covering the entire sky. Presently the snow began to fall; it fell faster and faster, thicker and thicker; it covered Matilda's sealskin jacket; it beat pitilessly against her cheeks, and even got into her eyes. She had forgotten to bring out an umbrella, and was therefore exposed to the full fury of the weather; she was quite a mile from home, too. What was to be done?

She by no means liked her present predicament; physical hardship of any sort was repellent to her. She walked on, buffeted by the weather, and feeling herself a truly wretched girl, when, to her relief, she saw a little shelter which had been put up along the shore, and which she had forgotten all about. She ran to it, sat down inside the glass-covered inclosure, and drew a long breath of relief. Part of this shelter was under repair, and was covered with scaffolding, canvas, and heavy boards. Matilda had scarcely seated herself in the glass part of the shelter before she heard footsteps approaching. She also heard voices which she immediately recognized; they were those of Maurice, Jimmy, and the other boys.

Now, Matilda had not made friends with the Ross boys. Maurice she would have tolerated had he shown her any special attention; the other three she cordially detested. She did not at all wish them to find her now, covered with snow, and looking blue, and miserable. She knew that Jimmy would immediately speak about her nose. Matilda's nose was a source of anxiety to herself, for the slightest thing made it red and swollen; the horror of a chilblain on this prominent portion of her face had been one of her terrors since her early childhood. Jimmy would be sure to tell her that the first signs of a chilblain were approaching. Scarcely considering what she was doing, she rushed into the dark part of the shelter, pulled forward some tarpaulin and matting, and, crouching down behind some boards, was completely lost to view. She resolved to stay in this hiding-place until the boys had left the shelter. She had scarcely made herself secure before they all entered. They stood by the entrance watching the storm and chattering hard to one another.

"How jolly!" said Jimmy; "we'll be able to snowball if this snow goes on much longer. I'm glad we are in for a downright good fall of snow. Isn't it fine to see it scudding as it does right across the sea? I should not be a bit surprised if we had a wreck to-night!"

"Oh, I say!" exclaimed Charlie, "if that isn't Molly and Cecil just turning the promontory; what a long walk they have taken! Do look at Cecil; see how her dress is blown by the wind—oh, and Molly's umbrella is inside out. What a mess they'll be in; why, this snow will wet them through. What is it, Maurice? Did you say anything?"

"I am going to meet them," said Maurice; "you stay quiet, if you can, you three, and don't be up to any larks. I'll bring the girls in here; they'll be sure to miss this little shelter if I don't point it out."

"Let me go with you," said Charlie.

"No, no! stay where you are; you are wet through as it is."