“You are not dead tired? You are willing to help me?” said Belle, looking at Annie when they found themselves alone.
“I will help you of course, Belle, if I can. I have read Herodotus, and thought it splendid; but I do not know the story to which you allude.”
“Well, you can help me, anyhow. Dear, dear, it does seem a pity that mother should have taken to you in this extraordinary manner. I know mother’s ways so well. She will begin to fuss over you, and then you will imagine all sorts of things; but now, if you will take my advice, you won’t consider yourself an ill-used martyr simply because mother has taken a fancy to you.”
“Oh, I have never thought myself a martyr,” said Annie.
“Then, for goodness’ sake, don’t wear that pensive air. I wish, too, you would not open your eyes so wide. It gives you a sort of starved look.”
“Starved? Really, Belle—I mean Miss Acheson.”
“You can call me Belle while you are here; it is shorter and more convenient. I could not possibly ‘Miss Colchester’ you; the name is a great deal too long for everyday use. You shall be Anne, or Ann, while you are here. And now, pray, Ann, take this chair and let us get through our work.”
They did so. Annie soon became interested. She had considerable intellectual power, and between them the girls worked out the problem with regard to
Hippocleides. Belle, the first to recognize genius when she saw it, clapped her hands with pleasure.
“This is quite splendid,” she said. “I never could get at the bottom of that stiff rendering before. I am delighted you are here. We can become the very closest friends. Some day, Annie, you shall come and live with me in my hostel. Mother does not yet know of my darling scheme. Poor mother herself must be excluded, and she will feel it, poor thing; but I shall have quite money enough of my own to pay the rent of the house for a couple of years after I leave college. Let me see; if you don’t mind, I’ll get the money-box now, and count my savings. I declare I am getting quite miserly over this matter.”