“I quite understand,” she said. “Alice and I also have a mother—such a darling.”
“But I do wish you had a room to yourself, you poor old thing,” said Alice Smart. “Miss Colchester is a well-meaning creature; but to live with her—oh, it would be a real trial!”
“And I wonder what Miss Gilroy will do when the other girls call on her,” said Jane. “Annie will be so cross; she won’t make herself the least bit agreeable. She is learning-mad; that is the only word I can say for her.”
“I must make the best of it, however matters turn out,” said Leslie. “I am only sorry that Miss Colchester is not a little more tidy; but I dare say I shall get on with her very well.”
“And you know you can make your own part of the room as pretty as you please,” said Florrie, speaking again. “You ought to go to Hunt’s, in the Broad, to-morrow; he is the decorator of all our rooms. Some of
us spend a good deal over our rooms; others again are more economical. But Hunt will do the thing in any way you wish, and he won’t send in the account until the end of term. That latter fact is of importance to some of us, I can tell you.”
As Florrie said the last words she rose.
“I am too sleepy to stay up another moment,” she said, “fascinating as your cocoa-parties always are, Janie; but I was out so long this afternoon that I am half-dead with sleep.”
“And I, too, am very sleepy,” said Alice, rising. “Janie, that cocoa was excellent. Ta-ta; sleep well.”
The girls nodded to Leslie, then to Jane Heriot, and the next moment Leslie was also bidding Miss Heriot good-night. She ran down the corridor to her own room. As she approached the door, a furious sound of someone pacing up and down fell on her ears. She felt glad that she had secured the key. She opened the door quickly, and then saw Annie, with her red hair flying wildly about her face and shoulders, pacing up and down the room. Annie was talking aloud with great force.