“But you said you told him Elfie was here,” said Marion, looking troubled, “and I do really think it would be best to tell Mrs. Abbott.”
“Ridiculous!” sneered Edna; “I don’t think so.”
“It wasn’t good taste at all in the girls to mention any name to a strange creature like that,” said Lily; “but I don’t suppose he will ever think of it again. What I think was the worst thing was going off to the station, and if it were I, I should tell Mrs. Abbott what I did; I always feel better after I have ‘confessed,’ though I own it’s pretty hard work.”
But Bell and Fannie either lacked moral courage or were not in the mood to take her very excellent advice.
CHAPTER XV.
THE WHITE QUEEN.
One of the old-fashioned snow-storms came two weeks before the Christmas holidays scattered the girls far and wide to spend the happy fortnight at home. It was not a quiet, decorous downfall of snow that covered the earth smoothly with a glaze of white, but a roistering, turbulent storm that piled drifts to marvelous heights in sheltered corners and reared miniature Alpine ranges against the almost submerged fences. The road was quite impassable early in the day, and not one of the day-scholars could get to school. This had happened once during the previous winter, and on that occasion the usual lessons were given up and the time filled with some unusual exercises. This time Mrs. Abbott put it to vote after opening school, and every hand was raised in favor of having a literary morning in place of the ordinary recitations. The teachers were pleased to have it so; for it was hard on the absent scholars to miss all the studies of a day.
Miss Blake, whose talent as an elocutionist was extraordinary, recited a stirring historical poem, which was rapturously received. Then Mrs. Abbott asked each girl to write the name of her favorite heroine of history on a slip of paper, to drop into a box that was carried around by one of the girls.
An examination of the slips showed that although a number of names had been put down two names were repeated on several papers. These were Joan of Arc and Marie Antoinette. Then the girls were asked to vote again on both those names. The result was that the unfortunate queen was selected, and Miss Blake, who always heard the history classes, read them a short, pathetic sketch of her life, with its early frivolity and pitiful, brave ending. Then she asked the girls to each write a short statement of the account she had read. Not less than three lines, not more than fifteen, was the limit, and pencils were very busy for a short time. Then the papers, which were not signed, were gathered up and read aloud.
The girls enjoyed the reading of the papers very much; for not even the teachers knew who wrote them; so there was no shame felt if comment or criticism were made, and a girl had only to control her face and look unconscious and no one would suspect her. Of course, some papers were very meager, but others were quite interesting outline sketches. It almost seemed like a game, but it fixed the facts very firmly in every girl’s mind, and Mrs. Abbott half made up her mind to introduce the plan as a regular weekly exercise.