“It’s lovely,” she said softly, “just as lovely as mother used to tell me. You see, years ago my mother came here to school, too.”
Perhaps the softness of her voice told the girls more than she herself had done, for they were silent for a moment. Then Mary said,
“Miss King wanted me to bring Virginia over to the office as soon as she came, so you girls can go on to The Hermitage. You might as well leave your bag in the carriage, Virginia. They’ll put it in your room.”
Miss King’s office was in the largest of the gray stone buildings, which, Mary told Virginia, held the gymnasium, the big assembly hall, some recitation rooms, and the offices of the principal and other important personages.
“You’ll love Miss King,” Mary reassured her, perhaps guessing that Virginia felt a little shy. “You see, she doesn’t teach any more, and she leaves most of the care of the girls to the younger teachers; but she always conducts chapel, and arranges with each girl separately about her studies. It’s wonderful how she knows every girl in St. Helen’s, and she’s interested in every little thing that concerns us. We just love her!”
They went up the steps, and into a large, open hall, at the end of which a fire blazed in a big stone fire-place.
“We don’t really need a fire now,” Mary explained, “but Miss King says it seems more homelike and cheerful when the girls come in.”
From the hall many doors led to different rooms, and through two big central ones they passed into a large office. A young woman at the desk rose to greet them.
“You’re to take the young lady to Miss King’s private office, Miss Williams,” she said.
Mary thanked her, and crossing the room, rapped upon the door of an inner office. A sweet, cheery voice said, “Come in,” and they entered a large sunny room, by the western window of which sat a gray-haired lady, who rose with girlish eagerness to greet them.