Brenda, Her School and Her Club

by Oliver Optic

  XXIX

  AFTER VACATION

  On Monday morning as might have been expected, Brenda did not awake veryearly, and though she had a few uneasy minutes as she thought of Mrs.Rosa, on the whole she was too much absorbed by her preparations forschool to worry over what had now become a very unpleasant subject toher.

  At school all was bustle and excitement for the quarter hour precedingthe opening. Some of the girls had been in New York, or even as far asWashington during the vacation, and they had much to tell of theirdoings. Even those girls who had remained in Boston had had veryexciting experiences, or at least this seemed to have been the casejudging by the eager tones in which they talked, and the effort of eachgirl to make herself heard above all the others. If there had beennothing else eventful among the girls of the set to which The Fourbelonged, the Bazaar would have afforded abundant food for discussion.Even the older girls were interested in this affair, and felt proud ofthe success of their schoolmates. This morning, too, was an exciting oneat the school, because it marked the beginning of the spring term--thelast term of regular school for several of Miss Crawdon's pupils, whonext year were to take their place in society. Already in their springgowns, modeled after the styles of their elders, they looked like youngwomen, and their sweeping skirts and elaborate hats seemed to put a gulfbetween them and their younger companions. Among the girls ofintermediate age there was also a special reason for dreading the springterm, for during the few remaining weeks, two or three of them besidesRuth and Julia were to concentrate all their energy on preparation forthe preliminary college examinations. Not all of these girls were likelyto go to college, but Miss Crawdon had encouraged them to prepare forthe examinations, hoping that their success in passing them might leadthem eventually to take the college course.

  Even these girls, the less frivolous in the school, were chattering,--orperhaps I should say talking--as eagerly as the others. They had manylittle points to talk over regarding the requirements for college, thespecial tutoring they might need, and similar things. Julia, althoughshe had been conscientious in her work during the winter, really diddread the coming ordeal. Examinations of any kind were new to her, foruntil the past winter her studies had always been carried on in anindividual way. It was still a sore point with Brenda that Julia shouldthink of going to college. She felt certain that teaching was hercousin's ultimate aim, and she did not like the idea at all. A few yearsbefore this Brenda had been remarkably free from anything resemblingsnobbishness. This may have been partly on account of her youth,although a more probable reason was that she had not in her earliestdays so many snobbish friends to influence her. For in spite of herintimacy with Nora and Edith, Brenda permitted herself to be too greatlyinfluenced by Belle. Frances Pounder, too, was only one of a group ofgirls much less simple-minded than Brenda, whom the latter had come toassociate with rather closely. Any one of them would have indignantlydenied a special regard for money. They would have been pained had yousaid that they made wealth a consideration in choosing their friends.Yet this was what it amounted to,--their way of cavilling at those whodid not belong to their set. They said that family was the onlyconsideration with them. But I doubt that a very poor girl, however goodher family, would have been considered by them as welcome as a richergirl of poorer family. There was Julia, for example, who had in everyway as strong a claim to consideration as Brenda--for were not the twocousins? Yet Frances invariably had some little supercilious thing tosay about Julia--except in the presence of Nora and Edith--and thesuperciliousness came largely from the fact that she regarded Julia as apoor relation of the Barlows. "She can never be of any great use,"Frances had reasoned, "to us;" including in the latter term all thegirls with whom she was intimate, "and therefore what is the good inpretending to be fond of a strong-minded girl who may in a few years bea teacher in a public school? I honestly think that she would just assoon as not teach in a public school, Brenda, for I heard her praisingpublic schools to the sky the other day. I'm sure I wonder that she doesnot go to a public school instead of to Miss Crawdon's. It would saveyour father and mother a lot of money," concluded Frances, forgettingthat how Mr. and Mrs. Barlow spent their money was really no concern ofhers. At times Frances laid aside her good manners. Brenda never knewjust how to respond to speeches of this kind, and their chief effect wasa little feeling of irritation that a cousin of hers should have putherself in this position of being classed with mere wage-earners. Brendawas no longer jealous of Julia in the ordinary sense. She had begun tolose the childish pettishness of her earlier years. Observation wasteaching her that even in the one household there could be room for twogirls near the same age, and that any privileges or affection accordedJulia did not interfere with her own rights. Indeed had she beenperfectly honest with herself she would have admitted that Julia'scompanionship during the past winter had really been of great value toher. If any one were to tell her that Julia was not to be in the housewith her another year, she would have admitted that she would be lonely.In spite of the childishness which Brenda sometimes showed towards hercousin, the two girls saw a great deal of each other, and Brenda hadlately acquired the habit of slipping into her cousin's room on her wayup and downstairs to talk over little happenings of one kind or another.

  But at school on this bright spring morning, Brenda felt some irritationat the sight of Julia and Ruth in close consultation with the Greekteacher. "He has such sharp eyes," whispered Frances, as she and Brendapassed him in the hallway. "Don't you feel as if he were always lookingright through you, and saying, 'you're a little ignoramus; every one iswho does not study Greek with me.'"

  "Oh, how tiresome you are, Frances," responded Brenda crossly; "I daresay Miss Crawdon will say that, too, in the English class at the closeof the next hour unless you have a better composition than I have."

  "Why, Brenda Barlow, I had forgotten all about it, and we were expectedto have it ready this morning. Have you written yours?"

  "No," replied Brenda, "I forgot mine, too. There were so many otherthings to think of last week."

  It happened, naturally enough, that Brenda and Frances and several othergirls who had neglected their compositions in the same way received areprimand from Miss Crawdon, who thereupon said,

  "Since so little English written work has been handed in to-day, I willsubmit a composition of my own to you for criticism. It is very simple,and consists merely of a brief description of an evening party, supposedto be the work of a girl of about your age.

  "Now listen, 'I have seldom had so nice a time as at Clara Gordon'sparty. In the first place the house is a particularly nice one, and theroom where we danced has the nicest floor for waltzing that I ever saw.Then there were so many nice people there, all the girls and young menwhom I know especially well, and some others from out of town. Theorchestra played divinely. I never heard nicer music, and John Brent, mypartner in the German, was just as nice to me as he could be. I wishthat I could describe the nice supper that we had at nice little tablesin the dining-room. There was every imaginable kind of nice thing, ices,salads, and cakes. The sherbet was so nice that some persons who satdown late could not get any. It was all gone. I got along very nicely,for John Brent looked out for me. I have not told you about the dresses,but they were all so nice that it is hard to say which was the nicest. Idanced until I could hardly stand, for I was determined not to miss asingle dance, but when my aunt tried to urge me to go home before twelveo'clock so that I wouldn't be tired to death, I wouldn't give in for amoment, but told her that I felt quite nicely.'

  "There," said Miss Crawdon, "this is a longer composition than many ofyou have prepared to-day, and mine is voluntary, while many of you havefailed to carry out what was really a command laid upon you. What do youthink of my composition?"

  While she was reading, some of the girls had rubbed their eyes inamazement. It did not take even the duller very long however to see thatMiss Crawdon had been playing a practical joke upon them. She had alwayshad a great deal to say to them on the
necessity of a wide vocabulary,and she had been particularly severe towards those girls who made theadjective "nice" take the place of more expressive words. "You noticed,perhaps," continued Miss Crawdon, "that I have not been extravagant inthe matter of adjectives, at least I have been extravagant in the use ofonly one, for I have been able to make 'nice' serve in almost everyinstance where an adjective was needed, and in none of these instanceswas it used in its own proper sense."

  Those girls who had not previously seen the joke, now glanced at oneanother in amazement. Yes, it really was a practical joke, this littlecomposition by Miss Crawdon, and they had only begun to find it out.Then Miss Crawdon spoke again.

  "I will not pretend that my composition has cost me much effort. Indeed,I only wrote it here in school in the few minutes at my disposal beforethe opening hour. I need not say also that it is the result of a fewhastily jotted notes, based on scraps of conversation which came to meas I passed various groups of my pupils, at recess or before school.But, seriously," and all eyes were fixed on her, "I do wish that youwould avoid the word 'nice' altogether for the present, unless you canresist the temptation to make it do duty on all occasions. Now, hopingthat you will take this lesson to heart, I will leave you to Miss South,who will talk to you for a quarter of an hour on the subject of letterwriting."

  Thereupon Miss South took Miss Crawdon's place, and the girls had noopportunity to exchange opinions regarding Miss Crawdon's humorous, ifbrief, essay.

  Miss Crawdon and Miss South were joint teachers of this class inEnglish. Miss South had charge of it oftener than Miss Crawdon. But thelatter had general supervision of it, and as the first hour of certainmornings was given to it, occasionally Miss South was permitted toarrive at school a little late, while Miss Crawdon took her place. WhenMiss South was late it was not on account of any dilatoriness of herown; it was usually business of Miss Crawdon's that detained her--forshe was Miss Crawdon's trusted friend--and she often had to go to thebank, or to hold an interview with an anxious parent, or to do someother thing by which Miss Crawdon might be spared care or unnecessarysteps.

  On this special Monday morning, however, Miss South was not only late,but she looked a little worried. Many of the girls had heard of thenewly discovered relationship between her and Madame Du Launy, and inthe quarter hour before school, the story of the discovery, with a fewslight variations from accuracy, had been talked over very freely. WhenMiss South did not appear to take charge of the English class, most ofher pupils assumed that she was no longer to be a teacher at MissCrawdon's. They were therefore astonished when she entered the room, asready to assume her school duties as if she had had no change offortune.

  Yet, as I have said, Miss South looked a little worried, and her glancewandered two or three times in the direction of Brenda in a way thatcaused Brenda's conscience to reassert itself.

  "Oh, dear," she thought, "what shall I do if Miss South has heard aboutthat money? Of course it is no concern of hers, but still, butstill----"

  Now Brenda did not know exactly what she dreaded, for her idea of thevalue of money was very vague. She only knew that she had not done rightin leaving the two hundred dollars with Mrs. Rosa. Yet she consoledherself with the reflection, "At any rate I have a third of that moneysafe at home, and that is a great deal to have saved, if anything hashappened to the rest."

  Nora, too, had come late to school, though Brenda had been too muchcarried away by the excitement of seeing the other girls again to noticethis. Later in the morning Nora slipped into her accustomed place, andher face, too, though Brenda had not observed it, looked a little moreserious than usual.

  It was not until the end of school that the storm burst. At recess Nora,contrary to her usual custom, had remained at her desk studying. Butafter school she ran up to Brenda, with an "Oh, how _could_ you, Brenda?We have lost almost the whole advantage from the Bazaar! Miss South andI were down at the Rosas this morning--I promised not to say anything toyou, until after school--and, well, Miss South will tell you. I can'tbear to talk about it."

  "Brenda," said Miss South, drawing near, "I suppose that you would likeme to tell you about Mrs. Rosa's money, yet I do not feel that it is amatter with which I ought to meddle. I had nothing to do with raisingthe money, only I have been interested in the plan by means of which youall wished to help the poor woman."

  "We all think that you have been very kind," interposed Nora, politely.

  "Ah, I have been. I am very much interested in Mrs. Rosa and herfamily--and so I know is Brenda," for she saw a cloud settling on theyoung girl's face.

  "But you were not exactly wise, Brenda, in leaving that money with Mrs.Rosa."

  "Has it been stolen?" gasped Brenda.

  "Well, not exactly stolen, although Mrs. Rosa no longer has it."

  "Brenda," interrupted Nora, "I certainly begged you not to leave itthere. Though I never imagined that you would do so."

  "Well, Brenda," continued Miss South, "Nora received a letter thismorning from Angelina, written apparently in great haste last night.What she said was very vague, but she spoke of the loss of two hundreddollars in such a way as to recall to Nora your suggestion that youmight leave the money with Mrs. Rosa. Nora was so excited that she lefther breakfast--so she tells me--almost untasted. She gave her mother ahasty account of what Angelina had told her, and her mother advised herto see me. The upshot was that we went at once to Mrs. Rosa's, and therewe found that the young man who has been troubling her lately to pay adebt which he claimed that she owed his mother had called to see hersoon after you and Nora were at the house. He caught sight of the pursethat you had left with Mrs. Rosa, and when her head was turned, pulledit from under the pillow and began to examine its contents. Naturally hewas astonished to find that it contained two hundred dollars, and whenMrs. Rosa saw him with the purse in his hand he refused to give it up toher. The poor woman was alone and very weak, and so completely in hispower that she could not refuse when he compelled her to tell him howthe money had come into her possession. When he learned that it had beenraised for her at a Bazaar, and that it was to be used for her benefithe seemed very much pleased. 'It is really your own,' he said, 'or elsethe young ladies would not have left it with you. If it is to do you anygood you had better give it to me to keep you out of prison, for that iswhere I shall send you for not paying your debts, unless you give methis money.' So by continued threats he finally made her sign a papersaying that she paid the money willingly to rid herself of a debt owedto his mother. He even made her think that he had done her a great favorin not trying to get the fifty dollars--the balance of the debt which heclaimed."

  Brenda had listened with an almost dazed expression while Miss Southtold this strange story.

  "But he did not really take it, did he?" she murmured.

  "He not only took it," said Miss South, "but we have reason to thinkthat he has left the country with it. His friends say that he had beengetting ready for weeks to go to South America, and that he expected tosail from New York this morning."

  "Can't he be stopped?" asked Brenda. Her voice sounded very weak, andher face was not at all the face of the usually cheerful young girl.

  "He cannot be stopped now, Brenda, and I doubt if in any case we couldrecover the money. He was very clever in getting Mrs. Rosa to sign thatpaper. If he were in Boston we might recover the money on the groundthat it did not belong to Mrs. Rosa, and that therefore she had no rightto give it away. But we can hardly make that a ground for any actionnow. Besides, I know that she thought that the money belonged to her, insome way you gave her that impression, and any testimony of hers wouldnot help us very much if you had a case in court against young Silva."

  "But she knew," moaned poor Brenda, "that the money was only to help herto go to the country. I am sure that I said so to her."

  "You cannot expect a woman of her limited intelligence, a foreigner,too, who only half understands English, to grasp the meaning of all thatis said to her. The fact was clear to her that you had brought her so
memoney, and when her creditor claimed it, she believed that he had aright to it, and that to use it in this way would benefit her more thanto spend it in going to the country."

  "Well, it seems to me that she just deceived me," cried Brenda, angrily.

  "No," responded Nora, "you must be fair. Miss South and I both believethat she didn't mean to do anything with the money when she took it fromyou, but she thought that you had given it to her----"

  "And she never has been as anxious to move from the city as we have beento have her," continued Miss South, "yet it is so much the best thing,and our plans are all carefully made, that I hope we can carry themout."

  "I have one hundred dollars at home," said Brenda, "but, oh, dear, I donot like to think about it; how angry Belle and Edith will be. Do theyknow yet?"

  "No," said Miss South, "I thought it better to tell you first. Nora andI are the only persons except Mrs. Rosa and her friends who knowanything about the money. But of course you must tell the other girls aswell as your father and mother. It might be worth while for them toconsult a lawyer, at least they might feel better satisfied. For my ownpart, I am confident that the money cannot be recovered."

  "Come, come, Brenda, now do cheer up," cried Nora. "It's no use cryingabout spilled milk, and perhaps we can think of some way to straightenthings out."

  "I might sell my watch," said Brenda, as they walked away from theschool, "and give up my allowance for the rest of the year, for it isjust as if I had thrown that money away--and we all worked so hard forit."

  "Well, we all had a good time out of the Bazaar," replied the optimisticNora, "and perhaps the money has done some good in going to Mrs. Rosa'screditor. I shouldn't wonder if we could get a subscription for all thatwe need to help the Rosas," and so Nora chattered on, in her efforts tocheer Brenda. For the latter, always at one extreme or the other, wasnow very low-spirited.