Ann Crosses a Secret Trail

by Harriet Pyne Grove

  CHAPTER VI

  THE DEAN SENDS FOR ANN

  “Miss Tudor blames me for the whole thing,” continued Eleanor, “but Isaid that I’d leave school before I’d go back with the girls, Gen andMaddy. ‘Now, now, Miss Frost,’ she said, ‘don’t say anything that youwould regret.’” Eleanor raised her finger warningly in imitation ofMiss Tudor’s manner. “And Miss Tudor _would_ let me go, too, ratherthan have any of the girls tell _her_ what to do!”

  “Do you blame her?” laughed Ann.

  “Not a bit of it,” said the amusing Eleanor. She had come out of herreserve with a vengeance. “Well, what are we going to do about it?”

  “Take what comes,” said Ann.

  “She may ask you to suggest.”

  “I hope not. Is there any other Sig-Ep girl, or one that isn’t, thatyou would like to be with Suzanne, in case Marta and I give up ourshare in the suite and take a single room?”

  Eleanor eyed Ann suspiciously. “I bet that is what you’d rather do!”

  “No; as I told you, I’d rather let things alone. Yet it does worry me,the more I think about Suzanne. And I could not bear to turn Martaout, you see. Marta is the kind that would do it in a minute, and Ihope she doesn’t even hear about it! Let me tell you, girls, I’m notgoing to suggest _any_ plan to Miss Tudor, but I’ll tell her what Ithink if she asks me.”

  As Ann spoke there came another rap, this time on their outer door.“For me, I suppose,” said Ann, rising to admit the caller.

  Ann did some rapid thinking as she crossed the campus. While it wouldspoil Suzanne considerably to have her own way about rooming withEleanor, any arrangement which would take her out of Madeline’s closeintimacy would be good. But Ann felt rather disgusted by this time withthe whole affair and the fact that she had to be drawn into it.

  She had been told that she was to go to Miss Tudor’s private rooms andthither she directed her way, rapping gently. Some way, although sheknew that she was not to be corrected for any fault, the very idea ofbeing sent for by the dean made Ann nervous. She felt worried over theaffair, and when she was admitted, sitting down to wait for Miss Tudor,she found that her hands were cold and felt her face grow flushed atthe thought of the coming interview.

  “Good evening, Miss Sterling,” said Miss Tudor, entering from a doorbehind Ann. Ann immediately rose, as she replied to the greeting, andwas waved back to her chair as Miss Tudor sat down. She came right tothe point.

  “You know, I presume, the matter about which I want to talk to you?”

  “Yes, Miss Tudor. Suzanne, Eleanor and Aline have told me.”

  “Do you want to room with your cousin?”

  Ann hesitated. “I want to do what is the square thing, Miss Tudor. Itdoes not seem fair to turn Marta out. I think a great deal of her,besides. But it would be better for Suzanne not to room with Madelineand Genevieve.”

  Miss Tudor nodded. “If I could make suitable arrangements for the othergirls, would you and Marta together be willing to give up the suitethat you have now with Eleanor and Aline?”

  “So far as I am concerned, yes, Miss Tudor. Marta and I were bothsurprised at this arrangement, but we like the girls. Eleanor has beenreal fair and we are very fond of Aline.”

  “I am glad to hear you say so. That is all, then, Miss Sterling.”

  What a relief to be outside the door. Had she said the right thing?Was it mean to imply what she did about Genevieve and Madeline? WouldMiss Tudor think that she, Ann, was one of those “goody-goody” girlsthat Suzanne talked about with such contempt? “I don’t care,” she toldherself. “I have to make good here, and I’ve something else to dobesides run around with them. Dear me! If Suzanne rooms with me, I’llhave to do most of my studying in the library, I guess!”

  Crossing the campus again, she met Marta hurrying in the direction fromwhich she had just come. “Say, Ann,” she cried, before she reachedAnn’s near neighborhood, “what’s all this? Miss Tudor sent for me, andEleanor says that you are,--have been there. What’s up?”

  “Didn’t Eleanor tell you?”

  “No; she wouldn’t, just laughed; and I thought that she seemed a bitembarrassed.”

  “I can’t imagine Eleanor’s losing her way of carrying things off! ButI’ll let Miss Tudor explain what is on hand,--largely because I wantyou to remember what she does say. Will you?”

  “I’ll try,” laughed Marta.

  “And Marta! I don’t know what Miss Tudor is going to do about thematter that has come up, but promise me that you will come to me rightafterwards and hear what I have to say about it.”

  “I promise,” cried Marta, running on.

  But Ann was troubled. “Let the old lessons go!” she thought. “I’mgoing to be right there when Marta comes out. She might think that Iam in with the girls in wanting to room with Suzanne, or something!”Whereupon, Ann retraced her steps and chose a quiet spot upon thebroad porch of the administration building. Ordinarily, she would besupposed to be in her room, as study hours had long since commenced.But she thought that she would be able to explain her presence ifquestioned.

  She had scarcely seated herself, behind one of the pillars, when MissBunn, or “Bunny”, came out of the building and looked around beforedescending the steps. Ann immediately felt like a transgressor.

  Seeing some one behind the pillar, “Bunny” came around to see who itwas. “Why, Miss Sterling,” she said, “I am surprised! Do you not knowthat study hours have begun?”

  “Yes, Miss Bunn,” said Ann, rising, “but my room-mate is in MissTudor’s room and I have just come from the same place. I thought that Iwould wait a few minutes for Marta.”

  Miss Bunn’s nose gave the familiar twist. “It is very irregular for youto be here. It will be quite dark in a few minutes.”

  “Yes, Miss Bunn,” replied Ann, having a bright thought. “Don’t youthink that it really would be better for me to wait for Marta, so wecan go across the campus together?”

  “Perhaps it would,” said Miss Bunn, somewhat doubtfully. “But if Martashould be detained some time, do not wait,--not more than a _very fewminutes_, Miss Sterling. Otherwise I shall have to report you as out ofyour room in study hours.”

  “Very well, Miss Bunn,” respectfully said Ann, for the first timefeeling like being impertinent to a teacher. She remained standingwhile Miss Bunn, still with the attitude of disapproval, slowly walkeddown the steps and around the walk.

  “Fussy old thing,” thought impatient Ann. “She just wanted to show herauthority!” But Ann did not realize how Miss Tudor had impressed allher staff with the importance of looking after these girls, many ofthem accustomed to very little restraint at home, much less than wouldhave been good for them. The trouble with poor, conscientious Miss Bunnwas that her manner with the girls prejudiced them against her, withthe result that even the obedient ones resented her authority.

  Time went slowly, especially since Ann felt out of place. She thoughtthat at least fifteen minutes must have gone by when she looked at herwatch, barely to be seen in the fading light, to find that only fiveminutes had passed since she last consulted it. And here came Marta.

  “Well!” exclaimed the surprised Marta, “that you, Ann? She didn’t keepme long, did she?”

  “It seemed ages. I was worried for fear she would say something thatyou would not understand about what I thought, and then, with the girlsin the suite, perhaps there would not be a good chance to tell youall about everything. Bunny came by and reminded me that it was studyhours; but this was too important, so I stayed.”

  “Come on over to my practice room. It may not be my room, of course,for our practice hours may be changed; but it will be a good place totalk. Nobody will mind. I think that Bunny was ahead of time aboutstudy hours. We’ll not be supposed to keep them tonight,--oh, ofcourse, to stay off the campus. But there go some girls now. There willhave to be a lot of going back and forth. Come on.”

  The girls went to the building in which both had practiced on theirrespective instrumen
ts the previous year. It was dark, and when theytried the doors they were locked. “I might have known!” exclaimedMarta, in disgust. “Idiot!--I am referring to myself, Miss Sterling!”

  “Your explanation is accepted,” laughed Ann, “but I might have had abrain or two about _me_! We’ll just sit down a few minutes on thesesteps to unburden our souls.”

  “I’ve precious little to unburden,” said Marta. “Miss Tudor began as ifit were a social call. She asked me about what sort of a summer I hadhad, then seemed very much interested in my description of your homeand the lovely mountain cabin, lodge, I mean. She asked me how you andI became acquainted, how we got along together, if we belonged to thesame sorority with Eleanor and Suzanne, and who my special friends inthe school were.”

  “Foxy Miss Tudor!” Ann remarked.

  “Yes; I began to smell a mouse when she began to inquire about myfriends. It was something about rooming, of course. Then she asked meif I would be willing to make a change to some other suite or a room,if the present arrangement did not seem best. She said, too, beforeI answered, that you ‘expressed yourself as willing to give up thesuite.’”

  “Aha!--angelic Miss Tudor!”

  Marta peered through the gathering darkness to see if Ann were losingher mind. “Why all this enthusiasm about our dean?” she inquired.

  “I may tell you some time,” replied Ann.

  “That was all. I told her that I did not care much, and if it wereeasier all around for her to change us, I did not mind.”

  “Marta, you are an old dear, and I shall not worry a mite about whatMiss Tudor is going to do. Let’s go home, look over our lessons and goto bed. I think that it was a shame to post lessons and send us to ourteachers the opening day. They never did that before. They must have anew system and are speeding up. We do lose a lot of time; and they hadall our books ready.”

  “Just the same, I don’t believe that we shall recite, on account of thenew students in all the classes. But Ann, _why_ did you want me to comeright to you after seeing Miss Tudor? What has been going on?”

  “If you don’t mind, Marta, I’ll wait, until whatever is to be done isdone, and then tell you.”

  “All right. As you say, ‘curiosity killed the cat,’ and I’m sleepy.”

  The girls talked of other things as they sped toward their new home.There they found the suite empty, as Ann had hoped. She did wish thatno explanations would be necessary tonight. No telling what idea ofself-sacrifice Marta might get,--and spoil it all. Both girls weresleepy after a full day. It was bath and bed, trusting to luck andearly rising for the lessons of the morrow.

  Ann felt comfortable as she drifted off to sleep. She hoped that shehad not been hypocritical in what she had said to Eleanor. She reallywould have preferred no change. But if there must be one, it waspleasant to think that she and Marta were not to be separated.