The flower of Diana's eloquence suddenly withered and dried up as if
electrocuted. In the doorway, above the heads of the giggling girls,
appeared a vision in pince-nez--an avenging vision that passed rapidly
through the several stages of amazement, consternation, and wrath.
"Di-ana _Hew_litt!" snapped Miss Hampson. "Go down and report yourself
_instantly_ to Miss Todd. This is simply disgraceful! Girls, take your
seats! Tattie and Vi, help to remove those--those----" The irate mistress
paused for a word, but, failing to find one adequate to the occasion,
began instead, her fingers trembling with indignation, to strip the
turban from the classic head of Perseus.
Dead, awful silence reigned in the room. Not a girl dared to giggle; a
few began nervously to sharpen pencils, but most sat and stared while
the casts were denuded of their trappings. Miss Hampson removed the
moustache from Venus as if she were apologizing to that deity for
sacrilege, and, with her own handkerchief, wiped away from the lovely
lip the seccotine which had attached the masculine appendage to the
Queen of Beauty. She rolled up the hats in the towel which had served as
turban, set her pupils to work at their copies, then marched sternly
downstairs to lay the full enormity of the case before the
justly-shocked ears of Miss Todd. Nobody ever heard exactly what
happened in the interview; no coaxing or persuasion would induce Diana
to disclose details even to Wendy or Loveday, but it was generally
understood in the school that Miss Todd had "spoken her mind". One
result loomed large, and that was the punishment. It was absolutely
unique. Perhaps the Principal was tired of giving poetry to learn or
lines to write, and considered that confinement to bounds was not very
good for a girl's health, so she devised something else to act as a
discipline. For a week Diana was condemned not to wear evening-dress. It
was a far greater trial than it sounds. Each night before supper the
school changed into pretty frocks, and, when the meal was over, spent a
pleasant hour together at recreation. With everybody else in festive
attire, it was terrible for Diana to be obliged to come downstairs in
her serge skirt and jersey, the one Cinderella of the party. Most
especially trying was it on Saturday, when chairs and tables were pushed
back in the dining-room, and dancing was the order of the evening. Poor
Diana, in her thick morning-shoes, stood forlornly in a corner, refusing
all offers of partners, but watching wistfully as the others whirled by.
Miss Hampson, whose wrath was of the short, explosive kind that quickly
turns to softness of heart, was understood to murmur something to Miss
Todd about the impossibility of waltzing in anything but
dancing-slippers; but the Principal's mouth was set firm, and she would
not remit the least atom of the sentence till it was paid to the
uttermost farthing.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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