Betty at St. Benedick's : $b A school story for girlsTalbot, Ethel
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Betty at St. Benedick's : $b A school story for girls
Talbot, Ethel
Boarding schools -- England -- Juvenile fiction; Girl Guides -- Juvenile fiction; Girls -- Conduct of life -- Juvenile fiction
Betty had known that they were Benedick girls from the colour of
their labels. They must be very high in the school, she decided, as
she watched the pair of them, after depositing their traps on the
seat opposite to her own, walk in leisurely fashion to the station
post-box and return in equally leisurely fashion. She herself would
have been all wings and flying fingers; there was no “fuss,” as they
had called it, about them. Almost instinctively she pulled herself
together a little and held herself in imitation of their bearing.
But she couldn’t refrain from jumping from her seat to reopen the
carriage door for them as they returned.
“Oh, thank you so much. Now they’ll get it at home. Isn’t there
anything I can do for _you_?” She tugged at the door.
“Easy does it.” The handle was taken from her grasp. “Sit back,
kiddy; we can’t get in.”
The speaker had a very nice voice; there was no mistake about that.
So nice a voice indeed, and so very kind and steady a smile, that
Betty didn’t mind in the very least being called “kiddy” by a
stranger, though never in her life had the term been addressed to her
before. Never perhaps in her life, either, had such a tone been
addressed to her. Half-amused, half-tolerant, but clearly the tone
of her-who-must-be-obeyed. Betty sat back instantly.
She sat back and listened, for the strangers began to talk. They
were evidently friends; so much was certain. It seemed certain, too,
that they had only just met after--as Betty decided to herself--their
holidays at home. They evidently didn’t mind her listening either,
for their tones, quiet and level as they were, did not seem in the
least lowered. They were seated exactly opposite, too, and the elder
of the two--the girl who had taken Betty’s letter and who had called
her “kiddy”--caught sight once or twice of the listening look in
Betty’s eyes and half-smiled at her.
Betty felt relieved and listened on.
But she felt bewildered too, because they seemed to be talking of
things about which she herself had no knowledge at all. Betty had
known that she would be ignorant at school compared to other girls
there; but she had, at least, so she told herself, expected to
understand the others’ language.
“I wonder if we shall manage another patrol this term,” said the
elder.
“‘Patrol’?” thought Betty questioningly.
“If so, we shall be a full company. And there will be still more
competition for the Cup,” returned her friend. “You Daisies will
have to work for it if you’re to hold it next year too.”
This indeed was Greek. Betty suddenly felt a qualm of home-sickness
sweep over her. Where would she be in a school where girls talked
understandingly of matters of which she had never heard? Perhaps her
feelings were shown by her expression of face, for her first friend
leaned suddenly forward with a quick impulsive movement.
“Are you interested in Guides?”
“Guides?” Betty shook her head.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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