Boarding school students -- Juvenile fiction; Boarding schools -- Juvenile fiction; Teenage girls -- Fiction
“Makes me think of between halves at a ball game,” cried Juliet who was
rubbing Pauline’s arm. Hilary lay on the grass as far as possible from
the edge of the cliff and rested with her head in Lilian’s lap. No
explanations were necessary. Friendship was renewed without them. “I’m
not strained as much as you’d think, girls,” said Hilary. “First, you
see, I had hold of the tree, then as I slipped from that I held to the
little things and got my elbows on the edge. But if Pauline had not
gotten me just when she did,—my, I could hear that boiling surf down
there and I tried not to imagine the rocks!” Cathalina declared that her
arms were all right, and presently Hilary jumped up as lively as ever.
“You girls and Perry saved me, so it has not spoiled our day. Come on;
I’m hungry. I’m sorry I scared you all so—O, my glass!” Hilary looked at
the girls in dismay. Cathalina came up and patted Hilary’s cheek. “Don’t
feel bad, Hilary, you can have mine! I heard the glass go smash down
there—but let’s be glad it wasn’t you!” For a minute Hilary hesitated.
That field glass was such a treasure, Then Hilary was herself again. “No
use, spilled milk; Gordon would tell me to ‘be a sport’; I’ll rent a
glass till the bird study is over.”
Only Perry, who followed the girls with sober face, realized fully what
might have happened to turn the happy day into tragedy.
A fire had been started on the bluff; something savory was simmering in
pans and there was much spreading of sandwiches and opening of pickle
and olive jars. Cathalina had secured from an enterprising lady of
Greycliff Heights, home-made rolls, jelly and jam, doughnuts and potato
chips. Various girls had brought their own contributions as well.
“Wouldn’t our menu be a scream if it were printed?” said one. As usual
there was more than enough, though it had been necessary to provide for
two meals. “And we’ll be hungry, you know, girls,” had been said so much
that it became a joke.
After the first meal there were games, and wading or swimming. The
athletic Juliet and Pauline were learning to crochet and looked quite
domestic as they bent above their work. Pauline learned a new stitch,
but found that her arm was too lame to accomplish much. Swimming, alas,
was out of the question for either her, Hilary or Cathalina. Even the
intellectual Miss West was tatting, while everybody had raptures over
Eloise’s beautiful embroidery. Hilary and Lilian wandered off to a shady
spot not far from the beach, where the water lapped quietly and cunning
little sandpipers ran along the moist sands. Later, after an earnest and
evidently satisfactory conversation, they again joined the main company,
most of whom were tired of roaming about.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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