"In the first place, she systematically breaks all of the rules. I
cannot room with her, of course, and not know that. She probably depends
upon my good nature or sense of honor not to give her away. She never
reports any broken rule, and she goes downtown whenever she feels
inclined, and only once a month or so gets permission. I imagine that
she goes for some reason instead of shopping, for she never has any
bundles sent home. The worst thing, in my mind, was a couple of Sundays
ago. She pretended to go to church with the rest of us, but she did
not; she went off some place else and appeared again just as church was
over. She went back to the college with the rest of us. I did ask her
what she had been doing that time."
"What did she say?"
"Nothing very satisfactory. She wanted to know if I would like an
outline of the sermon, and she proceeded to give me the text and some
of the leading points. Of course, she heard all of the girls discussing
it at the table, for it was the day that Dr. Hyde preached, and we were
all intensely interested."
"Where do you suppose she was?" It was Mary Sutherland who asked the
question.
"I really have not the faintest idea. I know, though, that she was some
place where, of course, she could not have gotten permission to go, had
she asked, for otherwise she would never have run the risk she ran. The
faculty do not overlook that sort of thing readily."
"She would certainly be suspended at the least."
"Well, I cannot go and tell any one of the professors what she does, but
I wish something would happen to make her more careful. I don't like to
have the college girls talked about. I feel jealous of our good name."
Beth looked perplexed and worried. All three of the girls knew that
Margery Ainsworth had violated one of the strictest rules, and she could
only have done it in order to achieve some end which the faculty would
never have countenanced. It was not pleasant for Beth to room with a
girl as utterly devoid of principle as Margery Ainsworth daily proved
herself to be. It was inevitable that they should be thrown more or
less together. Margery was no student at all, and she and Beth really had
no ideas in common.
"This is the second secret that has come our way this vacation," Dolly
said. "Such secrets are not nice. I hope we shall not be compelled to
hear any more. First, we learned more about our president's life than
she would probably care to have us know, and now comes this, which is,
of course, a thousand times worse. As far as I am concerned, I have no
suggestions to offer."
"As I understand the matter, you want her forced to obey the rules,
but at the same time you are not going to tell any member of the faculty
about her."
"Of course I am not," Beth said indignantly. "That is simply out of
the question."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account