"Bless you, there are plenty who do. Are you getting up?"
"Yes," answered Kitty, jumping out of bed with a spring.
"Good. I'll take you along to the gym for a look-round before
breakfast. Be ready by a quarter to eight, won't you?"
"All right," answered Kitty at once. "Where do I get water from?"
"Oh, one of the juniors will get you hot water from the bathroom, if
you put your jug outside your cubicle."
Kitty was quite ready when Hilary knocked for admittance. By that
time, the rest of the dormitory, from the noise they were making, had
evidently turned out.
"Half a tick," said Hilary. "I must perform my usual morning's
task." She raised her voice.
"Duane, are you awake?"
A sleepy voice made reply:
"No. 'Tisn't time to get up yet."
"Yes, it is," replied Hilary firmly. "Hurry up and turn out."
"What's the time?" said the same drawling voice.
"A quarter to eight."
"Oh well, I can just do it in ten minutes. Call me at ten to."
"I'm just going. You'll be late one of these days. You know last
term you were hardly ever properly dressed for breakfast."
"I'll count three and jump out on the 'three.'"
"Hurry up then."
"One----" began the speaker with the tired voice, and paused.
"Two----"
A still longer pause.
"Two and a half."
Another pause, then:
"Two and three quarters."
"Oh, go on," said Hilary. "Two and seven eighths! I'm going now,
anyway," and patience evidently not being her strong point, she
walked out of the dormitory, throwing a "Come along, Kitty," over her
shoulder as she did so.
Now Kitty's cubicle was next to the one belonging to the tired
individual. She had been listening to the conversation with a
feeling of mingled pity and contempt, for slacking of any sort made
no appeal whatever to the vigorous, active Australian girl. As
Hilary walked out, Kitty's glance fell on her wet sponge, lying on
the washstand. Catching it up, she sprang lightly on to the edge of
the bed, caught hold of the top of the partition, and judging the
whereabouts of the invisible speaker's face by careful guesswork,
squirted the contents of the sponge over the partition. Apparently
the shower of water found its mark, for there was the sound of a gasp
and a violent creak of the bed. Kitty, judging discretion to be the
better part of valour, hastily dropped the sponge and slipped swiftly
out of the dormitory, catching Hilary up in the passage outside.
The two walked on together.
"Who's the girl you called Duane?" inquired Kitty, wondering why the
unusual name sounded familiar, till, the next instant, she remembered
the trunk at the station and its flaunting lettering. Wouldn't the
boys at home laugh when she told them in her letter that one of her
first acts in England was to squirt water over a member of the
British aristocracy!
"Oh, you'll soon get to know who Duane is," replied Hilary. "She's
just been appointed head prefect of our house. She's in my form, the
Upper Fifth."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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