The Girls of Central High Part 30

"Of course, Clara," said the teacher, stiffly, "this does not reinstate you in the school. It merely gives you a further chance. We have nothing but circ.u.mstantial evidence against you. The fire must be explained, however, before Mr. Sharp can pa.s.s upon your name as a member of the junior cla.s.s for next year."

"Oh, dear, Miss Carrington!" cried Bobby. "He won't suspend me?"

"He will have no choice," said the teacher, rather hardly. "It will be expulsion. You may take your place in the field exercises on Friday and, later, you will have your part in the graduation exercises of your cla.s.s. He will make that concession. But unless the matter of that fire is cleared up, you cannot return to Central High next fall."

The decision gave poor Bobby little comfort. To be denied the privilege of the high school-which Mr. Sharp would have a perfect right to do considering the seriousness of the offense supposed to have been committed by the grocer's daughter-was an awful thing, to Bobby's mind.

Perhaps her father would have to send her away to private school. All the fun of Central High would be denied her. Worse still, she must go to a strange school with the stigma of having been expelled from her local school. Bobby did something that she seldom did-she cried herself to sleep that night.

She could not help taking Laura into her confidence, and telling her all about it. Laura saw that Hester Grimes had taken the opportunity of putting her fault in the best light possible before Miss Carrington.

Indeed, Hester's conduct really seemed to redound to her own credit in that teacher's opinion.

But Laura was not one to go back on her word. She had a.s.sured Hester that if she told the truth about Bobby's affair, she, Laura, would remain forever silent about the mystery of the haunted house. And Laura would keep faith.

She saw, however, that Mr. Sharp had conceded all he possibly could to the girl under suspicion. Bobby might take part in the Field Day exercises; but when the term was ended she would cease to be a member of the school and therefore could not take part in any of the further athletics of the girls of Central High.

"It's a hard case, Bobby," was all she could say to the troubled girl.

"Let us hope something may turn up to explain the mystery of that fire."

"You try and turn it up, then, Laura," begged Bobby. "I know you can find out about it, if you put your mind to it. Do, _do_, DO!"

And Laura promised. But she had no idea what she could do, nor how she should go about hunting down the clue which might lead to the explanation of that most mysterious blaze.

The eventful Friday came, however, and Laura had made no progress in poor Bobby's trouble. It was a beautiful day, and the Central High girls marched to the athletic field right after the noon recess. They carried a banner, and were cheered along the short march by their neighbors and friends.

So many people wished to get into the field to see the games that the school authorities had to be careful about the distribution of the tickets. But Laura noted that Colonel Swayne had a prominent seat in the grandstand. She smiled as she saw the old gentleman, and she hoped with all her heart that what the wealthy man saw of the athletics of the Girls' Branch that day would open the "way to his pocket-book," as Jess Morse had expressed it.

CHAPTER XXV-"MOTHER-WIT"

Whether Colonel Richard Swayne was an enthusiastic and interested spectator of the sports Laura fielding did not know at the time. She was too busy on the field herself.

She and her closest friends were in the relay races; and of course she played in the basket-ball game. This time Hester Grimes managed to behave herself. She was playing under the eyes of the instructors, her own parents, and the parents of her schoolmates, and she restrained her temper.

Besides, since Laura had caught her in the matter of the veil, and she had been obliged to acknowledge that she had told a falsehood about Bobby Hargrew, Miss Grimes was much subdued.

"Really, she acts like a tame cat. What do you suppose has happened to Hester?" demanded Laura's chum, Jess Morse, in the dressing room.

But Laura kept her own counsel.

The basket-ball game went off splendidly. So did most of the exercises.

The dancing, that was interspersed between the games, pleased the parents immensely. And the final number-the dance around the Maypole erected in the middle of the green-was as pretty an outdoor picture as one could imagine, despite the fact that the girls wore dark gymnasium suits.

At the end, the running and skipping on the gra.s.s delighted the parents.

To see these girls, so merry and untrammeled, with the natural grace of healthy bodies displayed in their movements, was charming. At the end of the afternoon Laura saw Colonel Swayne in close consultation with Mr.

Sharp and members of the Board of Education. But the girl heard no particulars of that conference until she went to school the following Monday morning.

Just before noon she chanced to have an errand in the princ.i.p.al's office. Mr. Sharp looked up at the young girl as she entered, nodded to her, and said, with a smile:

"And how does Central High's fairy-G.o.dmother do to-day?"

Laura looked astonished, but she smiled. "Do you mean me, Mr. Sharp?"

"Who else would I mean?" he asked, chuckling. "Haven't you heard the news?"

"Not that I was a fairy-G.o.dmother," she returned, puzzled.

"Don't you know that in the estimation of a certain gentleman you are the very smartest and wittiest girl who goes to this school? Because you made a thunderstorm for him, and saved a man from falling from a church steeple, he believes that it is athletics for you girls that puts the wit into your heads! But I tell him, in your case, it is 'Mother wit.'"

"You mean Colonel Swayne?" whispered Laura, with sparkling eyes.

"I do, indeed."

"And he has agreed to do something for us?"

"He says he will do a great deal for us," said Mr. Sharp. "He agrees to make Central High a gift of twenty-five thousand dollars for a proper athletic field for you girls, if the Board of Education will find a like amount. And it will be found, I believe. Before many months the girls of Central High will have one of the finest athletic fields in the State."

"Isn't he a dear, good man?" cried Laura, with tears in her eyes. "But it wasn't _I_ who did it. It was because he saw us the other day, and saw how happy we were. And-perhaps-because he wants us girls to grow up and be different women from his own daughter."

"Ah! perhaps that last is true, too," said the princ.i.p.al, softly.

The sun s.h.i.+ning in at the long window behind the princ.i.p.al almost dazzled Laura, yet as she looked toward him through her tears she saw something that made her dart forward.

"What's the matter?" asked Mr. Sharp.

"Oh! the poor fis.h.!.+" cried the girl. "That sun is pouring right in upon them."

The four new goldfish in the princ.i.p.al's bowl were swimming around and around madly. Mr. Sharp saw the reason for these activities at once.

"I declare!" he said, with contrition. "I usually remember to pull down the shade."

"Oh! the water is almost hot!" cried Laura, putting her hand in the bowl.

"Let me move that stand," said the princ.i.p.al.

But Laura suddenly held up her hand with such a bright, yet amazed expression on her face, that the princ.i.p.al was startled.

"Please! Please, Mr. Sharp, send for John! Tell him to bring a pail of fresh water and the scoop net. Let him take the fish out of the water here. I have a-a _tremendous_ idea."

"What's this? what's this?" demanded the princ.i.p.al, with a puzzled smile. "One of your great ideas, Miss Belding."

"Don't make fun of me, sir," cried the girl, earnestly. "It is the very greatest idea I ever had. And if it is a true idea, then it is bound to make a certain person the happiest girl in Centerport to-day!"

Mr. Sharp picked up the desk telephone and called the janitor. In five minutes the old man appeared and the struggling fish were scooped out of the water.

"Now, young lady?" demanded the princ.i.p.al.