How d' ye do, girls?" said Huldah Meserve,peeping in at the door. "Can youstop studying a minute and show me yourroom? Say, I've just been down to the storeand bought me these gloves, for I was bound Iwouldn't wear mittens this winter; they'resimply too countrified. It's your first year here, andyou're younger than I am, so I s'pose you don'tmind, but I simply suffer if I don't keep up somekind of style. Say, your room is simply too cute forwords! I don't believe any of the others can beginto compare with it! I don't know what gives it thatsimply gorgeous look, whether it's the full curtains,or that elegant screen, or Rebecca's lamp; but youcertainly do have a faculty for fixing up. I like apretty room too, but I never have a minute toattend to mine; I'm always so busy on my clothes thathalf the time I don't get my bed made up till noon;and after all, having no callers but the girls, it don'tmake much difference. When I graduate, I'm goingto fix up our parlor at home so it'll be simply regal.
I've learned decalcomania, and after I take up lustrepainting I shall have it simply stiff with drapes andtidies and placques and sofa pillows, and make mo-ther let me have a fire, and receive my friends thereevenings. May I dry my feet at your register? Ican't bear to wear rubbers unless the mud or theslush is simply knee-deep, they make your feet lookso awfully big. I had such a fuss getting this pairof French-heeled boots that I don't intend to spoilthe looks of them with rubbers any oftener than Ican help. I believe boys notice feet quicker thananything. Elmer Webster stepped on one of mineyesterday when I accidentally had it out in theaisle, and when he apologized after class, he said hewasn't so much to blame, for the foot was so littlehe really couldn't see it! Isn't he perfectly great?
Of course that's only his way of talking, for afterall I only wear a number two, but these Frenchheels and pointed toes do certainly make your footlook smaller, and it's always said a high instep helps,too. I used to think mine was almost a deformity,but they say it's a great beauty. Just put your feetbeside mine, girls, and look at the difference; notthat I care much, but just for fun.""My feet are very comfortable where they are,"responded Rebecca dryly. "I can't stop to measureinsteps on algebra days; I've noticed your habitof keeping a foot in the aisle ever since you hadthose new shoes, so I don't wonder it was steppedon.""Perhaps I am a little mite conscious of them,because they're not so very comfortable at first, tillyou get them broken in. Say, haven't you got alot of new things?""Our Christmas presents, you mean," said EmmaJane. "The pillow-cases are from Mrs. Cobb, therug from cousin Mary in North Riverboro, thescrap-basket from Living and Dick. We gave eachother the bureau and cushion covers, and the screenis mine from Mr. Ladd.""Well, you were lucky when you met him!
Gracious! I wish I could meet somebody like that.
The way he keeps it up, too! It just hides yourbed, doesn't it, and I always say that a bed takesthe style off any room--specially when it's notmade up; though you have an alcove, and it's theonly one in the whole building. I don't see howyou managed to get this good room when you'resuch new scholars," she finished discontentedly.
"We shouldn't have, except that Ruth Berryhad to go away suddenly on account of her father'sdeath. This room was empty, and Miss Maxwellasked if we might have it," returned Emma Jane.
"The great and only Max is more stiff andstandoffish than ever this year," said Huldah. "I'vesimply given up trying to please her, for there'sno justice in her; she is good to her favorites, butshe doesn't pay the least attention to anybody else,except to make sarcastic speeches about thingsthat are none of her business. I wanted to tell heryesterday it was her place to teach me Latin, notmanners.""I wish you wouldn't talk against Miss Maxwellto me," said Rebecca hotly. "You know how Ifeel.""I know; but I can't understand how you canabide her.""I not only abide, I love her!" exclaimedRebecca. "I wouldn't let the sun shine too hot onher, or the wind blow too cold. I'd like to put amarble platform in her class-room and have her sitin a velvet chair behind a golden table!""Well, don't have a fit!--because she can sitwhere she likes for all of me; I've got somethingbetter to think of," and Huldah tossed her head.
"Isn't this your study hour?" asked EmmaJane, to stop possible discussion.
"Yes, but I lost my Latin grammar yesterday;I left it in the hall half an hour while I was havinga regular scene with Herbert Dunn. I haven'tspoken to him for a week and gave him back hisclass pin. He was simply furious. Then when Icame back to the hall, the book was gone. I hadto go down town for my gloves and to the principal'soffice to see if the grammar had been handedin, and that's the reason I'm so fine."Huldah was wearing a woolen dress that hadonce been gray, but had been dyed a brilliant blue.
She had added three rows of white braid and largewhite pearl buttons to her gray jacket, in order tomake it a little more "dressy." Her gray felt hathad a white feather on it, and a white tissue veilwith large black dots made her delicate skin lookbrilliant. Rebecca thought how lovely the knot ofred hair looked under the hat behind, and how thecolor of the front had been dulled by incessantfrizzing with curling irons. Her open jacketdisclosed a galaxy of souvenirs pinned to thebackground of bright blue,--a small American flag, abutton of the Wareham Rowing Club, and one ortwo society pins. These decorations proved herpopularity in very much the same way as do thecotillion favors hanging on the bedroom walls ofthe fashionable belle. She had been pinning andunpinning, arranging and disarranging her veilever since she entered the room, in the hope thatthe girls would ask her whose ring she was wearingthis week; but although both had noticed the newornament instantly, wild horses could not havedrawn the question from them; her desire to beasked was too obvious. With her gay plumage,her "nods and becks and wreathed smiles," and hercheerful cackle, Huldah closely resembled theparrot in Wordsworth's poem:--"Arch, volatile, a sportive bird,By social glee inspired;Ambitious to be seen or heard,And pleased to be admired!""Mr. Morrison thinks the grammar will bereturned, and lent me another," Huldah continued.
"He was rather snippy about my leaving a book inthe hall. There was a perfectly elegant gentlemanin the office, a stranger to me. I wish he was a newteacher, but there's no such luck. He was tooyoung to be the father of any of the girls, and tooold to be a brother, but he was handsome as apicture and had on an awful stylish suit of clothes.
He looked at me about every minute I was in theroom. It made me so embarrassed I couldn't hardlyanswer Mr. Morrison's questions straight.""You'll have to wear a mask pretty soon, ifyou're going to have any comfort, Huldah," saidRebecca. "Did he offer to lend you his class pin,or has it been so long since he graduated that he'sleft off wearing it? And tell us now whether theprincipal asked for a lock of your hair to put in hiswatch?"This was all said merrily and laughingly, butthere were times when Huldah could scarcely makeup her mind whether Rebecca was trying to bewitty, or whether she was jealous; but shegenerally decided it was merely the latter feeling,rather natural in a girl who had little attention.
"He wore no jewelry but a cameo scarf pin anda perfectly gorgeous ring,--a queer kind of onethat wound round and round his finger. Oh dear,I must run! Where has the hour gone? There'sthe study bell!"Rebecca had pricked up her ears at Huldah'sspeech. She remembered a certain strange ring,and it belonged to the only person in the world (saveMiss Maxwell) who appealed to her imagination,--Mr. Aladdin. Her feeling for him, and that of EmmaJane, was a mixture of romantic and reverent admirationfor the man himself and the liveliest gratitudefor his beautiful gifts. Since they first met himnot a Christmas had gone by without some remembrancefor them both; remembrances chosen withthe rarest taste and forethought. Emma Jane hadseen him only twice, but he had called several timesat the brick house, and Rebecca had learned toknow him better. It was she, too, who always wrotethe notes of acknowledgment and thanks, takinginfinite pains to make Emma Jane's quite differentfrom her own. Sometimes he had written fromBoston and asked her the news of Riverboro, andshe had sent him pages of quaint and childlike gossip,interspersed, on two occasions, with poetry,which he read and reread with infinite relish. IfHuldah's stranger should be Mr. Aladdin, would hecome to see her, and could she and Emma Janeshow him their beautiful room with so many of hisgifts in evidence?
When the girls had established themselves inWareham as real boarding pupils, it seemed tothem existence was as full of joy as it well couldhold. This first winter was, in fact, the mosttranquilly happy of Rebecca's school life,--a winterlong to be looked back upon. She and EmmaJane were room-mates, and had put their modestpossessions together to make their surroundingspretty and homelike. The room had, to begin with,a cheerful red ingrain carpet and a set of maplefurniture. As to the rest, Rebecca had furnishedthe ideas and Emma Jane the materials and labor,a method of dividing responsibilities that s............