Helen flushed, too, but she asked nonchalantly, "What?"
"An old maid! And she said she didn't know what I wanted to come to school for. I would never know enough to teach. Do you suppose she would dare call Miss Aldred an old maid?"
"Oh, the girls do call each other that, and they don't mean anything," said Helen lightly.
"They were talking _about_ me, not to me. It doesn't make me a day older, I know, but it keeps me from being friendly and at home, don't you see? My way is paid as well as theirs--it costs me more, for I have private lessons. I have as good right to the school as anybody, whether I want to teach or not."
Helen looked at her in amazement. She had never seen so much spirit in her face. If she could be roused, not by anger merely, but some potent power. Happiness and love might do it.
"No, you have not offended me at all. You looked so spirited that I could not help admiring you. It is a very mean thing for girls to make ill-natured comments on each other. I wish they did not. I do not see why they cannot pick out the nice things instead and say them over."
Helen had made several protests about this matter. She corrected the subject of Miss Craven's age with spirit.
"You will never make me believe that," Miss Mays had exclaimed with unnecessary vigor.
"Oh, Miss Craven may have said that was her age. And who knows anything about her? She keeps to herself as if there was something not quite----" ending with a disagreeable emphasis.
"Girls," began another, "we all know if there was anything wrong or discreditable she would not be here. I do not call her an attractive girl, but if we do not like her we can let her alone. She lets us alone. We can't say she has forced herself in our society."
"A vote of thanks from one for speaking up for her," said Helen gayly. "And, of course, Mrs. Aldred knows."
"And Miss Grant, the baby of the school, has been taken into confidence. Pray do enlighten us. Did she come from India or the Fiji Islands, where education is sadly neglected?"
"For all information on the subject, I refer you to Mrs. Aldred."
Helen was angry, but she kept her temper. The ridiculous side of it all occurred to her, and another thought--What if Uncle Jason should come striding into the hall when half the girls were standing around? What would they say about her? How could girls be so mean and ungenerous?