CHAPTER TEN
THE DOWNFALL OF GLADYS MERLE
On Monday morning, Gladys Merle and Anita Ryan, the two who were especially interested, began to watch for an answer, but of course none came that day. On Tuesday morning, the rain fell heavily. Gladys Merle looked out of a class-room window watching for the rural postman, but no one appeared.
“Isn’t it just our luck?” Gladys exclaimed at the mid-morning recreation, as the two girls stood gazing dolefully out at the storm.
“The hill road will be so muddy in a few hours that it will be impossible for the postman’s horse and cart to get up here,” Anita declared, when Gladys, clutching her arm, whispered excitedly, “Look, there he is now!”
A man, well protected by a rubber slicker, soon entered the school and deposited a mail-bag at Madame Deriby’s door.
“How I do wish Miss Sharpleigh would come now and sort out the letters,” Gladys Merle had just said, when a gong sounded, which called them back to their classes. Never before had an hour seemed so long, and when at last they were free, they went directly to Madame Deriby’s office, but the mail-bag was still unopened.
“Oh, Miss Sharpleigh,” Anita said in her sweetest manner, “would it be too much trouble for you to see if there is a letter for me? I am expecting one from my Aunt Laura.”
Miss Sharpleigh, chancing to be in a pleasant humor, unfastened the mail-bag and glanced over the letters. Selecting one, she opened it, as was the custom, but, instead of reading it, as she usually did, she merely glanced at the end to see if it were really from a relative. “Your loving Aunt Laura” was all that she read, and then, believing that the contents of the letter must be all right, she handed it to Anita, who, with a look of triumph at Gladys, hurried from the office.
“Now let’s all meet in my room as soon as dinner is over,” she whispered. “Tell the others to be there promptly.”
An hour later eight girls were gathered in Anita’s room. Because of the storm, they could not have their usual outdoor recreation and so they had been told that they might do whatever they wished.
“Sit down, every one,” Gladys Merle exclaimed. “Anita has read the letter to herself and now she will read it aloud to you. I guess you will be surprised at what you are to hear.
“Lock the door, somebody,” Gladys Merle went on. “We don’t want to be interrupted while we are deciding the fate of these newcomers.”
Jenny Clark sprang up to do their leader’s bidding, and then, when she was reseated in the semicircle on the floor in front of the fireplace, Anita Ryan opened the letter and began to read:
“My dear Niece: You ask about a group of girls who recently left Sunnyside to attend the Linden Hall boarding-school. They all belong to well-to-do families except Carol Lorens. I have been told that her father is a poor lawyer who could not afford to send his daughter to a fashionable school and it is rumored that she was sent there as a paid companion for the wealthy Mr. Dartmoor’s granddaughter.”
“There! What do you think of that?” Gladys Merle exclaimed as she looked about triumphantly. “You see I was right. It pays to snub a girl until you find out who she really is.”
Then, to the surprise of the others, little Janet Nagel said, defiantly, “I don’t care if Carol Lorens’ father is poor. I think she is a lovely girl, and I, for one, am not going to snub her. One might think that your father was nobility, Gladys Merle, by the way you act.”
The young lady addressed tossed her head indignantly. “My father is rich enough to buy any kingdom on this earth,” she boasted, “and he’s handsome and stately,” she added, but before many days passed she had occasion to regret that she had uttered this untrue statement, since it had not been necessary.
That night when the pupils were gathered in their recreation hall, Gladys Merle brushed against Carol and did not apologize for her rudeness. Janet Nagel, who had seen this, flashed an indignant glance at Gladys and then hurrying after Carol, she slipped her arm about her waist as she said: “I like you, Miss Lorens. I wish I might be one of your friends.”
Gladys stared after the retreating form of this, the first of her followers to desert her, and then turning to the others she remarked, scornfully, “We are well rid of her! Hereafter we will snub Janet Nagel as well as this Carol Lorens. Adele Doring is the one whom we should cultivate, for Anita’s aunt wrote that Mr. Doring owns nearly all of the land around Sunnyside and that he is very rich.”
The next day Gladys Merle tried to cultivate Adele but to her surprise, instead of acting as though she felt highly honored, that maiden, nodding coolly, gathered up her books and walked away.
“Well, I declare!” Gladys Merle thought. “Such airs! But perhaps she hasn’t heard how rich my father is.” Gladys was secretly glad that none of her clique were in the library to see their leader being snubbed.
Adele did know how rich Gladys Merle’s father was, but she also knew that her friend, Carol Lorens, had been rudely treated, and the Sunnysiders were always loyal one to another.
Before many hours had passed, Gladys Merle deeply regretted that she had asked Anita to write that letter of inquiry.