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Charley was sitting on Erma's bunk, looking resigned. "Well, if you still want to talk to me," he said, "now's your chance. "I certainly want to talk to you," Professor Lightning said firmly. "I want to tell you of the most important moment of your life." Charley tried to think of something to say to this, but there wasn't anything.
Mellie and Josephine made a brave effort to control themselves, but after a few minutes they were following Erma's example and were sobbing as though their hearts would break. Miss Richards and Miss Debby took matters into their hands. There was no help to be expected from the Fraulein, for she was as wearied as the girls.
As she did so, the butterfly end of her tie fluttered, displaying her quaint pin whose setting gleamed like a spark of fire. Its scintillation caught Erma's eye. She was about to remark concerning it, but stopped herself in time. But Berenice, who never let anything escape her, also caught the sparkle of the stone.
"What has happened to Erma?" exclaimed Hester, starting up when the cry reached her ears. "Don't be alarmed. It is nothing serious. I can tell from her voice. That shriek is Erma's cry of delight." In an instant, Erma herself tripped down the hall to explain and to share. Knocking hastily, she did not wait to be admitted, but flung open the door. "What do you think I found?" she cried.
When I am home I always wear my mother's best silk stockings and rustling petticoats when I know she's down in the city shopping. Of course I always ask her when she comes back and she never refuses me permission. She always says the same thing: 'Well, since you have them on " Erma's attempts to lead the conversation away from Hester and the pin was without results.
"But tell me, please," she pleaded, "why do you all wear a dragon's head embroidered on your gowns?" Erma's pleasant face became grave as she answered: "The Dragon, as you must know, was the first living creature ever made; therefore the Dragon is the oldest and wisest of living things.
It was the chorus of girls. This had long been the custom of the school, to wake the pupils by song on Easter morning. The voices drew nearer. The singers paused at the landing of the stair. Hester could distinguish Erma's loud, clear notes which soared upward like a bird and floated over all. "Alleluia, Alleluia, swell the strain." The spirit of the Easter morn came to Hester.
When other girls talked together of what their parents and grandparents had done as children and repeated the old-time stories, which had been handed down to them as part of their family history, Hester Alden had only listened and had taken no part in the recital. Now, she would have evaded Erma's direct question, but Erma was not one who would permit her inquiries to go by the board.
The dear old honeysuckle that she is! I shall be glad to have her back. I missed her dreadfully these two days." She turned her back on the group and was about to walk away when Mellie moved forward and slipped her hand in Erma's arm. "I shall go with you," she said. Others, grasping the situation more clearly than they had before, followed the example of Erma.
I wish you to answer my question before we go one step further." Erma stood still. The others did as she did. Berenice laughed lightly. "How very silly. A perfect tempest in a tea-cup simply because I choose to get off a joke." "If that is a joke, it is in horribly bad taste," was Erma's retort. "You are unjust, Erma.
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