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It was a delightful change, but through all the relief rang the sting of remembering that it had been accomplished by Thomasina, not herself; that the new friendliness was the result of Thomasina's orders rather than her own deserts. To her fellow-students she was still an insignificant new-comer, with no claim to distinction.
From a sincere friend!" And when the inscription was dry the Bible was wrapped in brown paper, and put by in Thomasina's trunk till John Broom should come to years of discretion. He was slow to reach them, though in other respects he grew fast. When he began to walk he would walk barefoot.
She went off into a blissful dream in which she stood apart, receiving the congratulations of Miss Bruce and her staff, and saw Thomasina's face regarding her with a new expression of awe. Then she came back to real life, to look remorsefully at her new friend, and notice for the first time her pinched and anxious air. "But I would give Kathleen the money.
I should have called him Smith if that had not been Thomasina's name. As it is, I propose to call him Broom. He was found under a bush of broom, and it goes very well with John, and sounds plain and respectable." So Miss Betty bought a Bible, and on the flyleaf of it she wrote in her fine, round, gentlewoman's writing "John Broom. With good wishes for his welfare, temporal and eternal.
The girls wore gym. costumes, composed of the aforesaid knickers, and a short tunic, girt round the waist with a blue sash, to represent the inevitable house colour. Thomasina's aspect was astounding, as she strode to and fro awaiting the gathering of her forces, and the new girls stared at her with distended eyeballs.
One such chunk would make a meal in itself, thought Rhoda, nibbling fastidiously at the first slice, but whether from the fatigue of the long journey or the stimulating effect of companionship, her appetite seemed to be unusually keen, and when it was finished she put out her hand to take a second slice. Instantly Thomasina's voice rang out in warning. "Stop that, Fuzzy! That's forbidden!"
Thomasina was not sentimental, and she slapped him well his hands for picking the tulips, and his feet for going barefoot. But his feet had to be slapped with Thomasina's slipper, for his own shoes could not be found. In spite of all his pranks, John Broom did not lose the favor of his friends. Thomasina spoiled him, and Miss Betty and Miss Kitty tried not to do so.
He had seated himself on the threshold to take off his shoes, when he heard the sound of Thomasina's footsteps, and, hastily staggering to his feet, toddled forth without farther delay. The sky was blue above him, the sun was shining, and the air was very sweet.
It might be a difficult matter to decide which he liked best, beer or John Broom. But next to these he liked Thomasina's stories. Thomasina was kind to him. With all his failings and the dirt on his boots, she liked him better than the farm-bailiff.
To Thomasina's stories of ghosts and gossip, he would add strange tales of smugglers on the near-lying coast, and as John Broom listened, his restless blood rebelled more and more against the sour sneers and dry drudgery that he got from the farm-bailiff. Nor were sneers the sharpest punishment his misdemeanours earned.
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