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Page 12
"When you feel that you must fall down, Dropsy, be careful not to
fall into shelves of china,--that's all. Bookcases are the best
things to fall into, you'll find; and a book is the best thing to
drop, too, my poor child. When you feel the fit coming on, put
down the teacup and grab a dictionary; then choose the toe you
want it to fall on,--superfluous aunt of the family, or some one
of that sort,--and you are all right. Bless you, Dropsy! Farewell,
my dear!"
Hildegarde took the girls directly up to her room, and they
admired all her arrangements as heartily as she could wish. Bell
exclaimed with amazement at the size of the room.
"To have all this for your own, your castle and defence," she
cried. "What would the girls at college say if they could see such
a room as this, and one girl living in it! Twelve by fourteen is
our rule, and two girls to that."
"Dear me!" said Hildegarde. "Why, I couldn't live without room."
"Oh yes, you could!" said Bell, laughing. "One gets used to
everything. It's rather good fun seeing how closely one can pack.
We have sixty-five pictures in our room, my chum and I. Oh, you
have my William! I didn't know anyone else had just exactly that
portrait."
"Your William, indeed!" cried Hildegarde, laughing. "Why, he is
mine, my very own, and no one ever began to love him as I do."
The two girls fell into a friendly discussion, and ran lightly
over the history of the Netherlands, with occasional excursions to
Italy, the Highlands, or the south of France, as one picture or
another claimed their attention. Hildegarde was enjoying herself
immensely, and did the honours with ardour, delighted to find that
the "college girl" knew all about the things she loved, without
being in the least bookish or prosy.
"I thought you would be 'primmed up with majestic pride,'" she
said, laughing. "I was frightened when your little brother said
you were at college, and I instantly saw you with spectacles, and
pale, lank hair done up in a bob on the top of your head. And
then--then you came over the top of the fence, looking like--like----"
"Like what?" said Bell. "I insist upon knowing."
"You are sure you don't mind?" asked Hildegarde, as Bell herself
had asked the day before. "You looked like an apple,--so exactly
like a nice red and white Benoni I was sure you must be good to
eat. Oh, I am so glad you came!"
"So am I!" said Bell.
"Do you think we might drop the 'Miss' part?" inquired Hildegarde,
"or are you too dignified?"
"Apples must not stand on dignity," replied Bell, gravely. "But I
have wanted to say 'Hildegarde' ever since I came into this room,
because the name just fits the room--and you."
At this point Gertrude, who had forgotten her destiny in the joy
of pictures, and was backing round the walls in silent ecstasy,
saw--or rather did not see--her opportunity, and fell quietly
downstairs. One special feature of Hildegarde's room was the
staircase, her own private staircase, of which she was immensely
proud. It was a narrow, winding stair, very steep and crooked,
leading to the ground floor. When Gertrude disappeared down this
gulf with a loud crash, Hildegarde was much alarmed, and flew to
the rescue, followed more leisurely by Bell.
"Are you much hurt, my dear?" cried Hildegarde. "Wait till I come
and pick you up, poor child!"
"Oh no!" replied Gertrude, softly, from the foot of the stairs,
where she lay doubled up against the door. "Thank you, but I never
hurt myself. I hope I haven't hurt the stairs."
Bell came along, laughing. "Dear Dropsy!" she said. "Here, come
up! She really never does hurt herself," she added, in response to
Hildegarde's look of astonishment. "She falls about so much, and
has done so since she was a baby, that she keeps in training, I
suppose, and her joints and bones are all supple and elastic. This
was a good one, though! Sure you are not bruised, little girl?"
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