CHAPTER V

SURPRISE FOR EVERYONE!

At long last came four o'clock. Dr. Prescott walked down the big, winding stairway of the castle-like structure that she had transformed from a run-down neglected dwelling into a boarding school for girls. She was proud of the school, proud of the work she had done there. She looked up. Why, she was proud of every big beam that supported the high ceilings!

As she entered the long reception room with its lovely bouquets of fresh spring flowers and was greeted by Rhoda Hammond, she had a momentary twinge of regret. "The girls were getting so much older! Today," and she smiled a little to herself as the thought crossed her mind, "they were acting especially grown-up." She looked down at the lovely corsage of sweet-smelling violets on her gray dress and touched them tenderly. They were a gift, a thoughtful one, from the girls who had planned the party. Now, as she circulated among them all and felt the excitement that there was in the room, she was glad that she had a secret too. She looked across the room and caught Professor Krenner's eye. He smiled and nodded. How nice everything seemed!

Meanwhile Bess and Rhoda and Laura were conferring near a big silver tea tray. There were piles of dainty sandwiches on it, olives and pickles and salted nuts, a plate of lemon slices with whole cloves in the center of each, a bowl of sugar cubes with lovely silver tongs projecting from it, a graceful silver pitcher filled with cream, and, off to one side, pretty cups and saucers were stacked, waiting to be used.

"Oh, I wish Nan would come," Bess exclaimed.

"She'll be here any minute now," Rhoda answered, "and when she comes--"

But the sentence was never finished, for just at that moment Nan, accompanied by Mrs. Bagley, appeared in the doorway, and with one accord everyone called, "Surprise!"

It was a moment such as Nan had never experienced before. She seemed stunned, unable entirely to comprehend what was happening. Then, as all her friends came forward, smiled and shook her hand and Dr. Beulah leaned over and kissed her, she seemed to regain her composure. But she admitted later in private to Bess that she hardly knew all afternoon what she said or what had been said to her.

There were one or two things, however, that did stand out clearly in her mind.

Before the tea was poured, Laura, as chairman of the gift committee, called her to her side, and, in the name of all those present, put three boxes in her hands and told her to open them. From the first, Nan pulled forth a gay corsage of daffodils which Bess promptly pinned to her shoulder. How pretty they looked there! So yellow and bright! Nan looked down at them, seeming for a moment to forget her other gifts.

Bess prodded her. So did Laura. Nan murmured a pardon and picked up another box. It was the largest of the three, much longer and wider than the first and was tied with a big perky bow which Nan proceeded to untie, oh, so slowly, it seemed to her friends, for in her confusion her fingers fumbled over the knot. Finally, however, the ribbon was off, the cover removed, the tissue paper pulled aside, and Nan drew forth a lovely long satin negligee, more beautiful than any she had ever seen.

"How lovely!" she exclaimed and buried her face for a second in its softness, for she was so happy that she was almost crying. Then she looked out at all the faces watching her.

"Oh, I thank you, many times I thank you," she said, before she looked down at the robe again. It was hard to tear her eyes away from it. But at another prod from Bess, she looked down at the third package on the table near her. "Could it be--?" She opened it and pulled forth the cleverest pair of little bedroom slippers! Everything was just perfect!

Nan smiled shyly at her friends. "What could she say?" In the pause that followed, Dr. Prescott came to her rescue, moved over closer to her, and, standing between her and Bess, she spoke.

"May I have the attention of all of you, for a moment?"

Immediately, everyone was quiet, expectantly waiting.

"What was coming?" The question was in everyone's mind. The girls looked at Dr. Beulah and then at one another, as a million answers rushed through their heads.

She smiled reassuringly into their puzzled faces, seemed about to speak, but then paused as though to choose her words carefully. Finally, she began.

"I don't know as I have ever," she said, "been prouder of Lakeview Hall and all it stands for than I have today, and today somehow marks a turning point in its history.

"You all know that my life has been bound up in the fortunes of this place for some years now. When I first came here, there were about twenty-five girls registered. We taught a little French, some music, fine needlework, literature, and something of the social graces. Walking was about the most strenuous of the sports for girls in those days. Hiking was unheard of, for young ladies, I mean. It was considered quite the thing to grow pale and to faint on the slightest provocation, that is, if the young lady did it gracefully.

"Nan here would have been quite out of place in that old school with her bobbed hair, her keen enjoyment of all the sports, and her interest in Professor Krenner's class in architectural drawing."

The girls laughed. Although the course had been listed in Lakeview Hall's catalogue ever since Professor Krenner joined the faculty, Nan had been the first to actually elect the subject. The story of how and why she did had long ago become a campus joke as those who have read "Nan Sherwood at Lakeview Hall" are well aware.

Now, for the first time Nan herself began to see how really queer that listing "Architectural Drawing" must have looked when it first appeared on the catalogue. She giggled, as she thought of young women with long dresses that trailed along the gravel paths of the campus taking such a serious course.

Sharing the joke with Dr. Beulah, she smiled up at her.

"Yes, Nan would have been quite out of place there," Dr. Beulah repeated. "Not one among those twenty-five girls was trained to take care of herself. Here, today in the very hall where they sometimes gathered for their lessons in "The Social Graces" and practiced entering and leaving the room, using that door over there," she said, nodding toward the doorway from which Nan had first viewed the surprise party, "you girls of the modern day have planned a party for one of your number who has had more adventures than those girls had ever dreamed or read about.

"Whereas they walked, danced some, and fainted most expertly, you go boating, hiking, horseback riding, and, in the winter, sleighing. You play basketball and volleyball and golf. How they would envy you! Now, your party is for one among you who is going to Europe. There, all sorts of adventures await her. Just as Nan cannot imagine what these will be, just as I could not have twenty years ago imagined this big school with its two hundred self-reliant girls, you young ladies in planning this party had no conception of what a big thing was going to happen to you shortly.

"While you have been whispering and plotting among yourselves looking forward to this day which is being so successful, I, too, have been fostering a few secrets."

At this Bess looked over at Nan. There was an I-told-you-so gleam in her eye. Nan nodded quickly. They were both thinking of their conversation of a few days ago in the corridor, both remembering their disappointing encounter with the old mailman. They turned their eyes back toward Dr. Beulah's face. How sweet she looked! Nan sighed. If she would only hurry and get to the point of her talk! Nan felt that she simply could not wait any longer.

"Nan's parents," Dr. Beulah continued, "felt that they wanted her to go to Europe under the chaperonage of some responsible person, and so, several months ago they wrote to me."

This was news to Nan, and she was all attention as Dr. Beulah went on.

"I made inquiries of the schools and colleges which offer conducted tours and was about to recommend that Nan join a party from a girls' school on the Hudson that was going to England. However, before the letter was written to Mr. and Mrs. Sherwood, Grace Mason's mother asked me a question that has changed everyone's plans."

Rhoda Hammond put a reassuring arm around Grace, who blushed slightly as all eyes were turned on her.

"She and Mr. Mason," the head of the school explained, "wondered whether it would be possible for me to recommend a girls' camp for Grace to stay in for the summer. Well, one thing led to another, and before the week was out Professor Krenner and I were in conference behind closed doors.

"As a result, plans have been definitely made," her voice was clear and firm in spite of the excitement in it, "for a whole party of you to go to England this spring to see the king and queen crowned in London!"