CHAPTER XII--THE M. O. R. INITIATION

Now there was one girl of that walking party, you may be sure, who did not congratulate Laura Belding upon her happy thought in aiding the man on the steeple of St. Cecelia's Church. That was Hester Grimes.

Since the evening previous Hester had had little to say to anybody--even to her chum. The fires of wrath always burned deeply in Hester; she hugged an injury--or a supposed injury--to her, and made it greater therefore than it was.

In the first place, she had hoped much that the M. O. R.'s would give her the "touch." For months--ever since she had become a soph at Central High, indeed, she had been looking forward to that end. She wanted to "make" the secret society more than she wanted anything else in her school life.

And now it would be another year, at least, before she could stand her chance again, while Laura Belding, whom she hated, was one of the favored candidates. She could not understand it. Hester had toadied to juniors and seniors alike--especially to those who were members of the secret society. Of course, she had paid little attention to such girls as Mary O'Rourke. She could not understand how the daughter of a laborer, who had neither money nor influence, could have become a prominent member of the M. O. R.'s. But by the girls of wealthy parents Hester had tried to make herself noticed.

She could not understand her lack of popularity, when Laura, and Jess Morse, and Dr. Agnew's daughter and the Lockwood twins had received the touch. And rage burned hotter in her heart.

Besides, Bobby's impudent trick had made Hester appear ridiculous, she could not forget that. And she insisted upon holding Laura responsible for the joke. She told Lily she was sure that Laura Belding had put Bobby up to it. And it was nothing that would pass over quickly. Already, on this Saturday, she had heard some of the lines of the doggerel repeated by giggling girls--and she hated them all for it!

"I'll get square--you just see," she whispered to Lily Pendleton. "No girl like Laura Belding can treat me so----"

"But it was those freshies and Bobby Hargrew," interposed her chum.

"Laura was back of it--believe me!" declared Hester, shaking her head. "I should think you would feel the slight, too, Lily. For those stuck-up M. O. R.'s to choose Belding, and Morse, and those other girls of our class, and overlook _us_."

"But the candidates had nothing to do with it," said Lily, weakly.

"Belding and the others benefited, just the same--didn't they?"

"Um--m. They're in and we're out."

"Well!" said Hester, with flashing eyes.

"But what are you going to do about it? What _can_ we do?"

"Never mind. You'll see," promised the butcher's daughter, darkly.

It would not have changed Hester's attitude at all--for she was not one to easily forgive--had she known that Laura Belding had taken occasion that very morning to take Bobby Hargrew to task for what she had done the evening before. Bobby came into Mr. Belding's store while Laura was dusting and re-arranging the show cases.

"Have a scrumptious time at the club house, Laura?" asked the irrepressible.

"Oh, it is nice, Bobby!" cried Laura. "I wish you had been touched."

"Me? Huh! I'd have about as much chance of ever being an M. O. R. as Hester Grimes," and she chuckled.

"Less chance than Hester, I fear," said Laura, with sudden gravity. "Especially after last evening. Bobby Hargrew, I never knew you to do so mean a thing before."

"Well, wasn't she mean to me?"

"That does not excuse you. And I told Mr. Sharp that you had never done a really mean thing within my knowledge----"

"Ah! Now I see why I have not been promoted to the outside of Central High," cried Bobby, quickly. "You have been interceding for me."

"I--I---- Well, it was nothing much I said, dear," said Laura.

"I'm grateful," said Bobby, really moved. "But I can't tell you how much."

"Show me, then," urged Laura.

"How do you mean?"

"Give up this practical joking. Stop making trouble for the teachers----"

"I have! Gee Gee hasn't had a chance to criticize me all this week. And sometimes I feel as though I should burst," cried the spirited girl.

"But I _did_ tell the principal that you never did anything mean--and see what you have done to Hester!"

"And see what she has done to me," snapped Bobby.

"Perhaps she _thought_ she saw you throw something into that basket."

"No, she didn't. She and I sassed each other," declared Bobby, who was plain if not elegant of speech at all times, "right there in the principal's office when Miss Gee Gee sailed out into the music room. Hessie _was_ the last girl to leave me--true enough. But she did not see me near that basket, for I started for the corridor when she was going out of the room."

"But she might have been mistaken----"

"You don't more than half believe me yourself, Laura Belding!" accused Bobby.

"I do. I believe just what you say about it."

"Then you can take it from me," said the emphatic Bobby, "that Hester Grimes told that story to Miss Carrington for the sake of getting me into trouble--and for no other reason."

"I'd hate to think her so mean," sighed Laura.

"I'd hate to be foolish enough to believe she was anything _but_ mean," growled Bobby, sullenly. "We've always known what she was. Why so tender of her all of a sudden?"

"But she must be hurt dreadfully by that trick you played on her last evening."

"Serves her right, then. I've no love for her, I confess. But if you don't want me to I'll let her strictly alone hereafter. I guess I've squared things pretty well with her anyway," and Bobby Hargrew laughed lightly.

"I want you to be good, Bobby," said Laura, yet smiling at the younger girl. "Show them there is something in you besides mischief. The teachers have a wrong idea of you. You want to change all that."

"Gee! I couldn't be a Miss Nancy," chuckled the other.

"Just see how you are cut out of all our good times," warned Laura. "And we need you in athletics, Bobby! Our eight-oared shell will be without its cox--and we hoped to have a boat of our own this season. You see, Bobby, one girl can't do wrong without hurting the rest of us. 'All for one and one for all' is the motto of Central High, you know."

"Oh, dear, Laura, I _didn't_ set that fire," cried Bobby, suddenly, and almost in tears.

"I don't believe for a minute that you did," returned her friend. "But you might use your superabundance of wit in finding out who did set it. I've racked my brains, I am sure, and I can't see the answer."

"Then, how do you expect me to do so--and you always so ingenious?" complained Bobby.

Laura's ingenuity about the kite and the steeple-jack delighted most of the girls who were with her on that Saturday afternoon tramp. And when they knew she intended giving the gold eagle presented to her by Colonel Swayne to the treasury of the Girls' Branch they cheered her--all but Hester and Lily.

The explanation of the fire in Mr. Sharp's office eluded Laura, however, as it did everybody else. But she gave considerable thought to the problem as the days passed.

The Athletic Field was being put in shape as rapidly as possible. Already the high board fence was being erected and a large shed with lockers for the girls. As the field joined their old bathing pavilion there were shower and plunge baths already at hand. Mrs. Case promised the school that, other things being well, the girls should have an exhibition field day for parents and friends before many weeks. The indoor exercises were practiced assiduously, and most of the advanced classes, at least, tried to stand well in these so as to take part in the outdoor games.

With the regular school work, the physical instruction, and the after-hour athletics, the girls of Central High found their time filled. But Laura Belding and her close friends had the added excitement and interest of the coming M. O. R. initiation.

A full week elapsed from the Day of the Touch to the hour when the candidates were to be made full members of the secret society. This initiation was usually a novel affair, and on this occasion it was announced to the candidates that Robinson's Woods was the scene and Saturday at four o'clock the time of the exercises. Secrecy was maintained--or should have been. No one but members of the M. O. R., or the candidates, was to know the time and place; but events which followed showed that there was a "leak" somewhere.

Robinson's Woods was a fine picnicking ground, back among the hills. One of the Market Street cars passed a road which led to the grove; one needed to walk but half a mile, and through a pleasant byway. But once at the Woods, it was as though the primeval forest surrounded the place.

There was a small hotel, tables and benches in the open, swings and a carousel, and a dancing pavilion. But the M. O. R.'s did not propose to hold their exercises in so exposed a place. Up from the regular grounds devoted to entertainment led a narrow, rocky path through the thicker wood. The goal to which this path led was a high, open plateau in the midst of the forest, from which one could overlook a winding country road and a more winding, tumbling, noisy brook which came down from the heights.

Two special cars awaited the M. O. R. girls and the candidates for initiation, and it was a merry party that debarked at the head of the wood road. They marched straight away from the regular picnic grounds and were soon on the plateau.

The sun was going down and the view over the valley, in which lay the City of Centerport, was beautiful indeed. There were nearly a hundred girls, and in their bright dresses they made a very pretty picture in the open space in the forest.

They were far from human habitation. Indeed there was no house in sight, save an abandoned farmhouse at the upper end of the clearing. Surrounded by a straggling fence, with a gate hanging from one hinge, and the out-houses behind it fallen in ruins, this old dwelling presented a rather ghostly appearance. It did, indeed, go by the name of "Robinson's Haunted House"; but in the late afternoon sunlight none of the visitors thought of the grewsome stories told of it.