"
"Really, Nancy, you look quite pretty when you are excited! Now, what
did this wonderful Miss Peel do? Did she box the ears of those two
detestable girls? If so, she has my hearty congratulations."
"More than that, Maggie-- that poor, little, meek, awkward, slim
creature absolutely demolished them. Oh! she did it in such a fine,
simple, unworldly sort of way. I only wish you had seen her! They were
twitting her about not going in for all the fun here, and, above
everything, for keeping her room so bare and unattractive. You know
she has been a fortnight here to-day, and she has not got an extra
thing-- not one. There isn't a room in the hall like hers-- it's so
bare and unhomelike. What's the matter, Maggie?"
"You needn't go on, Nancy; if it's about the room, I don't want to
hear it. You know I can't-- I can't bear it."
Maggie's lips were trembling, her face was white. She shaded her eyes
with her hand.
"Oh, my darling, I am so sorry. I forgot-- I really did! There, you
must try and think it was any room. What she did was all the same.
Well, those girls had been twitting her. I expect she's had a nice
fortnight of it! She turned very white, and at last her blood was up,
and she just gave it to them. She opened her little trunk.
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