A Girl of the Limberlost | Page 4

skirt. She opened the pail, removed the lunch,
wrapped it in the napkin, and placed it in a small pasteboard box.
Locking the case again she hid the key and hurried down the trail.
She followed it around the north end of the swamp and then entered a
footpath crossing a farm leading in the direction of the spires of the city
to the northeast. Again she climbed a fence and was on the open road.
For an instant she leaned against the fence staring before her, then

turned and looked back. Behind her lay the land on which she had been
born to drudgery and a mother who made no pretence of loving her;
before her lay the city through whose schools she hoped to find means
of escape and the way to reach the things for which she cared. When
she thought of how she appeared she leaned more heavily against the
fence and groaned; when she thought of turning back and wearing such
clothing in ignorance all the days of her life she set her teeth firmly and
went hastily toward Onabasha.
On the bridge crossing a deep culvert at the suburbs she glanced around,
and then kneeling she thrust the lunch box between the foundation and
the flooring. This left her empty-handed as she approached the big
stone high school building. She entered bravely and inquired her way to
the office of the superintendent. There she learned that she should have
come the previous week and arranged about her classes. There were
many things incident to the opening of school, and one man unable to
cope with all of them.
"Where have you been attending school?" he asked, while he advised
the teacher of Domestic Science not to telephone for groceries until she
knew how many she would have in her classes; wrote an order for
chemicals for the students of science; and advised the leader of the
orchestra to hire a professional to take the place of the bass violist,
reported suddenly ill.
"I finished last spring at Brushwood school, district number nine," said
Elnora. "I have been studying all summer. I am quite sure I can do the
first year work, if I have a few days to get started."
"Of course, of course," assented the superintendent. "Almost invariably
country pupils do good work. You may enter first year, and if it is too
difficult, we will find it out speedily. Your teachers will tell you the list
of books you must have, and if you will come with me I will show you
the way to the auditorium. It is now time for opening exercises. Take
any seat you find vacant."
Elnora stood before the entrance and stared into the largest room she
ever had seen. The floor sloped to a yawning stage on which a band of

musicians, grouped around a grand piano, were tuning their instruments.
She had two fleeting impressions. That it was all a mistake; this was no
school, but a grand display of enormous ribbon bows; and the second,
that she was sinking, and had forgotten how to walk. Then a burst from
the orchestra nerved her while a bevy of daintily clad, sweet- smelling
things that might have been birds, or flowers, or possibly gaily dressed,
happy young girls, pushed her forward. She found herself plodding
across the back of the auditorium, praying for guidance, to an empty
seat.
As the girls passed her, vacancies seemed to open to meet them. Their
friends were moving over, beckoning and whispering invitations. Every
one else was seated, but no one paid any attention to the white-faced
girl stumbling half-blindly down the aisle next the farthest wall. So she
went on to the very end facing the stage. No one moved, and she could
not summon courage to crowd past others to several empty seats she
saw. At the end of the aisle she paused in desperation, while she stared
back at the whole forest of faces most of which were now turned upon
her.
In a flash came the full realization of her scanty dress, her pitiful little
hat and ribbon, her big, heavy shoes, her ignorance of where to go or
what to do; and from a sickening wave which crept over her, she felt
she was going to become very ill. Then out of the mass she saw a pair
of big, brown boy eyes, three seats from her, and there was a message
in them. Without moving his body he reached forward and with a
pencil touched the back of the seat before him. Instantly Elnora took
another step which brought her to a row of vacant front seats.
She heard laughter behind her; the knowledge that she wore the only
hat in the room burned her; every