SUSAN’S SILVER LINK

Waikato Times, Volume 121, Issue 20284, 28 August 1937, Page 21 (Supplement)

SUSAN’S SILVER LINK

(Continued rrom last week.) M I think—” she began; then, seeing the ropelessness of ever being able to pluck up enough courage to proceed if she thought about It, she rushed on, blurting out the sense of what she wanted to say, but certainly not the words: “I think It’s all your own fault. Miss Cubit l”

It sounded very rude put like that, or course; she realized It, and turned scarlet. As for Felicity, her face looked as though It had been plunged Into a barrel of flour. She expected the Head Mistress to rise to her feet, cry “This language! to me 1” and order Susan’s Instant expulsion. But no— Miss Cubit only raised her eyebrows. “And Is that really your Idea of sympathy ?” she asked dryly. “I am disappointed.“ Susan steadied herself: things were going to be horribly diffloult, but she had gone too far now to draw back. Somehow or other she must go forward and oomplete her acousatlon, explain It. “I didn't mean that, of course," she cried; ‘"at least, I did mean it, but I didn't mean to say It like that. I meant —oh well, you asked me to be frank I —I meant that everybody, the whole sohool, thinks It was terribly unfair of you to punish all for what only one person did. I’m sorry, but that’s how they feel about It." The Head Mistress looked thoughtful, and remained silent for a moment or two before she said:

"That Is what I was afraid of - that none of you realized the gravity of the case. You look upon It only as a joke, don’t you?" “Yes," said Susan eagerly. If It was anything really serious, they’d understand all right—" "You wouldn’t call suicide scrloiu then?" inquired Miss Cubit. "Suicide?" Susan was puzzled. “To have climbed up on to the roof of the tower must have been a feat of appalling danger. When I saw my cap and gown up there, I did not stand looking at them: my flrst thought was to look below, for the mangled -body of the girl who had put them there. Why she was not dashed to pieces and killed I cannot Imagine. It is beosuso I cannot allow the faintest risk that such dangers will ever again be taken that I have been so drastlo In my attitude. Only by bringing home to the whole eohool how mad, how wloked 1 Consider climbing on the roof, can 1 prevent auch a thing becoming an everyday occurrence. Only so can 1 prevent the needleas throwing away of lives. I cannot agree that with such a motlvel any steps would be unfair. Susan thought this over then nodde?.- Y „ " she said. "I see that, now that you've explained. But I didn't see It before, and nobody has seen t yet. Ld l ? m afraid they won't see It If 1 put It to them. I wonder —• she paused and looked very shyly at the Head wt.tress “The' advertisement said sympathy and advice." she reminded h6 Mlss Cubit nodded briskly. "Advise me, then." she demanded. "You won't think it awfully—awfully "p,easo n re n member that our official -fSs-Wsa'AS W “ T h he “etudenr'of l ife's University pondered for a **,* ; Cl Mistress tl task of adv sog er This was such an opportunity as would “T suppose'" j-ou couldn’t withdraw the punishment allogethii. now that you've shown people lio." serlo si _ think the olTenee was. . * j -I could not. Miss Uubis ussuun he "Everv one would ho so pleased and . <„san said coaxmglv. that ments which 1 had »“ , u , in can a to 'me just It would be fairer 0 .V”!’ 01 j berause ' g 0 hOl . v ib\y unfair as tliev "think And then whoever had done n might come forward, and you 1. COU hlfs. k Cuh!tT/aln H U.PPOdtho Ug h l fu,- ' i v nu the table. ' "I will think over what you have said." she said, rising to her feet. I ...in ronslder your adwee. And now, **, is usual for professional eympath-

BY JOCELYN OLIVER.

izers to receive a fee. As we did not agree upon terms when we started, 1 shall have to submit to whatever charge, however extortionate, you care to name."

"Oh, I don’t want a fee. thank you, Miss Cubit," said Susan, rather shock-

“Not money, of course," said the Head Mistress. "But I am in your debt, and would like you to claim the debt sometime. Whatever you ask me, claiming it as your fee, I shall feel bound to do —even," she added, looking Susan straight between the eyes, "if you were to ask me now to withdraw my Close Bounds rule.” Susan’s eyes sparkled for a moment, but she knew she couldn’t do this thing to Cupid. " No, that’d be a dirty trick, as you feel you can’t do it anyway," she said. “ I don’t want a fee, thank you, Miss Cubit."

“ Then I must owe it to you,’’ said the Head Mistress. " I am in your debt, and shall be ready to discharge It whenever you ask me' to. And now that our official relationship is resumed, may I suggest that such terms as ‘dirty trick’ wil not in future be thankfully received. Good-night.” A moment more and she was gone.

Felicity bounded from her chair as soon as the door had closed, and rushed up to Susan. " Oh, Susan," she cried, "how did you do it I Fancy standing up to Cupid like that! I should never have belie'ved it possible! Giving Cupid advice 1 Oh 1 "

" Well, it did seem easier at the time than it does now, looking back at it,” Susan admitted. “ When you put it like that, I see that It was the most awful cheek." Then she grinned. “ I’ve always heard that putting an advertisement in the paper sometimes leads to funny things, but who would have thought that trying to take a rise out of Lucinda would lead to that l I wonder if it will lead to anything else? ’’

" Nothing as funny a 9 that,” cried Fe'lioity with conviction. Here, however, she was unduly pessimistic; the next interview to come as a direct result of Susan’s advertisement was hardly less dramatio than that with Miss Cubit. It was less than half an hour later, when they were still disoussing what they had gone through, and had not yet settled down again to their Prep., that there' came another knock on the door. This time It was Veronica Jacobs who entered.

" Hullo,’’ said Felicity. Then, with a grin for the very improbability of the thing, she asked: “ Have you come to Susan for advice', too? ’’ “ Yes," answered Veronica, and without waiting to be asked, she sat down in a chair. She was looking very white and ill —so ill that Susan, who,

with the memory of their recent fracas In her mind, had been preparing to be somewhat aloof, could feci nothing but pity for her. You couldn't be standoffish with any one looking as tired as that.

"I know you hate mo saying that I you look ill," she said frankly, "but you do. Oh. I say, shall 1 give you a glass of water?” "Please," said Veronica, who indeed had appeared to bo about to slide off the' chair. She sipped it for some moments, while Susan anil Felicity looked very uncomfortable. They were attuned to surprises after Cupid’s %lsit—but even they weren’t quite prepared for what was to come. "It was 1 who hung Cupid’s cap and gown on the weathercock that i night!" said Veronica. No, they had not been quite prepared for that I It, would have' been a sordid little ! story that Veronica told them, if she had not made them feel so sorry for h, r, somehow. She told them how she’ had always been jealous of Susan —horribly jealous—Jealous of her popularity, her place in the school. She. herself, was so unpopular. How beastlv it was to be unpopular, and how much more beastly when you had to look oil and see somebody else being liked by everybody. How the affair of Ihe prefcctship had completed the jealousy that had been growing for live years, for she had understood well ono null why Cupid chose Susan Instead of herself; and it had hurt. How she had always wondered why slu- had not the courage to do the things that Susan did. the high-spirit-ed, lawless things, that had made her sc popular. And t hen at last I here had come that night when, half dazed with overwork and want of sleep, not Quite! knowing what she was doing, she had had the courage. She knew where Cupid's cap and gown were kept, ami she had remembered reading in a book of a similar exploit to the one sho then carried out. She had (Continued in next column.)

made the perilous climb, returned, somehow, to her study— And then I went all to pieces," she said. "I was terrified that some one would And out that I had done It. 1 knew I could never tell anyone, so that tiie whole thing: was really a waste. I should neveij be popular for doing it; no one would ever know I had done it. If they knew, if Miss Cubit knew, it would mean my losing the scholarship—and I had to have that. It meant everything to me. But I caii t go on like this. I can’t work for worrying about It. I’ve got to tell you, tell someone, even If you do go at once' to Cupid and tell her. I’ve got lo tell someone, and seeing that advertisement of yours, I thought— What am I to do? 1 can’t go to Cupid myself. She might expel me—do you think she’d expel me ? And any way she'd say I wasn’t a fit person to have a scholarship. Oh, what am Ito do?"

"Let’s think," said Susan, so they all sat still, wondering what was to be done. One couldn’t very well beg Veronica to go to Cupid and confess, when, as she said, In all probability it would mean her losing the scholarship sho seemed so to have set her heart on. If only Cupid—And then Susan remembered something. “Why, of coursel" she cried, jumping up. "My feel" "Your fee?” asked Felicity and Veronica, both together. “Didn’t Cupid say she’d do anything I asked her?" cried Susan, her eyes shining. “Well, I’m going to ask her not to expel Veronica, or stop the scholarship for her. But Veronica must confess: then Cupid can tell the school that the culprit has confessed, and so remove the ban, and then everything will be all right. Come along to Cupid with me now, Veronica, and we’ll get it over.”

What exactly took place when they got to Cupid’s study, Felicity was never told, and certainly no one else ever knew anything about It. Miss Cubit, the next morning, announced that the culprit had come forward, and that she had decided to punish her in her own way. But she never said what that punishment was, and even Susan did not know whether there had re'ally been one or not. But Veronica successfully gained her scholarship, and left Thistleburgh at the end of that term, and to this day no one, except Susan, Felicity, and Miss Cubit, knows that It was she' who hung the cap and gown on the weathercock.

“Well, you see what an advertisement can lead to I" said Susan to Felicity, when they were splashing about in the swimming pool the next evening. “If I hadn’t put that one in. we shouldn’t be here at all, or else poor Veronica would have had to le'ave —anyway, something beastly would have been still going on. As It is, everything has come all right. But best of all," she dived under, and came lip splashing; "best of all," she repeated, "it led to my being allowed to give Cupid some very valuable advice — and no one else has ever done that, I should think, In the whole history of the school.” (The end.)

Flower Girl, Frankton. —These frosty mornings make It very hard to get out of your nice warm beds, don t they, Flower Girl? The birds’ songs are very beautiful in the early mornings, aren t they? The chickens must be very quaint little things, Peter thinks. —Peter Pan. Gypsy Princess, Te Awamutu. —Such a lovely time you should have at Taranaki, Gypsy Princess, and Peter hopes to have such a lovely long newsy letter rrom you when you return. Congratulations on coining top in your examinations Trevor Is very lucky to receive a bike for his birthday. Isn’t he? —Peter Pan. Grovenor, Frankton. —There are so many members In the circle, Grovenor, that Peter Is not quite sure or the number Your Nelson pen-friend’s letter must be very Interesting, Peter thinks. The daffodils make a beautiful display, don t they?—Peter Pan. June Signal, Hamilton. —You have neglected us June and Peter was arrald that we were not hearing from you again. The school ball must have been very exciting, Peter thinks. Don’t the frocks look lovely all together. Yes, you may have Golden Smiles for your pen-name. —Peter Pan. Fairy Fountain, Ta Awamutu. —Your letter was such an unexpected one, Fairy Fountain, so It was very welcome one, too. Peter hope 9 you have a very happy time at Auckland Don’t forget to write and tell us all about your adventures, will you?—Peter Pan. Bud, Morrinsville. —Peter hopes that you have a very enjoyable holiday In Palmerston North, Bud. You are very lucky little people to have so many holidays, aren’t you? Peter thinks that you must bo reaching the interesting part of your tap-dancing now.—Peter Pan. Silver Dew, Christchurch. —The show must have been very exciting, Peter thinks. Silver Dew; the side-shows are such great fun, aren’t they? Did you go to see the Springboks v. Canterbury match? Yes, they are very thrilling to listen to.—Peter Pan. Black Cat, Motumaoho.—You are a stranger, Black Cat, and yours was a very welcome letter. It is wonderful the way the flowers open out in the warm sunshine. isn't It? The fruit trees are beginning to look lovely Just now, aren’t they? Peter is sorry but Scotch Lassie is taken.—Peter Pan.

Sliver Bell, Hamilton. —Such a happy time you must have had at Pukerlmu, Silver Bell; the ride on horseback must have been lovely, too. You become very stiff after you have ridden Tor the first time, don’t you? Thank you Tor the riddles.—Peter Pan. Doreen Smith, Raglan —reter sends you the biggest welcome he can find in his welcome box, Doreen, and he hopes to hear rrom you very often. He hopes that you are quite better again now; it is not very pleasant to spend the time in bed, is It?—Peter Pan. Desert Gold, Horotiu. —Such a lovely school you must have, Desert Gold; Peter Is sure that you are very proud of It. It Is very exciting to have It divided into houses, Isn’t It? Your house has a really splendid record, too. Peter thinks that the lawns must be beautiful and trim with such keen rivalry.—Peter Pan. Uns Dingle, Ohaupo. —Your party must have been a very enjoyable one, Una, and Peter thinks that you and your little rriends must have had a very happy time together. How pretty the cake must have been with Its kewpie and roses. Peter hopes that your thumb Is better again now. He Is sorry but Snowy Is already taken; Is there another name you would like?—Peter Pan. Butterfly Babe. Raglan.—Peter Is very sorry to hear about your little brothel and your mother. Butterfly Babe, and he hopes that they will both he better again soon. Your Tamlly has been very unfortunate lately with all your Illnesses, hasn’t it?—Peter Pan. Qym Girl, Horaham Dowm. —Such a newsy little letter from you this week, Gym. Girl, and Peter was so glad to receive It. Your school must be very interesting divided Into bouses. Peter thinks It must be such run In trying to come top.—Peter Pan. Betty Knight, Whatawhata. —Such a stranger you are, Betty, and so yours was a very welcome letter arter such a long length or silence. What a lot or pets you have. There are so many babv animals about now, aren’t there? Do write again soon, won’t you?—Peter Pan. HOLIDAYB AGAIN Dear reter Pan,—Once again we have holidays. This time Tor two weeks. I am not going away for them, but all the same