"Oh, yes, I saw them," Blue Bonnet answered with unconcern that amazed Mrs. White. "I didn't read them. I hate rules!"
"But I am afraid you will have to read these--and obey them!"
Blue Bonnet sighed. "You see," she explained, "I've been brought up rather differently from most girls--that is, up to a year and a half ago. I lived on a big ranch in Texas with my uncle. Everything there was as free as the air and water. We didn't have any restrictions. Boston seems to be made up of 'em."
"We do have a good many conventions, that's true--especially here. It would be chaos without them. You can see that, can't you?"
"Of course I'll try. I shouldn't like to displease _you_."
The compliment was so naïvely given, and so evidently sincere, that Mrs. White looked pleased.
"I appreciate that very much," she said, "but you must keep on equally good terms with your _own_ conscience--have its approval, always."
The building in which Miss North conducted her school for girls had originally been a private mansion. It was interesting and attractive, with many odd nooks and mysterious passages that lent charm and romance to its young occupants. In recent years property adjoining had been added for recitation and school purposes; two houses welded into one.
The entire basement of the annex had been remodeled into a well-equipped gymnasium, and at the rear of the lot a swimming pool had been erected.
It was the custom of the girls to repair to the gymnasium after dinner for a half hour's frolic. Usually they danced.
Blue Bonnet and Carita followed the other girls down-stairs and through the narrow passage that connected the two buildings, a passage known as the subway--or sub.
"Mercy, isn't this spooky?" Carita said, taking a better hold on Blue Bonnet's arm.
"Oh, this isn't anything? Wait a minute."
Mary Boyd drew the girls over to a door at one side of the gymnasium and flung it wide.
"That's a part of the furnace room," she said. "You can go through here and follow another little dark hall--oh, much worse than this--and it takes you to the kitchen and pantries. We went down one night last year--"
"Yes, it was loads of fun. There were five or six of us. We ate enough apple sauce and fresh bread to kill us."