At this point in her reflections Barbara reached the door of the senior playroom, and the sight of the elder girls, as they busied themselves with their weekly correspondence, reminded her again of her letter to Kit. For the moment, as far as she was concerned, her new prince would have to whistle for a princess.
In the junior playroom Jean Murray had been taking the opportunity to revive the animosity against the new girl.
'Can't you see that she's laughing at us all?' she exclaimed to a circle of humble listeners. 'It's all very well to pretend to be such a baby; that kind of thing may go down with the elder ones, but it won't do here. Anybody can see that she's only putting it all on, to be aggravating.'
'She told a story the very day she arrived,' chimed in Angela from behind. 'A girl who could do that would do anything.'
'Can't you leave the child alone?' suggested Charlotte Bigley, who happened to be listening. 'She seems such a harmless infant to me. I don't believe she even knows she is supposed to be in disgrace.'
It required a good deal of courage to stand up alone against all the girls in the junior playroom, and Charlotte flushed a little when they all laughed at her.
'That's where her artfulness comes in,' declared Jean. She thought she heard her rival's voice on the other side of the curtain, and jealousy made her more bitter than before. 'If you ask me, I believe she only pretends not to notice any of us, so as to pick up everything she can; and then she goes and sneaks it all to the elder ones.'
Jean looked a tiny bit ashamed of herself. It was not nearly so easy to say unkind things about the new girl as it had been a week ago. All the same, her unhappiness at the continued coldness of Margaret Hulme was quite genuine, and it hurt her sorely to think that the head girl was now smiling on the interloper as she used to smile upon her.
'Well, it's true!' she vowed. 'I vote we don't leave her alone, or give her the chance of mocking at us, any more. She wants to be taught that she's the youngest girl in the school, and that it isn't anything to be cocky about. Anybody who likes can make up to her, as the big girls do; but _I_ am going to see that she keeps in her place.'