'Ah!' said Miss Finlayson. The child caught the change in her tone, and went on quickly.
'I know Jill didn't approve of me at first,' she said, in her small, anxious voice; 'but she does now, I think. Besides, Jill is grown-up, you see; and I don't think it counts if you are grown-up, does it? I've never met any real, nice, friendly girls before, who don't tease you, or bully you, or anything like that. That's why I wanted to come to school.'
'Ah!' said Miss Finlayson again. Then she put out her hand and patted the cheek of her little new pupil. 'Do not be unhappy if you find you are not like the other girls,' she said, just as Auntie Anna had done; 'and come to me, if everything else fails and you cannot stand by yourself. Only, remember--you are not in the nursery any longer: you have come here to learn how to grow up straight and strong and healthy, just as a plant learns; and I am only the gardener to give you a prop, when you have been in too great a hurry and are trying to grow too fast. Do you think you understand?' Her voice changed again, and a laugh came into it as she added brightly: 'Come along now, and be a happy little girl. You will find that most of us are happy in this house.'
She took Babs by the hand, and raced her along the passage to the door at the end, then turned the handle and pushed the child gently into the room.
'Girls,' said the head-mistress, in the sudden lull that followed her entrance, 'here is a new schoolfellow for you.'
Then all the voices broke out again, and Miss Finlayson nodded to Barbara, and went away. It was one of Miss Finlayson's theories, that a new girl should be left to fight her way by herself; but as she retreated slowly along the passage this evening, she could not help feeling a little anxious about the child with the small, eager face, whom she had just launched into a strange and unfriendly world.
Barbara took two quick steps forward, as the door closed behind her, and stood there waiting. She had acted this scene over and over again in her mind, and she had always made her entrance like this; after which a girl, whose face was plump and ordinary, and whose legs were of the right proportions, and whose hair was smooth and under proper control, had always come towards her with a welcoming smile and had led her up to the other girls, who all had welcoming smiles too. And everybody had listened to her while she talked about her home and her father and the boys; and nobody had laughed and nobody had teased, and nobody had told her to 'shut up.' It had been a very favourite scene in her dream of school, and she waited eagerly for the other actors in it to come forward and do their part. But no one moved.