“I beg your pardon,” and Lucy Marsh ran down the stairs.

She had knocked against Prissie in passing; she had witnessed Miss Heath’s kiss.  The expression on Lucy’s face was unpleasant.  Prissie did not notice it, however.  She went slowly up to her room.  The electric light was on, the fire was blazing merrily.  Priscilla removed her hat and jacket, threw herself into the one easy-chair the room contained, and gave herself up to pleasant dreams.  Many new aspects of life were opening before her.  She felt that it was a good thing to be young, and she was distinctly conscious of a great, soft glow of happiness.

CHAPTER XIII

 Caught in A Trap

College life is school life over again, but with wide differences.  The restraints which characterize the existence of a schoolgirl are scarcely felt at all by the girl graduates.  There are no punishments.  Up to a certain point she is free to be industrious or not as she pleases.  Some rules there are for her conduct and guidance, but they are neither many nor arbitrary.  In short, the young girl graduate is no longer thought of as a child.  She is a woman, with a woman’s responsibilities; she is treated accordingly.

Miss Day, Miss Marsh, Miss Merton and one or two other congenial spirits entered heartily into the little plot which should deprive Priscilla of Maggie Oliphant’s friendship.  They were anxious to succeed in this, because their characters were low, their natures jealous and mean.  Prissie had set up a higher standard than theirs, and they were determined to crush the little aspirant for moral courage.  If in crushing Prissie they could also bring discredit upon Miss Oliphant, their sense of victory would have been intensified; but it was one thing for these conspirators to plot and plan and another thing for them to perform.  It is possible that in school life they might have found this easier; opportunities might have arisen for them, with mistresses to be obeyed, punishments to be dreaded, rewards to be won.  At St. Benet’s there was no one especially to be obeyed, and neither rewards nor punishments entered into the lives of the girls.

Maggie Oliphant did not care in the least what girls like Miss Day or Miss Marsh said or thought about her, and Priscilla, who was very happy and industrious just now, heard many innuendoes and sly little speeches without taking in their meaning.

Still, the conspirators did not despair.  The term before Christmas was in some ways rather a dull one, and they were glad of any excitement to break the monotony.  As difficulties increased their ardor also deepened, and they were resolved not to leave a stone unturned to effect their object.  Where there is a will there is a way.  This is true as regards evil and good things alike.

One foggy morning, toward the end of November, Priscilla was standing by the door of one of the lecture-rooms, a book of French history, a French grammar and exercise-book and thick note-book in her hand.  She was going to her French lecture and was standing patiently by the lecture-room door, which had not yet been opened.