Page:Duer Miller--The charm school.djvu/48

 "The cops are rather officious in this neighborhood," he said, speaking from a long and bitter experience.

Won't arrest me.," said Johns.

"Why not?"

"Know too much," answered the great man; and that was all the explanation Austin ever obtained of a phenomenon which long continued to excite his astonishment.

A little before eleven they turned in at the school gates between clumps of drooping rhododendron. The school buildings were high and ugly, but the lawn was beginning to turn green, and beyond the lawn the waters of the Sound were very blue, and at the very edge of the water Austin saw the little white cottage that was to be his home—his, and perhaps Susie's. His spirits rose to the adventure.

"Humph!" said Mr. Johns. "If I were about to address fifty giggling girls I should be nervous."

"They won't giggle," answered Austin, almost grimly.

They were met in the hall by Miss Curtis, a little gray-haired woman who, having been chosen the school secretary for her fitness as a subordinate, had been suffering tortures during the last weeks, owing to the number